Neyland 72 – Tenby 75.75 (4 points – 10 points)
After last weeks tremendous victory against Caerleon, the Tenby team travelled to Neyland to further their goal of retaining the League title against a Neyland team battling against relegation. After already defeating Neyland away in a Carruthers Shield qualifying match by 55 shots earlier in the season, the Tenby team were in confident mood to pick up more valuable league points. The task was far from easy and the Neyland team were unlucky not to win the league encounter.
The Tenby team had to, once again, play with one player short after a late withdrawal and at 5 ends the team pulled away to lead at 5 ends by 11 shots. Neyland fought back to trail by 8.25 at 10 ends and 8 shots at 15 ends. Neyland then took the lead at 18 ends, to lead by 2 shots. A late rally by Tenby saw them win at the close by 3.75 shots and take 10 points to Neyland’s 4 (points).
Andrew Muskett’s rink started well, leading by 8 and 7 after the 5th and 10th ends respectively. Neyland, with Alan King in fine form, came back to reduce the deficit to only 3 shots by the 15th end and took the lead by the 18th (end) to lead by 2 shots. Tenby tried to rally, but went down by 22-23 at the close after dropping 2 shots on the last end with Andrew’s last bowl disappointingly well short of making shot. 
Jonathan Webb played against Gordon Robson, the Neyland Captain, and the rink were consistently in front by a couple of shots until the 15th end, when a dropped count of 3 (shots) followed by a run of 4 consecutive lost ends saw them 17-20 down by the 19th end. A score of two saw the rink go into the final end down by the solitary one shot. Then, with the team match also in the balance, Jon Webb played a superb bowl to make a count of 4 shots, to not only win the rink, but also win the match for Tenby. John Baggott once again was excellent and was backed up with the ever consistent Neil Dickinson.
Paul Diment’s rink had a nice start, but by the 11th end, they were 7-12 down. By the 15th end they were 14-13 up and holding a count of 5 until a fortuitous shot by the Neyland skip saw them drop a shot and the game was level once more. 15-16 down going into the last 2 ends, Tenby with Gerald Hewitt and Cameron White in great form throughout the match took a 1 (shot) on the 20th end and then, when 6 down, Peter Day played the shot of the day by driving the ‘jack’ into the ditch to make 2 shots and win the rink 18-16.
Due to the late withdrawal of one of our players as already mentioned, the team had to play a ‘triple’ and due to this a penalty of 25% was imposed on the game. Therefore, after 5 ends, the triple of Luke Rees, Steve Williams and Craig Guymer held a lead of 1 shot. At 10 ends, the lead was 0.25 and at 15 ends it was 1.5 shots. The triple still held that slender advantage until the last end, when Craig Guymer was very unfortunate not to make shot with his last bowl and the resulting dropped 2 shots saw a loss of only 0.25 shots (12.75 against 13).
In conclusion, it could have been the maximum 14 points but it could have so easily been a defeat of the same score and therefore the Captain is quite happy to take 10 points off a Neyland team who played very well. I must say that the green played well and it was a pleasure to play on and credit must go to the Neyland greenkeeper and his staff.
Next week, the Tenby sponsored, Layton and Co solicitors and Chandler Rogers Estate Agents, travel to Morriston which will be a very difficult match and the team know that a huge improvement will have to be made if success is to be achieved in Swansea. The team however will welcome back Mike Jackson, Pat Currie and Philip Carpenter.
Rink Scores:
D Spencer, J Richards, J Roberts and A Muskett 22-23 Neyland
N Dickinson, J Baggott, L Guymer and J Webb 23-20 Neyland
G Hewitt, C White, P Day and P Diment 18-16 Neyland
L Rees, S Williams and C Guymer 12.75 – 13 Neyland
County Competitions
Following the semi-finals played at Milford throughout the last week, Tenby have representation in all the five main competitions. The singles matches were not played due to the bad weather on Thursday but with John Roberts playing Peter Day in the second semi-final, we will have a representative in the blue ribbon event. Phil Carpenter plays Richard O’Leary of Haverfordwest in the other semi final. Pat Currie and Jonathan Webb had an excellent win over former pair’s winners Nigel Davies and Steven Reese of Whitland and they will play Graham Hughes and Merv Dennis of Saundersfoot who defeated the junior international partnership of Luke and Craig Guymer by one shot. As mentioned last week, Gerald Hewitt, Arron Lloyd and Joe Richards had already made it through to the final and they will play Peter Day, Andrew Muskett and Paul Diment. The defending rinks champions of Mike Jackson, John Baggott, John Roberts and Phil Carpenter will play against Alan Whitehouse, Nigel Davies, Colin Wynn and Steve Reese of Whitland in which will be a very hard match and a repeat of the 2008 final. Finally, Craig Guymer will play against the defending champion, Ryan Thomas from Haverfordwest in the under 25’s final – a repeat of last years final.