Dartmouth Bowling Club

Hoping to consolidate their ­position at the top of the Mid-Devon League, Dartmouth travelled to Paignton B full of optimism ­following recent good away form.

Unfortunately, that proved to be ill-founded.

Rink 1 – P Irvine, T Deighton, P Caddy and skip P Hannaford – was tight until the eighth end, and a six-shot drop on the next end resulted in that being the difference at tea.

Immediately after a further five-shot drop increased the home side’s lead to 11 – a steep mountain that this quartet were unable to climb, despite a strong comeback cutting the deficit to four shots. But Paignton came again to win 26-17.

Rink 2’s R Lambden, J Hawkins, S Ivey and skip M Hawkins were

in the lead until the sixth end. Dartmouth then dropped five shots, which saw Paignton take a lead that was never relinquished. Paignton ran out deserved 30-16 winners.

Rink 3’s T Taylor, J Bowden, S Shaw and skip D Sherlock, having gone 10 shots behind after five

ends, were never in contention, ­succumbing to a 30-11 defeat.

Rink 4, made up of M Durston, B Brehout, M Greenland and skip W Varnam, got off to a good start, keeping the home side from scoring until the seventh end. Shortly after the interval Darts were 10 points to the good. Paignton, however, had a five-shot gain on the penultimate end to narrow the gap to just three, but winning the last end gave Darts their only win of the day, 19-15.

A slightly disappointing overall defeat, 101-63, meaning a 12-2 loss in league points.

Dartmouth entertained Stoke Fleming in the home leg of the annual ‘Ashes’ trophy facing an 18-shot deficit from the first away leg.

Rink 1’s T Taylor, T Deighton and skip P Hannaford started well and kept the lead throughout, running out 21-13 winners, despite a mini-comeback from the villagers.

Rink 2’s P Irvine, B Brehout and skip P Caddy took the lead after the second end and steadily increased their advantage to seven shots by end 14, but Stoke cut this to two with two ends to play. Dartmouth kept their nerve to win 18-12.

Rink 3, with J Bowden, S Shaw and skip M Greenland, took a five-shot lead into end 16, but lost seven shots on the last three ends to slide to a 16-14 defeat.

Rink 4 was made up of J Hawkins, S Ivey and skip M Hawkins. A 10-shot gain over four ends gave stoke an eight-shot lead, which Darts clawed back with two four-shot wins to level. Stoke replied strongly, and despite a two-shot gain on the last end for Darts, a narrow 19-18 loss resulted.

Overall Stoke Fleming retained the Ashes Trophy by seven shots over the two legs. Next year, maybe the tide will turn.