Pontymister Athletic welcomed Cwmbran to Field Road on Saturday for a MBA Division 1 clash. After a sticky start to the season, which saw Cwmbran in the relegation zone they have really improved in the last few games and come to the game in fine form. A lot of familiar faces were on show on Saturday and no less than 3 of the Cwmbran skips Mark Lewis, Simon Humphries and Martin Strange used to ply their trade at Pontymister, adding a little bit of spice to the challenge.#
The game started very closely and after 5 ends the scores were tied, however at the halfway point with three rinks level, Cwmbram forged ahead on rink 4 and led by 15 shots. 2 of the Ponty rinks were battling hard and both led after 15 ends, but rink 4, although coming back were 8 shots adrift and rink 2 after conceding 2 ends of 4 had fallen behind by 10 shots. Cwmbrans confidence was high, and they went on to secure a 20 shot win, with only rink 3 flying the flag for Ponty; final score Ponty 71 Cwmbran 91 (12points to 2).
Rink 2 saw Dai Bowd, Chris Simmonds, Richie Murphy and skip Dave Hill take on Outside Half Kevin Clark, Howard Rees, Outside Half Alex McGee and former Ponty champion Mark Lewis. Playing on a trickey rink, nothing could separate the teams in the first half of the game, but two 4s on the 12th and 13th ends put the cwmbran 4 in charge and they finished with a 13 shot win.
Rink 3 brought together late replacement Frank Trepleton, Ken McKinnon, Roger Simms and Andrew Goodwyn who were drawn once again against M.Metcalfe, G.Jones, Captain Bryn Berry and another former player in Simon Humphries. The rivalry between Goodwyn and Humphries goes back years and neither wanted to yield in a highly competitive encounter. After a very tight start, consecutive 5s on the 11th and 12th ends, gave the Ponty boys control, but the Cwmbran boys fought hard before eventually conceding by 5 shots.
Rink 4 for Ponty was all about experience Mike Lyons, Phil Huntley, Chris Beale and Monmouthshire champion Roger Venn were up against Mark Wright, C.Pentney, Byron Thomas and yet another ex player Martin Strange who is familiar with every blade of grass on the rink. Cwmbran were in fine form and controlled the game from the start with an array of classy shots and after 11 ends they raced into a 16 shot lead. The Ponty boys were down and out, but I mentioned experience and along with some great character, they battled back to within 4 shots into the last end, before finally bowing out by 6 shots.
Rink 5 for Ponty brought together Eammon Simmonds, Sid Phillips, captain Lloyd Turnbull and Ronnie the Rocket Morgaon playing I.Wright, B.Summers, M.Williams and P.Luffman. The Ponty boys led for most of the game, with Ronnie urging the boys on, but a late rally and some telling bowls from Pat pushed the Cwmbran boys ahead and they recorded a six point lead.
The Cwmbran boys thoroughly deserved their victory on the day and with what we saw today will definitely be safe in a division that doesn’t allow anyone the opportunity to relax. As usual Lloyd served up another great buffet and the Cwmbran boys were great company, as usual. We would like to take this opportunity in wishing them all the very best for the rest of the season and for us we need to shake ourselves down and prepare for a very tough game next week at Newbridge.