Ballymena '˜C' team bowlers enjoy emphatic win over Falls

Plenty of instructions at Ballymena Bowling Club on Saturday where Ballymena's 'C' team took on the Falls.

The Old Ballymoney Road side claimed a well deserved 6 points as they emerged victorious by 89 shots to 53.

John Montgomery, Roy Kernohan, William Crawford and John Elliott started slowly against J Given on rink 1 as the visitors took an early 7 shot lead after only 3 ends.

Over the next few ends the Braid men gradually reduced the arrears and by the time the game had reached the 14th end the gap was down to only 3 shots.

Artie McAuley lines up a delivery for Ballymena 'C' against Falls on Saturday.

A count of 4 shots on the next end gave the Ballymena men the lead for the first time however 4 ends later the scores were level at 15-15.

The Falls rink picked up 3 shots on the penultimate end and this was enough to secure victory as the Braid rink could only claim 2 shots on the final end to leave the final score 17-18

Alan Smyth, Gary Shaw, Artie McAuley and Alex Wilson were in great form against H Sergeant on rink 2.

Both rinks actually won 5 of the opening 10 ends however the visitors could only score 5 singles while the Braid rink picked up 12 shots to lead by 7.

Two ends later the Ballymena men had doubled their lead and a count of 5 shots on the 16th end and 4 shots on the 18th end gave Wilson’s men a fine 30-10 victory.

There was very little to choose between Keith Burnett, Leslie Jackson, Andy Hill and Nigel McFadden and the visiting rink skipped by P Thompson on rink 3.

At the half way stage of the game the Ballymena men led by 7 shots to 6.

The complexion of the game changed over the next 7 ends when the Braid rink outscored the visitors by 12 shots to 1.

There was no way back for the Falls men and McFadden’s rink went on to claim a comfortable 22-10 victory.

Jimmy Shields, Robert Mark, Dessie Shaw and Liam Lyness did not make the best of starts against F McCorry on rink 4.

With 10 of the regulation 21 ends completed they trailed by 12 shots to 4.

However, the Ballymena men fought back and 6 ends later they had reduced the arrears to 3 shots.

The momentum was now with the Braid rink and they won all of the remaining ends to claim a hard fought 20-15 victory.

Ballymena C will be hoping to build on the momentum of this win when they make the short journey to Randalstown to face neighbours Old Bleach B this week.