DORCHESTER 80

WELLWORTHY 42

HAVING been eliminated from the main Denny competition by two shots in the first round to near neighbours Moonfleet, Dorchester qualified for the chance to redeem themselves with a good performance in the Denny Plate competition.

The club reached the national quarter-final stage of this competition last season and got off to a good start this year with a comprehensive win over Wellworthy Indoor Bowls Club.

The two Dorchester travelling rinks gave the county town side a great platform by earning a win and a draw.

Brian Paulson, Kevin Roche, Phil Hallett and skip David Joslin quickly adjusted to the Wellworthy carpet, and were trading shots to 8-8 before overhauling the Graham Reed rink on the run in to record a healthy 16-10 win.

Alongside them Clive Matthews, Dave Glanville, Ged Costello and skip Roger Nicholas had a battle with the Wellworthy rink skipped by Terry Vincent and the scores were never more than two shots apart for the duration of the game.

Vincent held a 10-8 lead with two ends remaining, which Dorchester won with singles to tie up the result 10-10.

The plus six shots away performance meant that the Dorchester home players could relax and build on the advantage.

John Lawlor, Leigh Meyers, Terry Greenman and Dorchester skip Colin Gifford did initially have to work hard against a determined Wellworthy quartet skipped by Dave Hanger and found themselves trailing 8-6 early on.

Gifford and company soon moved ahead thanks to several winning ends and a decisive five shots on the 11 end.

Dorchester’s final winning margin was a creditable 10 shots, at 24-14.

Meanwhile the companion home rink of Jack Corbin-Willetts, Frank Gwatkin, Martin Patterson and George Spracklen, with the latter switched to take the skip position in the absence of Nick Voss, had a field day at the expense of Colin Slade’s Wellworthy four, allowing their opponents just five winning ends of the 18 played.

Heavy scoring from the Dorchester rink rewarded them with a top rink score of 30-8.