The 2018 Pennant season drew to a close on Saturday with the two Tuross Head sides involved in familiar, albeit ultimately disappointing, matches. The Grade 5 side went down to Dalmeny at Dalmeny while the Grade 7 lost at home to Braidwood. To add to the woes the windy conditions added to the frustrations for the players. The Grade 5 game looked like being a real blowout as Dalmeny raced to a big lead on the master board. As the games progressed the Tuross teams fought back and narrowed the margin. John Fahey’s four struggled early but gradually gained control through some excellent play by Michael Kennedy and John Fahey. On the 19 th end Fahey played a crucial bowl. His team was in real bother but with his last bowl he managed to disturb the head and turn a five shot deficit into a three shot advantage! They won their rink 23 – 15. Joel Hilliard topped off an excellent season with another starring performance to guide his team to a 22 – 15 win. A poor 7 h end allowed Dalmeny to gain four shots and take the lead for the first time in the match. Tuross steadied and by the 13 th end led 12 – 9 only to drop another 4 on the 14 th end to surrender the lead! With the help of Alan McLeod, Hilliard struck back immediately with four shots on the 15 th end and another two on the 16 th end to gain control at 18 – 13. They went on to win 22 – 15. Peter Wood had a horror start with his opponent, Alan Betts, in supreme form. Dalmeny jumped out to a 22 – 0 lead after eight ends. Tuross showed plenty of fight in the remainder of the match winning more ends than Dalmeny and narrowing the score to 36 -22. Unfortunately for Tuross the big margin on this rink was enough to wipe out the two good results on the other two rinks. Dalmeny won 66 – 57 and picked up an 8 – 2 overall win. The Grade 7 side was hoping for a consolation win against Braidwood, the competition leaders who were assured of winning the pennant. It was another competitive contest with Braidwood securing a win on the back of a good win on one rink. Ronnie Richardson’s side carried the flag for Tuross winning their rink. In a low scoring game they were able to keep their head in front for much of clash. They won 19 – 14. Jim Madden’s four had a very close match with the lead changing 10 times! After 18 ends Madden led 18 – 17 but they lost two of the last three ends to lose 22 – 19. Ian Wratten’s side found it hard to get into their game. They were down 8 – 1 after six ends and 14 – 4 after 11 ends. To add insult to injury they dropped 5 shots on the 20 th end to see the final score blowout to 25 – 11 to the visitors. The final result was a 61 to 49 victory to Braidwood. They won 9 points to 1 to consolidate their position as the Grade 7 Pennant winners for 2018.
