8:00am Saturday 20th March 2010
WESTLECOT men are through to the semi-finals in the Wessex League end-of-season play-offs.
Despite only qualifying for the last 16 and play-offs as a wild card entrant, they produced another superb performance to lower the colours of North Region champions Cotswold.
Westlecot took the honours on three of the four rinks as they beat the Stroud-based club by 15 shots in their Wessex quarter-final.
After a poor start to this season’s campaign in the east section and pre-Christmas losses to both West Berks and surprisingly Oxford City & County, Westlecot have bounced back splendidly.
Before this indoor season began, it was decided to give some of the up and coming youngsters a chance and blend youth with experience in the Wessex League.
It took a while for the policy and players to gel, but now all is well as the 2010 revival continued with an 87-72 victory over Cotswold.
Westlecot made a flying start across the board against Cotswold and led 27-13 at five ends. That advantage was extended to 49-30 and 66-46 at 10 and 15 ends respectively.
The Gloucestershire side hit back in the next three ends to cut the deficit to only 73-63 and set the nerves jangling. But Westlecot regrouped and pulled away in the last three ends to win by 15 shots.
The foundations for victory were laid at home at Westlecot with both rinks in fine form and piling up the shots.
Ian Jefferies’ unchanged quartet, with two youths and two old heads, dominated again and recorded another big win, inflicting the first loss this season on Tom Griffith’s quartet.
Jefferies was 11-0 up at five ends, 20-4 ahead at 10 and 25-6 at 15 before eventually winning by 17 shots.
Alongside Dave Snell’s rink was 11-4 up at 10 ends. They led 18-9 at 15 and were pegged back slightly, but finally won by six shots.
Away in Stroud Neil Smith led for most his match and was 13-9 up at ten ends.
The gap was cut to 16-15 at 15 and he actually trailed 20-17 at 18 ends. However, a big final push saw him collect a further seven shots and win 24-21.
The only loss was suffered by Gary Morphet’s rink, who were under pressure throughout against skip Steve Knight and his strong lead Neil Chandler, but managed to limit the deficit to only 11 shots.
Westlecot will now play Dolphin (Poole), another wild card entrant, who beat West Berks, winners of Westlecot’s East Region, in the semi-final, which is due to be staged at Bromsgrove on March 28.
In the other semi at West Berks, Newbury, on the same day, Solihull face Weymouth side Moonfleet.
RESULTS Home Rink 1: Josh Cottle, Tony Rivers, Tom Walkley and Dave Snell beat Keith Hinder 23-17.
Rink 2: Kyle Anderson, Josh Fail, Kevin Embling and Ian Jefferies beat Tom Griffiths 29-12.
Away Rink 1: Paul Kistle, Dave Matthews, Hedley Bowen and Gary Morphet lost to Steve Knight 11-22.
Rink 2: Mike Hall, Rod Holborow, John Thomas and Neil Smith beat Dave Howes 24-21.
Overall score: Westlecot beat Bristol 87-72.
QUARTER-FINAL PLAY-OFF RESULTS Dolphin (Wild Card) 74 West Berks (Runner-up East) 68; Cotswold (Winner North) 72 WESTLECOT (WILD CARD) 87; Clarrie Dunbar (Runner-up Central) 79 Solihull (Winner Midlands) 82; Exonia (Runner-up West) 67 Moonfleet (Winner Coastal) 89 Semi-finals Sunday, March 14 Dolphin v Westlecot (at Bromsgrove at 11am) Solihull v Moonfleet (at West Berks, Newbury at 11am) Final To be played on Sunday, April 25 at 10am at Oxford & District Indoor Bowls Club.
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