SWORDS REPORT

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Apologies everybody for the delay in posting the reports from the last three Swords games. Everything has been really manic for the past few weeks, so I am going o take the liberty of combining all three reports in to one.

On Thursday 13th February we travelled the short distance to take on the BBC Dolphins. In our first rink the trip of Greg, Christina, and Adrian took a bit of a thumping, winning only three of the eighteen ends before going down 29 -8. On the next rink the trip of Selma, Betty ad Jill Glastonbury faired much better, leading 13 – 12 after sixteen ends, before dropping a three and a one on the last two ends, before finally going down 16 – 13. The trip of Iris, Tony Spike, and Ian battled hard against a very experienced trip, however dropping two three’s and two fours during the game did them no favours, finally losing 22 – 19. This left the final trip of Per,, Tony Bishop, and John to save the day, and they scored consistently during the game finally romping home 30 – 14. Our friendly trip of Mary, Phil, and Norma also had an excellent game, winning thirteen of the eighteen ends to run out 26 – 9 winners. All this resulted in a final points score of 8 – 2 to the Dolphins, however the tasty soup and roll afterwards provided some consolation.

On Monday 17th February we entertained the BBC Barracudas, desperate to gain revenge after the 10 – 0 drubbing they gave us earlier in the season. It started well with Greg, Chrstina, and Adrian finding their form after the previous beating, winning a very tight match by 12 – 9. We were pleased to welcome Clive Scott back in the team, and his experience gave us the edge in the next game, leading his trip of himself, Iris, and Phil home 22 – 9. An even better result followed for the trip of Selma, Norma, and Jill Glastonbury, who never gave their opponents a look in before cruising to a 31 - 6 win. This left last weeks hero’s, the trip of Per, Tony Bishopp, and John to avenge our previous whitewash by the Barracudas. In a tight match where there was never more than two points between the two sides our opponents eased to a 13 – 11 lead after seventeen ends, and despite picking up a single on the last end we went down 13 – 12, resulting in an 8 – 2 victory. It’s a shame we couldn’t include the friendly game in to the match, as our trip of Pat, Tony Spike, and Ian had a great result winning 39 - 9.

So on to our last game of the season on the 24th February, a trip down the motorway to take on our good friends the Bonalba Colts. Like ourselves they were fighting to avoid the league wooden spoon, and we were expecting a very competitive match. The trip of Adrian, Christina, and Greg are really starting to gel now, and they got us off to a great start by winning a tight game 24 – 20. Unfortunately our go to trip of Selma, Norma, and Jill Glastonbury struggled against a very good trip skipped by John Archer and couldn’t really get in to the game, going down 19 – 9. Despite not feeling well Jimmy led his trip including Tony Bishop and Ian very well, although the game was still very tight at 7 – 5 after nine ends. A couple of four’s then prompted a late surge and they finally ran out 20-08 victors. In the final game the trip of Iris, Tony Spike, and John took on another very experienced trip skipped by Joe Tobin, with the scores locked at 15 – 15 after seventeen ends it was anybody’s game. It looked very good as John drew shot with his second bowl, only for Joe to take it back again. John’s final bowl touched Joes shot bowl but it stayed in place, and with Joe throwing his last bowl in the ditch the result finished 16 – 15 to the Colts. With the Swords picking up the two points for winning the shots, the final result was a 6 – 4 win. Again our friendly trip had a great game, winning 26 -17, proving yet again that we have real strength in depth in our squad.

With The Marlins still having a couple of games to play our league position is not assured, however I predict we should finish the season in sixth place. If only we could have started the league season as we finished it we could possibly been a couple of places higher, however all in all it was a good campaign which I am sure all the Swords benefitted from. Apologies to those who did not many games this year however with a squad of twenty four players, and several of our opponents unable to field a friendly, team selection was always going to difficult. It’s all change next year within the league changing to just three trips per team, giving clubs the opportunity to put more teams in to the league. The unfortunate result of this will be that the Swords squad as we know it will be partially split up, so I will take this opportunity to thank everybody who supported myself and Ian during the year, and wish you every success with the new league set-up in the future.

Regards,

John Feek

Captain – El Cid Swords