Haverfordwest 74 Five Arches 85 ( Five Arches 12 pts Haverfordwest 2)
21st July 2015
Unusually for the Five Arches we travelled to play Haverfordwest on a Tuesday evening. Not expecting a great deal against one of the best sides in the Pembrokeshire league, we were in for a big surprise. On rink 2, Simon, Mike, Peter and Neil were involved in a tight, high quality game. Leading by 9 shots to 4 after 10 ends , they endured a Haverfordwest fightback to lead 15 shots to 13 after 20 ends. With Phil John's men holding a very close 2 shots , a draw look likely however Simon played a superb final bowl to drop only one and win the game by 15 shots to 14. A fine performance by all four members of the rink. On the next rink, Ashley, Dai, Ken and David had a much more comfortable evening. After a slow start , they lead by 14 shots to 8 at 10 ends and consolidated in the second half to win by 23 shots to 16. Captain Ben, with Roger, Kevin and Tony were up against county team manager PDS Jenkins and his rink. They trailed by 13 shots to 9 at 10 ends but fought their way back into the game to lead by 5 after 17 ends , however the Haverfordwest quartet fought back themselves to lead by 4 going into the final end. A brilliant final bowl by Ben to remove the Haverfordwest shot bowl looked to have won the game for his rink but after some close measuring , Ben and his rink picked up 3 shots to lose by 24 shots to 23. Finally on rink 5, Ben Simmons together with John, Johno and Steve dominated their game but could not quite pull away from Richard O'Leary's men. Leading by 15 shots to 7 at 10 ends, the lead was down to 1 by the 17th end, however some composed bowling over the last 4 ends enabled them to emerge victorious by 24 shots to 20. A great win for the Five Arches, next up Whitland at home.
Mike Day, Peter Hooper, Neil Dickinson, Simon Evans 15 Phil John 14
Ken Lloyd, David Lloyd, Dai Spencer, Ashley Hooper 23 Marley Hughes 16
Roger Thomas, Kevin Lewis, Tony Powling, Ben Cloake 23 PDS Jenkins 24
John Rees, Jon Hubbard, Steve Davies, Ben Simmons 24 Richard O'Leary 20