Woodspring Indoor Bowls Club took on Bristol in the Somerset County League on Saturday looking to continue their creditable first season.

Once again the Westonians began very well and held a good lead at the midway point.

But as in the past it’s those last crucial ends that matter and unfortunately led to an agonising one shot loss of 80-81, and that was so hard to take as the match was tied at eighty shots each with the Bristol skip left with one wood to bowl.

While his team debated if they should leave the head alone and accept the draw, the Woodspring bowl that was holding second shot fell out to give Bristol the victory and deny the Woody team the deserved draw. Despite the overall defeat there were some excellent performances.

Keeping up with past results Woodspring won two of the four rinks. At home Julian Brown led his team of Roger Smith, Ray Stone and Clive Winser to a super 21-12 win, also playing at home there must be a special mention for Andrew Kimitri who had a very promising debut considering his very limited experience.

In the away encounter Mike Cooper led by example bowling beautifully to lead his team to a 27—11 win, Mike was joined by Paul Coumis, Trevor Puddy, and Pete Sloman.

Despite this painful outcome spirits in the Woody camp remained high and Captain Tony Westren was full of praise for the fine efforts of his team.

He said: “We have surpassed my expectations by far and this first season has proved that we can compete at this level and hopefully be even stronger next season.”

Next match will be a real test as Woodspring take on Clarrie Dunbar on Saturday 3rd Feb.