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Pontymister travelled the short distance to one of our closest rivals Cross Keys in a SML game. The keys have an abundance of talent at their disposal and are excelling on every front, but games like this are a great opportunity for the Pontymister boys to mix with the top players in the game.

 

Feilding a relatively strong team, Cross Keys, as expected, raced into an early lead across all of the rinks 14up after 6 ends, but to the credit of the mister men they started to peg their host back and by 12 ends they had reduced the home teams lead to just 9. A competitive Ponty side continued to eat into the keys lead and finished win 2, losing 2 rinks with the final score Cross Keys 60 Ponty 54; 10 points to 4.

 

Rink 2 saw the very inexperienced 4 of John Sheldon, Jamie Roberts, Captain Chris Beale and Jack Collier take on the formidable Darren Hobbs, Ray Faulkner, Magpie Barrie Davies and the gentleman Paul Watkins. The game started with the keys dominating the early ends and racing into a lead, but the Ponty boys clicked and won the next 10 ends in a row and to record a fine but unexpected win 18-10. The front end of John Sheldon and newbee Jamie Roberts stuck to their task well and allowed Beale and the superb Jack Collier to play an array of quality shots.

 

Rink 3 brought together Eathan Symmonds who at 15,  has once again grown out of his shoes (3rd time this season),Richie Jones, Ian Collier and Graham Smith against the accurate Chris Perry, Dave Hollister, Keith Edwards and Keiran Davies. The Ponty boys kept the game close in the first half of the game but eventually the keys pulled away and recorded a win by 9 shots.

 

Rink 4 saw late replacement and professional storyteller Spanner return to his old stamping ground, with Frank Trepleton, Dai Bowd and skip Richie Murphy. They played Brian Duggan, C.Murphy, Dave Greaney and the dependable Tony Brown and acquitted themselves really well in a very close encounter, with Ponty winning the rink on the last end by 3.

 

Rink 5 for Ponty saw rookie Simon Webb, Ian Holder, Ken Mckinnon and Roger Simms challenge Allan Williams, Rob Thomas and the talented pair of Danny Davies and Ryan Boots. Eager to watch the football, the Cross Keys boys dominated from the off and wrapped the game up early with a comprehensive 12 shot win. The Ponty boys were competitive, but failed to contain the talent that was on show for the keys.

 

We would like to commend the Keys on their wonderful hospitality both on and off the green and thank them for the lovely food provided after the game. The tributes paid were endless as they are fast becoming the Manchester City of the bowls world, but more importantly, we want them to know that  we are right behind them in their quest to bring the Carruthers Shield back to the Mecca and wish them well against Ferndale.

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.

Week Commencing:- Sunday 1st September 2024
Day	Afternoon	Evening
Sunday 7th
Monday 8th		Committee Meeting
Tuesday 9th	Cwmbran Park Home OSL 2pm
Wednesday 10th		5pm Crosskeys Away MBA
Thursday 11th		5pm – Club Night
Friday 12th
Saturday 13th	2:30pm Newbridge H MBA 2:30pm Caldicot  Away GBL	7pm  Open the Box draw.

 

Ynysddu were in town on Wednesday night for a SML match. The visitors came with some familiar faces, but  also a number of new additions, including two lads under 16, which is not only good for them, but also good for the game.

 

The game started with Ynysddu holding a slender lead of 3 after 5 ends, but by the halfway point, Ponty had put themselves into a strong position, with a 16 point lead. Ynysddu. to their credit fought back on all rinks and at one stage looked like they may pinch the game, but in the end the mister men dug in, to win by 11 shots 63-52 and 12 points to 2.

 

Rink 2 – saw Simon Webb, Ian Holder, Ken McKinnon and Jack Collier take on Karlos, Callum, Jon and Dai P and after a sticky start, took a commanding lead of 6 shots halfway in. The young Ynysddu team did fight back but in the end Ponty heels on for a 4 shot win.

 

Rink 3 – brought together lead Dai Bowd, Richie Jones, the returning Andy Elias and Richie Murphy who played Rhys, young Harrison, Sticky and Roger. The Ponty boys dominated from the start and played some excellent bowls in recording a 10 point win.

 

Rink 4 – was made up of Spanner, Andrew Davies, festival bound Mike Lyons and captain Chris Beale. They were up against Andrew Trevis, yet another player coached by Spanner, Rob, Dai and Marc. The Ponty boys led for the lion share of the game, but a great finish by the Ynyssdu boys gave then the points with a 7 shots win.

 

Rink 5 – for Ponty Father and Son Ethan and Chris Symmonds, Ian Collier and  Graham Smith played the experienced 4 of Alan Harrhy, Wilf, John and Captain Mark Warwick. In a tight game throughout, the Ponty boys just edged home with a 4 shot victory.

 

Its always great to have the Ynyssdu boys down to Pontymister Athletic and tonight was no exception as we enjoyed the food and drinks served by Lloyd. With a tough game against top of thae table Machen on Saturday we would like to wish Ynyssdu every success and wish them well for the remainder of the season.