Pontymister Athletic made the short journey up the valley to face Blackwood in a Division 1 MBA game, looking to avenge an earlier defeat in the season. Blackwood are flying high in the division and have only lost one game so far this year in the league, so the mister men were expecting a massive challenge.
On a bright, but cold afternoon the game started disastrously for Ponty and after 5 ends;they found themselves 22 shots down, with Blackwood recording some big score and showing why they are doing so well this year, By halftime things had got slightly better for the mister men, with one rink even and two rinks getting closer to their opponents, but Blackwood still held a healthy lead by 16 shots. If Ponty thought the comeback was on the cards, then they were mistaken as the home team turned the screw, and at 15 ends all 4 rinks were up with an overall lead of 23 shots. The game looked lost at this point, but Ponty are made of sterner stuff these days and a late rally saw them claw back on rink 1 and 4 , both winning by 3 and rink 2 losing out by just 1 in a close encounter. Credit however must go to the Blackwood 4 on Rink 3, with their young guns putting on a tremendous performance and winning by a big margin. Finally score, Blackwood 85- Pontymister Ath 77, 10 points to 4.
Rink 1,For Pontymister Frank Trepleton, counteracting the cold with 3 layers of clothing, Phil Huntley, Chris Beale and talisman Roger Venn took on the young rink of Jenson Davies, Brian Keeling, Dale Hutchinson and Will Ford. The game was a close encounter throughout with both sides playing high quality bowls, but it was the visitors who snatched the points with a late flurry of shots.
Rink 2 , brought together our own youngster Ethan Symmonds who led alongside his Grandad Sid Phillips, captain Lloyd Turnbull and the quiet but deadly Ronnie “The Rocket” Morgan who was ready to pounce. They played P.Thomas, captain C.Eaketts, N.Hurley and the experienced Clive Jenkins. After a sticky start, the Ponty boys dug in deep and fought all the way to the end, before losing out by the narrowest of margins. Although disappointed with the result, our boys played really well, with Ethan Symmonds the pick of our bowlers, and had it not been for the Blackwood skip, they could have easily come away with the points.
Rink 3, The Ponty boys of Dai Bowd, Chris Symmonds, Richie Murphy and Dave Hill were up against T,Bennett, G.Ford, C,Thomas and skip Ollie Witchell.The Blackwood 4 and in particular the two youngsters were in fine form and raced into a 14 nil lead early on. Our boys dug in and after a 6 looked like they were coming back, but on the day, the Blackwood 4, were too hot for us and recorded a fine 13 shot win.
Rink 4 saw Shaun Kenvyn, Jason Bradshaw, Roger Simms and skip Andrew Goodwyn take on T.Bennett, I,Buras, the experienced H.Jenkins and their very own stalwart in Dave Witchell. As the other rinks, Blackwood galloped into a lead and were 10 shots up at the halfway point. But, the Ponty boys fought hard and started to get to grips with the green. Still behind at 15 ends, they eventually gained control and ran out winners by 3 shots. Ironically, our only English player, who was keen to watch the football, was the only Englishman to get a shot on target in the first half when he took the jack into the ditch, are you watching Harry Kane.
We would like to thank Blackwood for their hospitality both on and off the field, for the refreshments and a fine buffet and wish them well for the rest of the season.