Disconsulate Stamford with a Silver Lining
Post date: Feb 2, 2020 1:31:02 PM
Depleted A team fight hard
Stamford A team were forced to travel to Louth a man short on Saturday and lost their unbeaten record after Gary Knights had to pull out with illness prior to departure.But despite the setback they still managed to put up a fighting performance, and won two rinks in a 14-4 defeat to give them a three-point lead at the top of Lincs League Div One.
Skipper Paul Bailey was full of praise for the team's efforts on the unaccustomedly slower carpet and was particularly pleased with the effort of Wayne Aspinall, Neil Wright and skip Adam Warrington (pictured) who were a man short due to Knights' absence. Said Paul: " They finished only two shots adrift, 16-18 down, and Adam was exceptional."Martyn Dolby earned a 21-11 success along with Dave Hudson, Mick Linnell, and John Earl, leading from start to finish. Bailey himself won 22-18 after being 1-9 down after five ends, fighting back along with Alan Romaine, Owen Aspinall and Dusty Miller. They scrapped hard and a three on the 19th end finally saw them go ahead and another triple on the last clinched it.
Mal Smith, Mike Ramsden, Steve Travis and skip Trevor Collins were 5-6 down after eight ends but then dropped 11 shots in four before hitting back with nine of their own.That made it 14-17 but Louth eventually took the topsy-turvey rink 26-14 with another burst of scoring. Finally, Richard Allam, Martin Wallace, Mick Humphries and Roger Martin were level at 10-all after 12 ends thanks to their only triple of the match, but could only win two more ends with singles, losing 21-12 overall.
Stamford now have 69 points from five matches, followed by Boston (66 from six) who they play next weekend at Exeter Gardens and will also meet in a return fixture. Boston closed the gap dramatically with a 16-2 win over Stamford B on Saturday. Third-placed Lincoln have 54 points from five games.
B team's fight goes on
Stamford B's fight to stay in Division One goes on after a 16-2 defeat at Boston. The home team were in impressive scoring mood and climbed to second place in the table as a result. They dominated rinks by 28-13, 24-15, 39-14 and 27-15 and were only a whisker away from a clean sweep.
Stamford's only points came from David Edwards, Denis Henshaw, Charlie Jones and Alan Barnes who led 16-0 with 11 ends gone, which proved a dangerous position to be in. It was a "game of two halves", with Boston then scoring 16 shots of their own in the next nine ends while Stamford could only manage four, just holding on 20-16 for the vital points.
Rink scores: D King, D Cave, M Hewitt, K Vinter lost 13-28, D Edwards, D Henshaw, C Jones, A Barnes won 20-16, T Barwell, D Heffernan, K Rippin, R Montgomery lost 15-24, R Blake, Mick Smith, A McNaught, T Christie lost 14-39, P Linnell, D Bruce, D Middleton, M Owens lost 15-27.
That gives Stamford 41 points from seven matches with three to come and only Spalding (currently 37 points from six) below them.Next match for Stamford is against Louth (currently 43 from six).
The Silver Salver, played for annually between our Weekend Friendly team and Spalding, stayed with the opposition as a first leg lead of eight shots was wiped out with a second leg away defeat 73-126. Well done to our best rink of Jenny Desborough, Margaret Grainger, Terri Handley and Neil Handley who had a 14-10 win. The rest of the rink scores were: Heather Pearson, Maggie Holden, Colin Burgess, Grenville Pearson lost 13-22; Reg Goode, Serena Brunning, Howard Neath, Jill Goode lost 7-21, Judith Childs, Carolyn Gray, Adrian Childs, Peter Gray won 16-13; Linda Childs, Roly McHard, Cherry Burgess, Ken White lost 9-32; Ann Preston- Bambridge, Rosemary Roberts, Nigel Trigg, John McPherson lost 14-20.
Over 60s Double Rink Extra end defeat.
A dramatic extra end brought disappointment for Stamford A Over 60 double rink team on Tuesday against Louth as they bid to reach the national quarter finals.
The home rink of Dave Hudson, Mick Owens, Richard Montgomery and skip Martyn Dolby had a disappointing off-day and lost 13-19 as they failed to put enough pressure on the opposition with a string of short woods. The visitors took control, by scoring 10 shots over five ends in the middle of the 18 played and then came an anxious wait for news from Louth, where proceedings were a few ends behind.
There, Roger Martin's rink, completed by Richard Allan, Mick Linnell and Alan Barnes found better form by winning 19-13 forcing an extra end to be played as the match leveled at 32-32. As the first-named club in the fixture, the honour of staging the extra end went to Louth but Stamford were still not done, drawing the shot for the lead, until the home skip took it off for their team to go through 33-32.
Said Stamford captain Martyn Dolby: " We're disappointed not to win and all the credit on the day goes to our away rink who put up a very good performance and nearly saw us home." Stamford had previously beaten March, Charnwood, Leicester and Melton.
On a brighter note in The National Ladies pairs Katie Bailey and Louise Harris (Stamford) reached the area final with an impressive 21-6 win at Spalding on Saturday night, conceding only three ends to the home side's Annie Dunham and Laren Finbow. They will now face Rita James and partner from Melton Mowbray on a neutral green in a match to be played by March, 8.
Having won against Sheila Craig in the first round of the National Ladies Senior pairs, Christine Ford and June Brennan were due to face Carol Hunter from Peterborough in the area semi final but as that match was conceded they will now face the winner of Sue Lemmon & partner (Melton Mowbray) and Sharon Cobb & partner (Carlton, Enderby Leics) at a neutral green by March15.
Stamford Over 60s team face a tough test on Friday Feb, 7 when they entertain runaway leaders Lincoln in division one of the Lincs Over 60s League. Lincoln go into the match with 126 points from nine matches played, with Scunthorpe their nearest rivals (69 from 7) and Stamford third in the table with 62 from five and 18 points available from each fixture to be played. The match starts at 10.30am.
Team: D Hudson, J Bourne, P Burt, C Watson; T Barwell, M Linnell, R Montgomery, T Collins; D King, D Henshaw, K Vinter, M Owens; R Blake, D Cave, K Rippin, R Martin; D Heffernan, S Travis, D Miller, T Christie. Res: D Bruce, C Jones, R Graham.
Christine Ford's Stamford Mixed team have a chance on Sunday to improve their chances of staying in the first division of the Lincs Mixed League when they entertain Horncastle. (1.10pm).
Stamford are currently one from bottom with 29 points from four games while Horncastle lie a place above with 38 from five. In bottom place are Lincoln A (22 from five) who Stamford travel to meet on Feb 22.
Team for Sunday: C Gray, A Sampy, A McNaughton, P Bailey; M King, J Suffling, S Suffling, D King; J Brennan, J Lonslow, A Lonslow, J Little; E Wallace, C Jones, M Smith, S Moir; T Barwell, V Du'Kett, M Wallace, C Ford.