DORCHESTER 75

EXONIA 84

DORCHESTER fell to an 84-75 defeat, despite a great show, when taking on star-studded Exeter side Exonia in the last-16 stage of the men’s national Denny Cup.

Their opponents packed with Devon’s top talent polarised into one club contained six England full internationals and household names in the world of bowls, and holders of a lot of national titles.

In the event, the county town players, enjoying one of their best seasons for some time, gave their illustrious opponents more of a match than they bargained for.

At the Sandringham Centre venue, home Dorchester players Steve Willsher playing his first Denny Cup game, Dave Joslin, Roger Nicholas and former under-25 England international skip Nick Voss crossed swords with Exonia international Jamie Chestney and his fellow international Louis Rideout, playing at three.

Voss and co proceeded to rock their opponents as they took an unexpected 10-4 lead and stayed in the ascendency until one end from home when Chestney scraped into a two-shot lead at 21-19.

Voss had the final throw of the dice as he gained the two shots required for a creditable 21-21 draw.

Fellow Dorchester home skip – international Martin Puckett – lined up with 15-year-old James Roe, Phil Hallett and Dean Curtis as they tackled in favour of England international Sam Tolchard, in tandem with Devon’s long-serving player Kevin Phillips.

The Dorchester four collected scores on the opening ends and moved ahead to take a 14-6 lead.

Tolchard reduced the deficit to three shots before Puckett and co stole all four final ends to pull off a 22-13 win to give Dorchester a home leg advantage of nine shots.

The task of the two travelling Dorchester rinks was equally daunting with Devon international skips Ian Bond and Robert Paxton waiting to take full advantage of their home status.

The Bond rink was paired with Dorchester players Brian Paulson, Terry Greenman, Colin Gifford and skip Darren Nutman.

Dorchester kept in touch with the Bond quartet who led for the entire game but never more than by single figures.

Nutman scored on the final two ends and completed the game losing by only four shots to gain a splendid 22-18 result.

Fellow Dorchester travellers Kevin Holbrook, Dave Tremlin, Ged Costello and George Spracklen squared up to in-form international Robert Paxton, who led his Devon Liberty Trophy rink to secure a deserved 28-14 result to deal Dorchester a nine-shot overall defeat.

The final nine-shot overall defeat was disappointing for the county town side, but the players can take a great deal of credit for their spirited performance, which left their opponent relieved to have won the day and gain a place in the quarter-finals.