ST. THOMAS’ (H’West) 75 PENDINE 90

Pendine and St. Thomas faced their first Division One match of the season last Saturday and on a fine, sunny afternoon, the green was in excellent shape and speed for so early in the season.

Rink one had Trevor Harris, who played lead for Haverfordwest last year, skipping his rink against Geoff Hale’s four and from the off, Trevor and his lead John Smith were in good form, while Pendine’s rink struggled with the speed and the land and were 5-18 down after 10 ends. Then after the tea break, Pendine, refreshed and determined, fought back marvellously to be ahead 21-20 by the 18th end, but sadly lost on the last three ends to end 26-21 (but what a comeback).

On rink two, Stewart K. T.’s rink was opposed by Mike Codd’s quartet. Stewart’s lads obviously found the green to their liking and delivered well, being 7-2 up after five ends and 16-4 up after 10, but then St. Thomas scored a six and two on the next two ends to reduce the lead to 16-10. However, Pendine ran out 25-18 winners.

Rink three had Mal Evans skipping against Neil Crawford’s rink which included last year’s Haverfordwest player, the mercurial ‘Wilko’, at third. This was a tight fought contest, with St. Thomas 3-2 up at the start and 8-7 up at 10 ends, but Pendine got back to 16-13 up on the 18th end and won 18-15.

Rink four saw D.K.T’s unit versus Lyndon Frayling’ s quartet and with Pendine’s four all playing well on the fast pace of the green, they led 14-7 at the tea break and 18-11 on the 15th, maintaining their effectiveness throughout to win 26-16.

Rink scores (Pendine first) were as follows:

P. Leeds, E. Davies, M. Dix, G. Hale 21; J. Smith, Bus Jenkins, K. Simpson, T. Harris 26.

D. James, A. Collinge, C. Rance, S. King Thomas 25; B. Butters, S. John, R. Harris, M. Codd 18.

J. Shields, D. Stewart, A. Edwards, M. Evans 18; T. Waters, L. Murphy, A. Wilkins, N. Crawford 15.

R. Davies, D. Roberts, R. Truelove, D. King Thomas 26; M. Jones, M. Lawrence, M. Davies, L. Frayling 16.