St Andrews staged a strong comeback in the second half of the game to beat Winscombe by four at home in the Weston & District Over-60s League.

The rink skipped by captain Brian Reeves started with a seven, but things started to go wrong for Saints and by halfway Reeves was six shots down and the hosts trailed by 12 overall.

Barrie Forse’s triple always had the edge over their opponents and, entering the last three ends, were five ahead as Saints led by three overall.

Don Bailey’s rink edged home by one, the Reeves trio managed an honourable draw and Forse scored four on the final three ends to give his team victory by that margin.

Derek Hurst’s rink also came back well, from 12-5 down after nine ends, to level by the 15th before losing by six.

Saints were involved in another close tussle on Sunday when they visited Bristol team Willmott Park in the national inter-club two fours championship.

The Hartcliffe-based club play two divisions above St Andrews in the Somerset League but with Forse’s rink 8-0 up after five ends and Reeves leading by two at the same stage, an upset looked on the cards.

Forse lost the next five ends to lead by two, while Reeves paid the penalty for dropping two fives, both times when opposing skip Jordan Sparey picked up the jack as Saints were holding shot.

Reeves lost by nine, at which point, Forse still had two of the 15 ends to play and Saints were just two behind. Willmott Park won the penultimate end on a close measure, leaving Forse needing a three on the last to force an extra end. He could score only one.

Comeback king of the week at St Andrews was greens manager Andy McMillan who met vice-captain Richard Venn in two club competitions.

In the two-wood singles, McMillan was 9-1 down and lost 16-15 to a measure on the final end. Then in the championship, he was trailing 13-1 before going on to win 21-13.

Forse showed his battling qualities in the national over-55 singles at Clevedon against Maurice Davis where, on a slow green, he was 12-6 down, but raced away to win 21-12.

In the national singles, Saints’ Richard Withers, 12-11 down at home to Ilminster’s Pete Loaring, did not allow his opponent another shot as he went through 21-12.

*Winscombe won in both North Somerset Bowling Association KO Cup competitions to progress to the quarter-finals.

In the Four Dimensions in which clubs compete in all four disciplines of lawn bowls – singles, pairs, triples and rinks – Winscombe beat Clevedon 3 -1.

In the singles captain David Brown romped to an impressive 21-13 win, while the pair were the only losers.

The rink skipped by Mike Adams also had a clear 20-11 win as the closest contest came in the triples where Greg Keenan, Geoff Coombe and Mike Fletcher won by one shot on the last end!

In the KO Cup, Winscombe visited Clarence to play three rinks (reduced from 5) and won on two, by nine shots overall.

Tom Ellis made a fine comeback in the last few ends to win by two shots and Mike Adams rink were always ahead winning by 10 shots.

Winscombe suffered two defeats in their latest Over-60 fixtures at Burnham and St Andrews.

On a challenging green at Burnham, they led 54-52 after 15 ends but dropped shots to eventually lose 70-62 and pick up four points.

At St Andrews the game was even closer with the hosts eventually winning 67-63.

The ladies lost their first match of the season at Yatton by two rinks to one.

*Clarence Blues had a good win over Banwell in the Over-60 League, with Bill Hallworth, Tony Mannion and skip Gordon Owen enjoying a 32-shot victory.

And the club also celebrated success against Alexandra Bath in the Top Club, winning three of the five disciplines in a close match.

Results

CLARENCE

Over-60 League, Clarence Blues 88 Banwell 55: B Hallworth, T Mannion, G Owen 38-6; B Rossiter, M Davies, D Stott 181-9; B Benn, B Duffy, R Crawford 19-16; M Ford, M Phillips, G Barlow.

Top Club, Clarence 3 Alexandra Bath 2: (two-wood) B Hallworth 17-14; (four wood) M Davies 11-21; (pairs) B Duffy 24-10; (triples) M Phillips 13-14; (fours) R Crawford 16-15.

ST ANDREWS

Weston Over-60s League Div One, St Andrews 67 (7) Winscombe 63 (3): C Reeves, A Dawes, B Reeves 19-19; L Fisher, R Venn, D Hurst 13-19; A Cooper, D Holborow, B Forse 18-9; R Potter, H Webber, D Bailey 17-16.

National Inter-Club Two Fours, Willmott Park 27 St Andrews 25: T Wyatt, K Curtis, D Bailey, B Reeves 11-20; K Uglow, D Holborow, A McMillan, B Forse 14-7.

WINSCOMBE

Burnham 70 Winscombe 62: M Nash, K Whatling, M Adams 15-24; G Keenan, R Lacy, T Ellis 19-11; D Brown, G Coombe, M Fletcher 19-15; P John, P Fredersdorff, G Neville 9-20
St Andrews 67 Winscombe 63: W Ainsworth, K Whatling, M Adams 19-19; P John, T Stone, G Neville 19-13; D Brown, G Coombe, M Fletcher 9-18; G Keenan, R Lacy, T Ellis 16-17.

Ladies friendly, Yatton 46 Winscombe 34: P Pow, L Coombe, M Sprouting 10-19; S Lowis, C Bryant, L Whatling 9-16; C Hopes, M Howell, A Ainsworth 15-11.