Saturday saw the visit of Bedwas & Trethomas to Fields Road for an MBA first division clash. The visitors are flying high in the division and having recently taken 6 points off the mighty Cross Keys, Ponty were expecting a very tough game.
The game started in the sunshine, and it was the away team who took an early lead 4 shots after 5 ends. At halfway, the game was tight overall with the mister men trailing by 3 shots but only one rink ahead. The deficit was reduced to 1 shot at 15 ends as the home team started to match their opponents and after a thrilling finish, which almost went down to the last bowl, the home team prevailed and won 73-71 and record an 11-3 victory.
The tricky rink 2 saw skip Andrew Goodwyn shaking his head on many occasions and together with lead Sean Kenvyn, late replacement Jason Bradshaw and the experienced Graham Smith face the talented 4 from B&T of M.Smith, P.Jones, P.Morgan and my old rugby sparring partner Jeremy Griffith(come on Machen). Leading from the start, the away built a good lead, but a brilliant 6 from the home team brought things level after 13 ends and set up what was to be an epic finish. The last rink off, B&T needed 3 shots for victory and were holding 2, with their skips last bowl in hand. Jeremy attempted to remove the Ponty bowl for victory, but missed by a whisker. One bowl left for Ponty and the rink tied, should Goodwyn go for it or not?. Onto the rink came captain Lloyd Turnbull and after a 5 minute discussion with Goodwyn, he conceded his bowl and the rink was tied, but the game won.
Rink 3, saw our very own Jimmy Somerville lookalike Dai Bowd, Sid Phillips, captain Lloyd Turnbull and the “Rocket” Ronnie Morgan take on J,Minty,M.Griffith, M.Alderwith and AJ Griffith. With throat Lozengers in hand to keep Ronnie vocal, the mister men trailed in the first half of the game, but with some fine shots and sheer aggression they stormed into the lead and held on by 6 shots to win 21-15.
Rink 4 was made up with some of our older statesmen. Past master Phil Huntley, debutant and former player Frank Trempleton playing his first game in 2 years, the youthful looking Roger Simms and no nonsense skip Roger Venn. They were matched against S.Killhouse, D.Stingmore, D.Watts and the reliable Lee Tuckwell. With 5 on the first end , the mister men led throughout the game and although B&T did rally towards the end they recorded a 6 point advantage 19-13.
Rink 5 was made up of M.Lyons, the returning J.Collier, Richie Murphy and our talisman Dave Hill who played the B&T 4 of G.George, A.Thomas, S.P.Griffith and the talented A.Griffith. The mister men started well enough, but B&T took the initiative, regularly picking up the jack and turning the head into their favour. Our boys fought hard and staged a mini comeback but in the end B&T were to strong and ran out winners by 22-12.
It was a pleasure to host Bedwas & Trethomas today, the Brian Prothero lounge was packed to the rafters, where a fine refreshments and great banter was enjoyed by all. We would also like to thank Mel Griffith for leaving us a gift and wish B&T success for the rest of the season. Finally, and the Moral of the story ; Never order a drink 5 minutes before the bus leaves. See you all in August for the return fixture.