Ladywell played an away match against Southwark Park in the Round Robin stage of the Ron Hams Cup on Saturday 10th June. And in a close match, Ladywell gained a narrow victory.
The Ron Hams Cup involves three matches - one single, one pair and one triple - played simultaneously, with the winning team on each rink gaining two points, and a further four points for the club that gains the most overall points. And after a close loss in their first match in the competition at Dulwich Park the previous week, Ladywell were looking for a win.
In blisteringly hot conditions, the two clubs agreed to extra drinks breaks to ensure players stayed hydrated. And at the beginning of the match, everyone observed a minute's silence in memory of the Southwark Park Treasurer, John Mannering, who had sadly passed away earlier in the week.
Once the match got under way, in the singles, Ladywell's Mark Simmons moved into a strong lead, starting with three shots on the opening end and gradually building on this. In fact, at one stage Mark had a commanding 15-7 lead after 14 ends, needing only six more points for a win. But his Southwark Park opponent staged a remarkable fightback and after 21 ends, he'd completely turned the match around, taking the lead for the first time by 17-16. And, although Mark tied the scores at 17-17 on the 22nd end, his opponent gained a maximum four points on the following end, to take the match 21-17.
The Ladywell pair of Norman Lewis and Skip, Des Marrett got off to a slow start and were 6-0 down after three ends, but a score of four shots on the fourth end reduced the deficit to just two points. Unfortunately, they couldn't build on that score - in fact, it was their only score in the first nine ends, by which time they were trailing 4-14. Although they pulled back to 8-14, the Southwark Park pair soon got back into their stride and so Ladywell eventually went down by 12-22.
This left the Ladywell triple of Ian Bradford, Robert Dunn and Skip, Phil Welch, to get Ladywell on the scoreboard. After conceding two shots on the opening end, they gained three points on the second end to take the lead. This led to an impressive run of form, which saw them take the following seven ends without reply. So, at the break, despite Southwark Park gaining a shot on the ninth end, Ladywell had a commanding 17-3 lead. This trend continued after the break, with every member of the Ladywell team playing near their best and allowing the Southwark Park triple just two more points in the match. So, by the end, Ladywell had gained an impressive 28-5 win.
The win for Ladywell's triple proved crucial, as it gave Ladywell an overall win by 58-47. So, Southwark Park gained four points and Ladywell six.
Comments