GARFIELD BOWLS
It’s all or nothing in the run home to finals for Garfield’s Pennant teams after this week’s round of results.
The Division 2 side played host to Newborough on Saturday, looking to maintain their fourth spot and finals contention.
A good win by 93 shots to 60 has kept them in the running.
Graeme Burton, Bob Lamport, Joe Lenders and skip Richard Ross started well and were up by eight shots before their opponents opened their account.
They continued to pull away as the day went on, winning easily by 27 shots 9.
The team of Bob Clarke, Les Humphrey, Steve Bassed and skip Nick Henwood, were topsy-turvy for the first half of the game, six shots to eight down after eight ends.
Then they got into gear and powered away to win by 24 shots to 14.
Steve Whyte skipped the team of Alan Wilson, Gerry Fuller and Gary Helmore.
They played a game of four distinct quarters.
In the first, the Garfielders scored 11 shots to zero; the second was almost level and Garfield still led by 10 shots.
The third quarter saw a handy comeback by their opponents who ended it two shots up; but the fourth quarter belonged again to Garfield, where it scored nine shots to nil, to win the game by 27 shots 20.
Rick Sillet, Ron Saunders, Alan White and skip Tom Cleary had a tight tussle with their opposition for the first half, with scores never more than three shots apart; sometimes up, sometimes down.
Then their opponents had a couple of good ends and sprang out to a lead, which despite winning most of the ends in the second half, they just couldn’t match, and went down by 14 shots to 17.
With just one match to play, the side is now secure in fourth place and finals bound.
Congratulations to them.
The Division 5 side went up the hill to play Neerim, a side on a mission to make it into the four, which they did at Garfield’s expense, inflicting a heavy 41 shots to 80 loss on the Garfielders.
Jan Moxey, Lexi Taylor, Cheryl Breteler and skip Gwen Fabris won the first end, and then suddenly – after nine ends – were down by 4 shots to 22.
They had a purple patch in the middle where they came back to be only four shots behind, but the locals drew away again to leave the Garfielders down by 19 shots to 31.
Gordon Moxey, and his team, consisting of Luke Monckton, Maureen Lamport and Helene Newton, played a game where they were down by just a few shots all day, until they came back to draw level on the penultimate end.
But dropping a single shot on the last end saw them lose by 17 shots 18.
The team of Frank Prins, Henry Breteler, Damian Brick and skip Brian Fox went from chocolates last week to boiled lollies this week.
Against a very much superior team, they were never in the game, losing convincingly by 5 shots to 31.
With only one match to go in the season, they are now definitively out of the race; a disappointing end to a valiant effort.
MIDWEEK
The Midweek Division 3 side went to Morwell, attempting to consolidate its recent good ladder movement with a win over lowly Morwell 2.
However, low sides have been the bane for them all season, and so it turned out again this week as they lost overall by 52 shots 76.
Margaret Hyam, Maureen Lamport, Bob Lamport and skip Lexi Taylor won the first end; but then their opponents were 10 shots before they scored again.
Fast forward to end-18 and the Garfielders were down by 7 shots to 23, but a valiant effort in the last few ends saw them lose by 13 shots to 24.
Helene Newton skipped the team consisting of Shirley Cooke, Malcolm Newham and Gordon Moxey. They played out a close game for the first half, being down by just two shots at the halfway mark; but then the wheels fell off and they finished up losing by 20 shots to 29.
The team of Keith Cooke, Luke Monckton, Cheryl Breteler and skip Gwen Fabris, played a very close game with Garfield one shot up after 10 ends.
But their opposition broke it open with a five-shot score on the 11th end, and while the Garfielders won the rest of the game by one shot, that one end made all the difference, with the side losing by 19 shots to 23.
Garfield is now back down to eighth spot on the ladder, and with the last two matches against teams in or near the four, it looks like hard work ahead.
-Damian Brick-
