‘B’ team come up ‘Short’ after big midweek win

Not only scored over 100 shots but also claimed a maximum 7 points in a 101-54.25 victory.

Alan Smyth, Arnold Kenny, Nigel McFadden and John Coulter had their best performance of the season against A Orr The first half was a cagey affair and at the half way stage of the contest the Braid men lead by 8 shots to 7. The second period of the game however was a different story as the Ballymena rink took control of the game. Counts of 4 shots on the 11th end and 6 shots on the 15th end propelled Coulter’s men in to a 16 shot lead and they continued to rack up the shots over the remainder of the game to go on and record a fine 33-9 victory.

Billy McCandless, Stuart McCarthy, Danny McCullough and Ivan Lynn took on K McGarry. It did not look good for the Braid quartet as the visitors settled down much more quickly and with 8 ends played the visitors lead by 4 shots. Worse still was to follow as the PSNI rink extended their advantage to 10 shots over the next 4 ends. The Ballymena men hit back and they played themselves back in to the game when they scored 11 unanswered shots to lead for the first time since the opening end. The visitors however were not finished and going in to the final end they had nosed in front again and looked set to win their point but Lynn’s men had the final say when they picked up a count of 5 shots to stun the visitors and win the game by 23 shots to 21 (score adjusted to 23-15.5 as the PSNI rink could only field 3 players).

Mark Pearson, Joe McKeown, Geoff Padgett and Chris Wilson found it tough going against G McGarry and with 7 ends played they trailed by 5 shots to 4. Seven shots to the Braid men over the next 2 ends however put some light between themselves and the visitors but the PSNI men hit back when they scored 9 shots without reply over the next 5 ends to regain the lead. With 4 ends to play the teams were level with the score board reading 15-15 but 2 singles and a count of 4 shots saw the Ballymena men home by 21 shots to 17.

Alan McAuley, John McFall, Tommy Hill and Roy Torrington made a good start in their game against P Franks when they won 6 of the first 9 ends to open up a 9 shot advantage. The Braid men were always able to maintain a healthy advantage and with 17 ends played 9 shots was still the advantage with the score board reading 19-10. Over the remainder of the game the Ballymena rink pulled further away and in the end they eased to a 24-13 victory.

Ballymena B 75, Shorts 78: The Ballymena men travelled to Shorts last Saturday looking to cement their place at the summit of NIPGL Division 3 however after a very close game the visitors narrowly missed out on victory and had to settle for 2 points which sees them slip to second position.

Billy McCandless, Neal Garrett, Danny McCullough and Ivan Lynn were drawn against R Livingstone. Each of the rinks won 5 of the opening 10 ends however counts of 4 shots on the 8th end and 3 shots on the 10th end gave the visitors the edge. Seven ends later however the home rink had fought back to level the game with the score board reading 13-13. Both rinks picked up 2 shots over the next 2 ends and it was no surprise that the game ended in stalemate with both rinks scoring singles over the last to ends to leave the final score 16-16.

Alan McAuley, John McFall, Tommy Hill and George Graham were involved in a fascinating game against A Gray. The Braid men took an early lead when they picked up 6 shots over the first 2 ends however the home rink replied with a count of 7 shots on the 4th end.

The visitors regained their composure and with 16 ends completed the game was level at 18-18. With only 2 ends remaining the Ballymena rink were poised for victory but the home rink had not read the script and a count of 4 shots on the penultimate end gave the Shorts rink the narrowest of leads but a single on the final end gave Lynn’s men a share of the spoils with the final score 23-23.

Alan Smyth, Arnold Kenny, Nigel McFadden and Andrew Morrison led by five shots at the halfway stage against T Roberts. The home rink actually won 5 of the next 7 ends, however they could only pick up 5 singles while counts of 4 and 3 on the 15th and 17th ends saw the Braid men extend their advantage to 7 shots as they eventually won 25-18.

Mark Pearson, Joe McKeown, Geoff Padgett and Chris Wilson did not have the best of days against G Robinson with the final score 21-11 in favour of the home rink.