DORCHESTER 88

HONITON 67

DORCHESTER Ladies pulled off a stunning 88-67 win over Honiton to reach the quarter-finals of the National Yetton Plate.

Having overcome Ilminster, Taunton and the Isle of Wedmore in previous rounds Dorchester ladies were expecting to meet sterner opposition in the shape of Honiton, in their quest to reach the last eight.

In the event the game proved to be relatively comfortable for the county town team mainly thanks to fine performances by the two travelling rinks, who found the facilities at Honiton to their liking, while the home rinks produced workmanlike performances, which neatly complemented the away players' efforts.

At Dorchester the home quartet of Ronnie Stevenson, Carol Baker, Sylvia Lawley and Barbara Lacey were unlikely to repeat their record breaking 51-7 victory of the previous round, and found the Honiton four skipped by Gwen Hawke much sterner opposition.

At the halfway point they trailed by four shots, while a run of four scoring ends put Lacey ahead at 13-10, but a stubborn Honiton response produced an honours-even 17-17 draw.

Barbara Redpath, Isabelle Addison, and Eve Peavoy, skipped by Freda Yates produced another balanced performance against Honiton’s Di Morley, but also had to recover from a 0-5 situation and later an 8-11 reverse to finish 23-18 winners.

The trip over the border into Devon for the travelling rinks proved highly successful with both rinks outsmarting their hosts.

Sue Maggs, Joan Narraway, Di Lunn and veteran skip Sue Jennings were too strong for Heather Chambers skipping the Honiton home rink as Dorchester stormed to a likely unassailable position of 25-10 with only three ends to play.

However defeat was almost snatched from the jaws of victory as they dropped their guard and a total of 11 shots on the run-in gave a much closer 25-21 score line.

It was left to Dorchester skip Margaret Cullip -well supported by Ros Gwatkin, Gwen Caundle and Ladies' captain Linda Hill - to record a top rink result when romping to lead 13-1 and holding their advantage throughout the game to finish 23-11 to the good.

For Dorchester it was three rink wins and a draw, and job done, with the prize achieved of a home and away quarter-final fixture against Swindon's Westlecott Bowls Club in two weeks' time.