ABERGAVENNY Bowls Club has been involved in a busy week of games including two men’s league games, a ladies league game and a mixed friendly fixture. These coupled with both MBA and EMBA competition games has kept members occupied over the last seven days.

Abergavenny men played an MBA game at Croesyceiliog, who were unbeaten in the MBA at this stage of the season. Despite the good start to the season by their opponents, Abergavenny managed to win on three of the four rinks to defeat Croesyceiliog by 88 shots to 77.

After a good start, Matthew Vale’s rink always held the advantage in their encounter and after a high scoring game they managed to hold onto their lead to win by 28 shots to 25. John Beaton’s rink built a 15 shot lead with three ends to play. Despite their opponents scoring six shots on the final two ends, the Abergavenny rink won comfortably by 25 shots to 16.

Jack Vale’s rink was five shots down with five ends to play. They turned the situation round by scoring 11 shots, without conceding any, to register a win by 22 shots to 18. Unfortunately, although the game was close, Anthony Moriarty’s rink could not make it a clean sweep for Abergavenny. They conceded four shots over the final three ends to lose their game by 18 shots to 13.

Abergavenny men also played a GBL game against local rivals Bailey Park at Avenue Road. They lost on two rinks and won on one, losing the game by 66 shots to 50. The victorious rink for Abergavenny was that of Ron Smith. They scored six shots over the final four ends, enabling them to win the game by 16 shots to 15. Although the rink of Keith Richards fought back over the final four ends, they were unable to overtake their opponents lead and therefore lost by 22 shots to 19. On Maurice Padfield’s rink, the Bailey Park bowlers had an unassailable lead at the halfway stage of the game. Despite a fight-back by the Abergavenny rink, this early lead enabled them to register a win by 29 shots to 15.

During the past week Abergavenny Ladies played a league game against Panteg House at Avenue Road. In a game reduced to two rinks, Abergavenny won on each rink to win the game by 40 shots to 17. Both the rinks of Ceri Clark and Mary Evans had comfortable victories with the result never in doubt fro the beginning of the game. Ceri Clark’s rink won by 24 shots to nine and Mary Evans rink by 16 shots to eight.

A joint ladies and men’s team welcomed a Chepstow mixed team for a friendly fixture in mid-week. Chepstow managed to win on two rinks, draw on one and lose one to win the game by 70 shots to 59. For Abergavenny, the winning rink was that of Ceri Clark. They took control from the halfway stage of the game to outscore their opponents in the second half and win by 23 shots to eight. Judy Belli’s rink was eight shots behind after six ends. They fought back to be all square at thirteen all after 13 ends. Each team then scored four more shots over the closing stages to draw the game 17 shots all. Ron Smith’s rink conceded shots during the third quarter of their game. This gave the Chepstow rink the impetus to forge ahead and win by 21 shots to 13. Sue Williams’ rink could never get a toehold into their game after the Chepstow rink built an early ten shot lead. They consolidated on this early lead to win by 24 shots to six.

This week-end Abergavenny men have two MBA games, a home fixture against Newbrige on Saturday and a rearranged game at Blaina on Sunday. The GBL team play at Bedwelty Park on Saturday. The ladies will also play a rearranged league game against Beechwood at Avenue Road.