Victoria defeated by just two shots by Taunton

Victoria Bowling Club could consider themselves slightly unlucky as they lost to Taunton by just two shots.

With the morning sessions showing a deficit of 18 shots, the rink of Richard Hollier, Mike Milliner, Lee Stocker and skip Colin Heal dug in and won their game by 16 shots.

In the morning, a good win for the rink skipped by Mike Cooper at Taunton helped to alleviate the defeats on the other two rinks.

Victoria 77 (4), Taunton 79 (12): P Fisher, B Pocock, M Manning, M Stocker 13-15; R Hollier, M Milliner, L Stocker, C Heal 28-12; P Coumis, J Langridge, D Williams, M Cooper 23-16; L Kelly, M Willetts, R Bromet, M Taylor 11-34.

Victoria lost the first leg of the Ron Taylor Cup against St Andrews and now have a mountain to climb in the second leg.

The three away triples only lost by three shots between them, but the home triple crashed by 20 shots, Victoria losing 52-75 overall.

By contrast with the men, the ladies showed plenty of spirit and determination as they defeated a strong Minehead by four shots in the county double rink.

Both skips did their bit on the last ends by getting the shot, but in different manners. Margaret Hillman playing at home after a long game retained her concentration to get the shot with her last wood to give the away rink an overall lead of three shots to play with.

On the last end of the away rink, Mildred Chudley went back to bowl her woods knowing that she was three shots down, which could mean an extra end. She managed to draw the shot with her first wood and with the opposing skip doing nothing with her last wood.

Chudley declined to play her second wood and so Victoria went through to the next round to play either St Andrews or last year’s winners Taunton Deane.

Victoria Ladies had also been successful in defeating Wedmore in a friendly, with skip Rose Cleeves’ last wood securing a 12-11 victory.

Victoria Ladies 49, Minehead 45: H Frye, C Sage, S Newman, M Hillman 25-11; B Williams, E Newport, R Cleeves, M Chudley 14-24.

Woodspring played two mixed friendly matches, one against Puriton (home), the other away to North Petherton.

In the home game, Woodspring won on both rinks, by 10 shots and in a closer game, by just three shots. The away game to North Petherton proved tougher and Woodspring lost on both rinks.

Woodspring 40, Puriton 27: S Noyes, P Dimmock, D Wynne, M Sutton 18-8; P Wynne, J McKenzie, G Sansam, M Williams 22-19.

Woodspring 31, North Petherton 42: S Noyes, P Dimmock, D Freestone, S Weaden 18-24; R Tasker, N Coombes, M Tasker, B Hadley 13-18.

St Andrews tested their strength in depth by playing four matches on Saturday and they won three of them.

The men cruised into the third round of the county double fours by winning both rinks against Bridgwater. A fifth-end six helped Don Bailey’s men finish up by 17 at home, while Barrie Forse’s away team edged home by three.

St Andrews 54, Bridgwater 38 – home: M Campbell, K Uglow, K Curtis, D Bailey 30-17. Away: J Wilkes, G Millard, S Davies, B Forse 24-21.

Saints’ Ladies were also involved in the county double fours and found Taunton Deane too strong. Meg Favis’s home four did well to restrict their final deficit to five. The away rink, all playing at Taunton Deane for the second time in less than 24 hours, lost by 10.

St Andrews Ladies 28, Taunton Deane 43 – home: C Venn, S Sinclair, A Powell, M Favis 13-18. Away: M Millard, M McMillan, J Pitman, A Campbell 15-25.

St Andrews men were comfortable winners in the first leg of the annual Ron Taylor Cup against Victoria. Their outstanding performers were the away triple of Tony Hyde, Darrell Johnston and Brian Reeves, who beat the redoubtable Mike Stocker and his men by 20 shots.

Malcolm Campbell, who had played for Saints against Bridgwater in the morning, changed shirts to represent his outdoor club Victoria, while Ron Gill, also a member of both clubs, played against St Andrews for the first time in 25 years.

Partnered on the same rink, they dropped a four on the last against home captain Richard Venn to lose by two shots.

St Andrews 75, Victoria 52 – home: R Smith, G Cooper, B Forse 15-11; P Smart, W Ainsworth, G Webber 15-18; R Brereton, J Keay, C Venn 17-15. Away: T Hyde, D Johnston, B Reeves 28-8.

Ladies’ friendly: Isle of Wedmore 27, St Andrews 42: J Rush, D Cooper, M Frost, B Huggett 15-17; M Millard, S Carr, W Weller, J Smith 27-10.

It was a successful week for St Andrews members in national and county competitions. Club champion Barrie Forse won three matches to reach one area final and two semis. Firstly, he endured a three-and-half-hour trip via a motorway snarl-up to beat Steve Sully 21-15 at Minehead in the national singles.

Then he and clubmate Ken Uglow won 22-11 away against a Donyatt team to reach the area final of the over-60 pairs before, at home, forcing an Ilminster duo to concede 2-23 down in the national pairs.

Steve Davies, Craig Walker and Andrew Owens are in the area semi of the national pairs after a 20-5 success away to Isle of Wedmore.

However, Davies, Owens and Will Harrison went out of the county triples at the first stage on Sunday, losing by one at home to a strong Taunton Deane trio. Later in the day, with Craig Walker, they lost at Minehead in the national fours.

Earlier in the week, Owens had made short work of Bristol’s Jason Sparkes in the county singles, beating him 21-7, while George Webber had a good win in the same competition, 22-10 away to Colin Easton (Clarrie Dunbar).

St Andrews quartet Judy Forse, Sue Sinclair, Audrey Powell and Pam Barnbrook are through to the area final of the ladies’ national fours after a 27-10 home win over an Ilminster rink.

Now they play away against the Taunton Deane team who, on Friday, knocked out another Saints’ combination, Mo Millard, Marie McMillan, Jackie Pitman and Ann Campbell 27-15.

Wedmore men are finding their feet in this their first season in the top division of the county indoor league, having won three of the first four matches and are placed second in the league.

The latest win was against Purnell in the home and away fixture, with both clubs taking two rinks, but Wedmore winning overall by 80 shots to 75.

At home, Colin Moss took his side to a good win by 12 shots having led from start to finish. This proved to be the foundation for the club victory.

In the other home rink, Steve Eastment’s men had a harder time, being 10 shots down by halfway, in large measure due to losing by six on end six. They plugged away and got within four shots of the opposition on end 16, but went down by six shots.

Away, Dave Nicholls’ team started very well, with the score 12-1 after seven ends. Purnell came back by dint of taking eight of the next 11 ends, drawing level on end 18.

The game entered the last end with the score level, Wedmore kept their nerve and won by four shots. Eddie Payne’s group started well but lost the lead on end seven, were soon seven shots behind but fought back to level the scores. They couldn’t hold on but limited the damage to five shots.

Wedmore 80, Purnell 75: A Birch, J Runciman, R Newell, C Moss 26-14; D Collins, D Stansfield, K Pettit, S Eastment: 15-21; V Mathews, K Hall, R Barron, D Nicholls: 23-19; T Brown, S Newdick, R Thurkettle, E Payne 16-21.