2011/12
Quarter Final
Wymondham 10 (67) v Connaught A 14 (59) - 30/01/2012
P. Saunders, M. Fisher, M. Linsdell (A. Jackson) 4-6, 7-1 and 2-6.
M. George, P. King and C. Mann 5-7, 14-0 and 7-3.
J. Barrett, A. Stratton and D. Phillips 3-8, 6-3 and 6-5.
R. Steele, M. Barker and B. Saunders 3-6, 5-8 and 4-6.
A disappointing result which was marred with the injury suffered to Mark Linsdell halfway through the match. This is now the third defeat that Connaught A have inflicted on Wymondham since they started competing in the cup as the hosts gave themselves to bigger hill to climb after lossing the first two sessions. Mark's first match against Bill Adcock was frustrating as he didn't quite get the rub of the green and eventually went down 4-6. Chris's match however developed into a simmilar pattern after going 4-1 ahead after two ends the third ultimately cost them as they dropped a four themselves with Blazer playing a weighted shot that went wrong, which after the shot was played knew he'd played the wrong shot. Again not too much help was given to him in the remaining ends as they slumped to a 5-7 defeat. The second session went the same way as Debbie's block came up against the in form triple from yesterday which was Christine, Lee and Sylvia who carried on their winning mentality as they won 3-8. Brian's block had a night to forget, failing to win any of there three matches as they were defeated 3-6 by Shelia Bragg's triple. But the home side finally came into their own as they produced two sizeable wins in the third session. Chris's triple finally put in a decent performance to blitz to a 14-0 win against Bill Adcock's triple. Mark's triple had led 5-1 going into the last end before Mark's tragic fall. Andrew Jackson came into replace him and secured the win scoring a two to finish 7-1. From there all the remaining sessions were shared as the Wymondham team failed to up their game to overhaul the 8-0 deficit encountered.The fourth session after the break saw Deb's triple beat Shelia Bragg's block 6-3, while Brian's triple eventually slipped to a 5-8 defeat after leading 5-1 after three ends. A rash shot played by Brian on the fourth end which exposed Wymondham's second wood gave Sylvia a chance to take it out for three shots which she achieved as this suddenly seemed to have a knock on effect as they lost the next two ends as well for what was a massive blow. With Andrew Jackson now skipping for Pat and Mary he faced the uphill battle of facing Sylvia's block who just came off the back of beating Brian and they made no mistakes this time as they won their third match of the night 2-6. But Andrew, Jack and Deb made sure the tie went all the way as they scored four shots on the last end to snatch a 6-5 win against Bill Adcock's triple. Chris's triple had a tight start against Shelia's block as both Captain's were locked in battle. Connaught seemed to hold all the cards when they held four shots on end four but Blazer's nerve held on as he smashed the head open with the Jack moving backwards and cutting the count down to one but Shelia had last wood and drew for two shots to regain the lead at 3-2. A single for Wymondham on the peneltimute end gave Wymondham hope as they played their best end of the night as they took four shots, with Shelia having no shot on, this left the home side winning 7-3. This then meant all the pressure was put on Brian's block and with their confidence low after their first two defeats, they battled well against Owen Secker's triple and left the scores tied at 4-4 with an end to go. With Rita playing two good woods on the jack for Connaught, Wymondham crumbled as Melvyn and Brian's woods went arye as they tried to attack the head, which left the away side celebrating another semi final appearance in the Norwich Cup, which Wymondham wish them all the luck in.
Second Round
First Bus 7 (45) v Wymondham 13 (56) - 24/11/2011
A - P. Saunders, M. Fisher and M. Linsdell 10-3, 4-3, 5-5.
B - B. Barker, J. Barrett and P. King 0-7 and 7-5.
C - M. George, A. Jackson and C. Mann 11-0, 3-11, 6-1.
D - R. Steele, M. Barker and B. Saunders 5-6 and 5-4.
The most important week in Wymondham's calender so far has resulted in progression in the County cup and now the Norwich cup along with another 10-0 league win. With Andrew out of the match due to a course in London and Debs out due to Illness the squad was somewhat weakened but not enough as the players that came in did a great job. The first session saw both games shared as Mark's triple came out the blocks with a great 10-3 win with a four picked up on the last end. However Peter's triple fell 0-7 down to see the shots tied as well. Second session again saw a share of the spoils as mat 1 was seeming fruitful for Wymondham as Chris's triple stormed to an 11-0 win, while Brian's block missed out on the last end as they could only score three shots to lose 5-6. The breakthrough though came in third session where Wymondham took both games to gain the initiative. Pat, Mary and Mark again on mat 1 continued their form from the first session to beat T. Gray's triple with M. Munford and G. Crowe 4-3. Billie, Jack and Peter all stepped it up a gear from their first session match to beat B. Cox, G. Munford and M. Kemp 7-5 to leave Wymondham four shots up and a healthy thirteen shots up as well. The fourth session before break saw Mikey, Andrew and Chris well beaten by C. Coman, E. Oatway and B. Oatway 3-11. Bob was the main difference in the block playing attacking woods very well which gave Chris little to play for each time, it was one of them matches where it just didnt go right for the away team but fair play to the home side who played the better in the match and in the end had a 100% record for the night. On mat 2 R. Steele, M. Barker and B. Saunders made sure First Bus didn't go back level on points as they beat R. Wilson, B. Patterson and R. Cox 5-4. Although the scoreline suggests a tight match Wymondham had taken a 5-0 lead after three ends only for First Bus to take the next three 1,2,1 with the away side doing a good job of consolidating. After the break Wymondham came out to try and finish the tie off which is excactly what happened in dramatic style. Mat 1 was where Wymondham were completely dominant winning all five matches played on there as Mikey, Andrew and Chris made up for their drubbing against Bob as they beat Maurice Kemp's triple 6-1. But Pat, Mary and Mark had their backs against the wall as they looked heading for defeat trailing 2-5 with an end to go. There was a dramatically improved performance from the Mark who played Monday, as tonight he looked composed and tried to draw his way out of trouble on nearly every occasion which he did extremely well at, on the fast paced mats. With the tie looking at going all the way to the final session Mark though had other ideas, as he put in a man of the match performance tonight. Facing one down and with two Wymondham woods directly behind about five inches away a perfectly weighted wood was needed to nudge the jack back with his own bowl counting as well. With the whole room watching, as the other match had finished, he played the shot to perfection as two Wymondham woods were taken out and then Mark's as well to send First Bus crashing out the cup. The home side were looking forward to giving Wymondham a fight all the way to the end as Gordon and Bob looked on in disappointment. Maybe the thought of Mark not getting to McDonalds in time added to his concentration to play the shot well! It will be interesting now to see if Mark can keep that type of performance up as he looked a different player tonight and showed what he can produce when he puts his mind to it. The mats at First Bus are fast and slightly tricky with straight and swingy lines but again the Wymondham team mastered them well and are ever improving as every player has played a big part so far this season and this will need to continue! For First Bus they will be slightly annoyed at not having a chance to go at Wymondham in the final session as Bob's triple and Gordon's triple were both in good form and would have pushed the other two Wymondham block's all the way in what would of been a fascinating watch. Luckily that didn't happen and Wymondham can now look forward to Sunday where they hope to achieve maximum points at home again to Hingham Green. Finally, it was good to see Gordon back in action for First Bus and looking healthy after a long absence out.
First Round
Felthorpe 8 (48) v Wymondham 16 (77)
A - P. Saunders, M. Fisher and M. Linsdell 11-5, 8-3, 3-5.
B - B. Barker, M. George and M. Barker 5-7, 3-3, 7-5.
C - R. Steele, J. Barrett and B. Saunders 6-3, 4-4, 9-2.
D - A. Stratton, A. Jackson and C. Mann 6-3, 3-6, 12-1.
Our first ever visit to Felthorpe ended in celebration as Wymondham had enough fire power to see off the challenge by the city league side, which kicks off a good start to the winter season. Pat, Mary and Mark coped well throughout although the last game should have seen them chalk up their third win of the night but decision making in the last two ends cost them when Felthorpe only had a couple of woods on the mat in each. Billie, Mikey and Melvyn likewise managed well winning their last match while drawing and losing also. With Deb unavailable it was up to Melvyn to skip one of the triples and adapted well to the fast mats as did Billie who played well at lead and Mikey putting a decent shift in at second posistion. Roger, Jack and Brian were the only triple unbeaten and all played superbly well on the fast mats. Again Roger lead well and Jack and Brian played good supporting woods throughout. With Andrew managing to get to Felthorpe in time his presence was much needed just to strengthen the line up and with two shakey starts the form came to all the players in the last match with the biggest win of the night. Andrew "Swagger" Stratton had started at lead but then swapped in the first match which worked well with a 0-3 deficit turning into a 6-3 win in the end. The other Andrew had struggled with the first two matches but then found his form in the last match playing the mat well. Chris was steady although not on fire but played well enough. Although it was dissapointing to go into the last session, the win was the main thing and overall the team were rarely troubled and coped well with mats which are not usual to them.