Last gasp win for Mixed team in Louth thriller

Post date: Dec 19, 2016 9:33:52 AM

Left: Christmas sparkle! Thanks to Margaret Bloxham and Dave Hudson for their tree decorating - this is one of five placed around the club - and to all helpers who volunteer their time to assist the club. Merry Christmas!

IN A THRILLING finish to their Lincs Division One match at Louth, Stamford's mixed team hoisted themselves into a challenging position by defeating second-placed Louth by four shots.

With two rinks still playing the last of the specified 21 ends, the overall scores were level but Stamford had already narrowly lost on three rinks, conceding six points.

However, as both teams looked on anxiously from the sidelines, up stepped Paul Bailey to draw a third shot to the two they already held before the final rink added one to put the result beyond doubt.

Stamford had led comfortably by 20 shots at one stage, adapting well to the slower carpet pace before the home team pegged back their advantage with a second half surge and led 93-92 with just a handful of shots to play.

Youngsters Helen Holroyd (21) and Katie Bailey (18) both played key roles in helping Stamford to claim the points which takes them into third place behind Spalding and Louth.

Results (Stamford names first)

Lincs Mixed League Division One: Louth 97 (6pts) Stamford 101 (12). J Holroyd, S Suffling, S Moir, M Dolby lost 16-24; D Hudson, H Holroyd, M Bloxham, C Watson lost 22-23; J Brennan, C Warters, J Little, B Warters won 25-19; M Holroyd, K Bailey, M Wallace, P Bailey won 22-11; E Wallace, D Ford, C Ford, M Humphreys lost 20-16.

Stephen Harris and his sister Louise took a major step in their bid to again reach the finals of the Lincs county mixed pairs when they narrowly beat clubmates Christine Ford and Martyn Dolby.

Stephen was in sparkling form as he constantly denied his opponents opportunities to score heavily with pin-point accuracy and on the penultimate end with Dolby holding six he drew in to clinch the match. John and Moira Holroyd also qualified, defeating Shirley Suffling and Derek King.

Elsewhere King, Dave Hudson and Mike Ramsden have qualified for the next stage of Over 60s singles to be played at Stamford on February 18, while Harris and Dolby have reached the next round of the pairs and Dave Heffernan qualified in the triples following his defeat of Holroyd's trio.

Heffernan also had a singles sets win over Adam Warrington and qualifies alongside Harris, King and Richard Allam. In the regular singles Warrington, Ramsden and Mick Humphreys are through.

Ladies qualifiers include Shirley Suffling and Glenys Edwards, who beat June Brennan and Christine Ford in the pairs.

In national competitions there was a surprise defeat for Martyn Dolby 19-21 against John Needham in the Over 60 singles, while Mike Ramsden had a confidence-boosting 21-15 win over Derek King after trailing 6-15.

There was no joy for Bob Warters, Steve Travis and Roger Martin in the Over 50 triples, beaten 19-5 by Terry Corney, Nick Wilkie and Jeff Pitt at Peterborough, while in the mixed pairs the combinations of Keith Rippin & Christine Ford and John Pearson & Shirley Suffling lost to respective Spalding pairs.

In the men's triples, however, Holroyd beat Mark Hebden's family trio 19-7.

Shirley Suffling made an impressive debut in the Lincs Ladies team which beat Yorkshire by one shot at Boston in the Atherley Trophy, winning by two on her rink skipped by Spalding's Gloria Haney.

Stephen Harris also played for his county at lead on Graham Smith's rink against Yorkshire, beating them comfortably overall 116-68 at York and District IBC in the Liberty Trophy.

Entries for the Molson Coors-sponsored tournament on December 27 have now closed with 18 teams taking part in two sessions at 9.30 and 10.30am. Teams of four will play four matches of eight ends with points for matches and ends won.