Bridlington Alexandra Bowls Club beat leaders Driffield to earn League Cup final place

Talbot/Hobson/Philpott quickly found their line and length to lead 9-0 after the first three ends but Driffield slowly pegged them back to narrow the gap to 9-7 by end seven.

The Bridlington triple then took the following three ends to open up an eight-shot lead and although Driffield won the next two ends Bridlington won four of the remaining six to run out 22-12 victors.

D.McCall/Scruton/B.McCall were involved in what turned out to be a much tighter game.

Trailing 0-6 after the first three ends the Bridlington triple found their form and won eight of the following nine ends to lead 16-7.

Driffield then mounted a fightback and a three on the penultimate end meant that they required four shots on end 18 to tie the game, but one shot to Bridlington gave them a 19-14 win.

The final rink was very close over the opening ends with Driffield leading 4-2 after end five.

The Bridlington triple of Buckle/J.Mitchell/L.Mitchell then found their line and length scoring a four on the next end and five shots on end seven.

By end 12 they had opened up a 19-6 lead from which Driffield could not recover, Bridlington eventually winning 27-10.

With an overall aggregate score of 68-36 Bridlington will now travel to Seamer for the final against their old rivals Hutton Cranswick on September 13.

In their final game in the Midweek League, Bridlington visited Brandesburton where Buckle/J.Mitchell/L.Mitchell were involved in a very close game.

With Bridlington leading 5-1 after four ends Brandesburton stepped up a gear to score seven shots on the next 3 ends before the Bridlington triple levelled the game at 8-8 by end 9.

Brandesburton once again took the lead over the next four ends to go 13-8 up, but four shots on end 14 took Bridlington within one shot.

A three on end 15 gave Brandesburton some breathing space but the Bridlington triple regained their form and trailed by only one shot with one end remaining.

In a tense finish Bridlington scored two shots to take the game 17-16.

The other rink was far more one-sided with D.McCall/Hobson/B.McCall 14-0 up after only four ends.

They went on to win nine of the remaining ends, including six on end eight and seven on end 11, to eventually win the game 43-9.

The Vets B team played Beverley 4, the home triple of Howarth/Edmonds/Howarth going 8-0 up after four ends.

Beverley then took the next four ends to close the gap to only four shots but a five on end eight gave Bridlington a 13-4 lead.

The visitors then hit back to cut the gap to seven shots by end 12 but two shots on the next end extended Bridlington’s advantage.

A very close finish looked on the cards when Beverley scored nine on the next three ends to take them into a 17-15 lead. Bridlington then scored one on the penultimate end to set up an exciting finish and five shots on the final end gave them a thrilling 21-17 win.

On the other rink, Allen/Sullivan/Scruton got off to a very slow start to their game and trailed 2-12 at the half-way mark.

By end 16 however Bridlington had mounted a comeback and trailed by only three shots at 11-14 but they could not maintain their recovery with Beverley taking the last two ends to win the game 16-11.

The A team played 2 vets games in one week.

The first was a re-arranged fixture against Walkington 1, where D.McCall/Mitchell/B.McCall found themselves 2-7 down after the first seven ends.

Six shots over the next three ends however took them into a one-shot lead which they then extended to three shots by end 11.

On end 13 Walkington tied the game at 11-11, but the Bridlington triple continued to bowl steadily and won the next 4 ends to lead by 4 shots with only 1 end remaining.

One shot to Walkington was not enough and left Bridlington winners 15-12.

On the second rink Hutchinson/Hobson/Philpott trailed 7-0 after only three ends and were always chasing their opponents after such a slow start.

Although they managed to reduce the deficit to only five shots by end 12, Walkington won four of the remaining six ends to run out 24-12 winners.

Game 2 saw third-placed Beverley 1 as their opponents, Bridlington being only a point behind them in Division One.

D.McCall/Hutchinson/B.McCall found themselves in a very close game for most of the match; 6-6 after four ends, 8-8 after six, 10-10 after nine.

From then on Bridlington slowly edged ahead to lead 14-12 on end 12 and 17-13 by end 14.

They then went on to take three of the remaining four ends to win the game 25-14.

On the other rink Buckle/J.Mitchell/L.Mitchell were 1-8 down after the first four ends but rallied with a four on end five.

Two shots on the next end took Beverley 10-5 ahead, but the Bridlington triple found their line and length to win nine or the remaining 12 ends, including five on end 15 to eventually see them take the game 26-15.