Following weeks of wet, cold weather it was a welcome relief to have the weather set fair for this important clash with newly promoted Rhymney Royal at the Memorial Park, Rhymney.
Before we set off in our cars, stand-in Captain Chris Beale rolled back the years to his old rugby days by giving the side a rousing team talk which raised everyone’s spirits (and their blood pressure ). With the adrenaline now well and truly pumping we left in determined mood.
The game was to prove another very close encounter with the mister men starting well again, before the home side came surging back. In the end we managed to just hold “the Royals” off and secure a narrow 79-81 victory taking 10 very valuable points.
On rink 1 Captain motivator Chris Beale, Ken McKinnon, Graham Smith and Andrew Goodwin (fully colour coordinated with a bright new yellow pair of shoes) started very well racing into an 0-8 lead before being pegged back to 8-13 on the 6th end. Andrew certainly found his feet on the green (though they were difficult to miss with those bright yellow shoes) and began “walking on water” playing some great conversion shots and drawing magnificently. By the 12th end PABC led 11-24, and despite a spirited fightback from the Royals rink of C Dearcewity, L. Edwards, D O’Brien, and N. James the mister men ran out 21-32 winners.
On rink 3 David Bowd, Jason Webb, Richard Murphy, and Nick Harris were involved in a very tight battle with C O’Brien, L Redwood, S. Tyx, and R. Chard with the score being 9-10 to the Athletic on 11 ends, 10-13 to the mister men on the 15th end and 16-14 to Rhymney on the 18th end, but disaster struck on the 19th end with the Royals picking up a decisive count of 5 shots to eventually run out 22-15 winners despite the mister men winning 12 of the 21 ends.
On rink 5 the foursome consisting of self appointed club model Ethan Simmonds, Keith Richards, Roger Simms, and the ever dependable Roger Venn started well against the Royals rink of I. Jones, T. Diggle, H. Davies and P. White. By the 10th end the Athletic led 6-12, and leapt into a 8-19 lead on the 19th end but dropped a 3 on the 20th end which left things very tight overall. The mister men collected a single on the last to win 11-20.
On rink 6 the rink of Chris Simmonds, Sid Phillips, Andy Elias and the quiet unassuming skipper Ron Morgan had a bad day at the office against the Rhymney Royal four of D. Jenkins, C. Greaney, J. Prosser and G. Heath. By the 10th end the mister men trailed 16-4 but despite picking up a 4 on the 12th end and a 3 on the 17th end the home team won convincingly 25-14.
Final score:- Rhymney Royal 79-81 Pontymister Athletic. (points 4-10)
Our sincere thanks go to our friends at Rhymney Royal for their great hospitality and for the very nice sausage & chips meal after the match. We wish them a very enjoyable season and look forward to the return fixture at Fields Road.