Welfare B side land trophy to foil Grove treble bid

EDEN Grove Sports were highly fancied to pick up three Doncaster Bowls Association knockout cups this season, but they failed in their first attempt when they were beaten by Armthorpe Welfare B 138-134 in the Brooke Farm Handicap final at Woodlands Park.
By The Newsroom
Published 28th Aug 2007, 11:15 BST
Updated 29th Aug 2007, 10:43 BST

In the first game, Bill Wardman extended his thre- point start for Armthorpe to seven before opponent Tony Barrass scored,. He then led 10-4 only for Barrass to level at 10-10. But Wardman used all his experience to pull away again and win 21-12.

The second game saw Mick Boyd quickly turn his 3-1 deficit on the handicap into a 4-3 lead, and then 6-4. The game then see-sawed with neither player winning more than two ends in a row, until Boyd went on a run from 12-10 to 16-10. Opponent Jackie Fraser briefly threatened a comeback with two twos, but Boyd finished the game off with a run of five singles for a 21-14 win.

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In game number three Armthorpe's man of the match John Clewer won the first end to lead 4-0 against Kevin Nixon. But South Yorkshire County player Nixon rattled off the next six ends to lead 9-4. Clewer closed to 10-8 before Nixon went to 14-9 up and was looking comfortable. Clewer had other ideas, though, and won nine of the last 11 ends for a 21-16 win.

The last game of the first half was Armthorpe's Peter Douglas against Eden Grove Sports’ Colin Squires. Squires cancelled out his opponent's three-point start in the first two ends, but then found himself 9-3 down before scoring two pairs to close the gap to 9-7.

Douglas kept up the pressure, winning four of the next five ends to go 15-8 up. Squires fought back again to close to 15-13. The Armthorpe player was in no mood to concede defeat, though, and finished in style with three twos for a 21-13 win giving Armthorpe a 15 point lead at the halfway mark.

Game five featured the highest handicapped player on the night, Armthorpe's Simon Hallas getting a 5-1 start against Brian Barrass. But Barrass continued his good form, going 10-8 up. Hallas hit back to lead 12-10, but could only manage to win two more ends as Barrass clinched a 21-15 win and close the gap to nine points.

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Graham Fox looked like putting Eden Grove in front in game six as he recovered from 5-0 down against Barry Bentley to make a 10 break across the middle of the green. Bentley narrowed the gap to 11-8 before Fox pulled away again to lead 18-9. The next six ends were shared giving the Eden Grove man a 21-12 win to level the match scores.

The penulimate game was the one which clinched the cup for Armthorpe. Dave Gibson went 14-4 up against Sarah Fox, and then 17-5 before Fox made a slight recovery to 18-9 before Gibson completed a 21-9 win.

David Poole rallied from 7-2 down against Richard Commons in the last match with some strong corner bowling to lead 14-7. Commons scored a couple of points, but Poole got in again and at 19-9 looked to have a chance of levelling the match aggregate.

But Commons got the vital point, and although Poole won the game five ends later his 21-13 win left Eden Grove Sports four points adrift.