Pontymister Athletic made the long journey to Monmouth on Saturday for a top of the table GBL clash. Monmouth are flying high at the top of the league, with Ponty in second place, but with games in hand.
The game started in the sunshine with Monmouth racing in a 7 shot lead after 5 ends. Things got even worse for Ponty at the halfway point being 13 shots down.
The second half saw the rink led by Tom Guy stage a recovery, up 7 shots at 15 ends , but Monmouths superiority on the other 2 rinks was evidedent and although Guy held on for victory the team were well beaten on the day by 70-47. Giving the leaders 10 points and Ponty 2.
Rink 3 was made up of D.Lewis, debutant Andrew Davies, Allan Elliot and jack of all trades and captain I.Collier who faced the Parker boys, K.Weatherlake and D.Davies. The Monmouth boys swept into an early lead as Ponty struggled with green and recorded a convincing win by 17 shots.
Rink 4 saw lead specialist John Sheldon, I.Holder and the experienced pair of Alan Taylor and Tom Guy take on the Monmouth quartet of B.Tranter, O.Jones, W.Clark and S.Croudace and after a sticky start it was the Ponty boys who ran out winners by 4 shots. Sheldon and Holder found the lines from the off and gave the platform for Taylor and Guy to get the boys over the line.
Rink 5 brought together Spanner Watkins, fellow Bassaleg boy Keith Davies, Keith Richards and the reliable Jason Webb. They were matched against F.Leach, C.Cottage , T.Williams and M.Holder and found life very difficult on the day. Taking an early lead, the away team came up against a talented home rink who eventually recorded a comprehensive victory by 10 shots.
Captain Collier was disappointed with the result, but accepted that Monmouth played a lot better than Ponty on the day and urged his boys to get back to winning ways next week at Chepstow. The team would also like to thank Monmouth for their hospitality and warm welcome and wish them well for the rest of the season.