Tenby 101 (14 points) Haverfordwest Castle 52 (0 points)
30th May 2015
The Tenby Sharks continued their league programme against Haverfordwest Castle. Top of division one having a 100% start to the season, they were looking to extend their lead against their North County opponents. Rink 1: Tenby saw the return to action of Luke Rees, the Under 25 International, who has been absent due to work commitments. It was great to see the likeable and talented young man again. Luke teamed up with Huw Nicholas, Jon Webb and Craig Guymer. 8-3 up after 5 ends, the rink extended their lead to 16-3 after ten ends with no big counts but consistent scoring. The Castle rink skipped by G. Walters made some inroads into the lead and at fifteen ends were behind by 9-18. A solid finish saw the home side win by 25-13. Rink 2: The returning Kieran Peregrine skipped John Roberts, Steve Sheldon and Mike Jackson. Yours truly sometimes wonders how a Rafa Benitez look a like gets on with two die hard Manchester United Supporters like Jon and Red Steve. However judging by the result of this game they seem to get on fine. Scoring a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in their game – they almost won the ultimate – however the 7 and 8 evaded them on the ‘bingo scorecard!’.
Up 6-3 at five ends, they continued their scoring spree and led at ten ends by 16-5 and 27-9 at 15 ends. However, Haverfordwest Castle scored in 6 out of the last 7 ends. Rink 3: Andrew Muskett returned to top rink this week – albeit without his regular third Peter Day who was rested due to FA Cup action with his beloved Aston Villa team. Andrew who as you should know by now supports Wigan, could not emphasis with Peter on their FA Cup win as they were soundly beaten –to the joy of Ben Cloake – to Arsenal 4-0. Chris Court got his league season off to a win and out it down to playing with a superior skip. The rink scored a 1,2,3 and 4 but fell short of the Peregrine’s ‘bingo’ tally. However four counts of four secured a 30-11 victory. Aaron Lloyd and Dai Rees making up the rink. Rink 4: Ryan Thomas took over skipping duties from Paul Diment with Joe Richards playing third, Ben Sheldon leading and Cameron White playing second. After six ends Diment received a call from the Dinosaur Park to get back as quickly as possible with his rink being 1-7 down. However, credit to the rink as they slowly clawed their way back into contention scoring on alternative ends for the next 6 ends, picking up 11 shots to their opponents 3. From end thirteen onwards, scoring counts of ones were shared with the exception of a three count for the Castle ‘triple’. A final score of 17-16. However as the opponents were playing with three players, they had to deduct a further 25% and the final official score line being 17-12.
In summary, a good day for the team (Peter Day excluded) and the team are setting a very early pace in the defence of the their league title and the potential of recording a record eight consecutive league title. At present their closest challenges are the Five Arches Dolphins who poured more misery on Whitland with a 13-1 victory. Many congratulations to them and let's see if both teams can maintain their form to secure a first ever one, two in the league – Rounded off with a Carruthers win and maybe even a Pulitzer price for yours truly for my newspaper reports. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves – for the moment at least.