Pembroke Dock 90 (10 pts) Saundersfoot 73 (4)

Pembroke Dock continued their climb up the league last Saturday with a fine 90-73 victory over a strong Saundersfoot side at the Memorial Park, picking up 10 points, lifting them into a creditable fifth place.

Saundersfoot have enjoyed a good start to the season and have mounted a strong challenge to near neighbours Tenby and Haverfordwest, so a keen battle was anticipated.

Dave Finn, Hugh Colley, Hugh Williams and Matt John were drawn to play on rink one (The Swinger) for the second consecutive game, but were unable to repeat the performance of the previous week. This was an entertaining, high scoring contest, with Hugh Williams and Saundersfoot’s club captain Mackie Brace enjoying a titanic tussle playing some terrific draw shots. Although the home side were six shots ahead after 14 ends, they were unable to hold on to the lead and lost narrowly 26 -24.

Rink two: Boyd Parry, Brian Cale, Ken Edwards and club captain Richard Jones struggled during the early stages, with Alan Brain’s rink holding a narrow lead at the midway point. However, from the 13th end onwards, the home side stormed ahead, scoring a massive 26 shots to Saundersfoot’s return of just four shots. An excellent 34-14 win ensued - great to see Brian Cale, who had an excellent game, back amongst the fold after a lengthy lay-off.

On rink three, Richard Hissey’s rink of Paul Griffiths, Karl Bierschenk and Reg Thomas were unable to repeat the successes of the past few weeks and went down to a disappointing 20-12 defeat at the hands of Steve Dick’s four, who led from start to finish.

Rink four: Tudor Harries, Alan Yea, Dave Halward and Brian Dowling clinched another two points with a hard fought 20-13 win against Joe Dennis’s rink. Selwyn Price of Saundersfoot was full of praise for Brian Dowling’s performance, describing it as ‘a truly outstanding display’.

Following the game, both sets of players put their ‘on green’ rivalry aside and sat down together to watch the Wales v Northern Ireland football game in the clubhouse. Good luck tonight (Friday) against Belgium - you have made the nation proud!

Pembrokeshire County Bowling Association Finals

Tomorrow (Saturday) sees the finals of the various competitions being held at Saundersfoot BC - the home club of county president, Paul Blayney.

Pembroke Dock is well represented this year, with Paul Griffiths contesting the under 35 singles. The Ken Edwards/Richard Jones duo will play Mackie Brace and Paul Blayney for the senior pairs trophy. In the final of the senior rinks, Bran Dowling, Hugh Colley, Ken Edwards and Richard Jones will be hoping to retain the trophy they won in 2015.

The winners of the 11 competitions will represent Pembrokeshire at the Welsh Finals to be held at Llandrindod Wells in August.

Footnote: Last week was certainly a week to remember for Paul Griffiths. On Monday evening he won through to the County Finals (see above) and on Thursday became a proud father of a baby boy (Iestyn) - congratulations to both Paul and Michelle. (To round the week off, on Saturday he won a prize in the post-match raffle)!