Dartmouth Bowling Club

Darts men's team are still searching for their first away win of the season after slipping to a 99-67 defeat at Bitton Park, Teignmouth.

Rink one of A Hawkins, B Brehout, R Swinden and skip M Hawkins got off to a slow start and by the tea interval were 16-4 down. The tea and biscuits seemed to help, but having cut the deficit substantially they still lost 23-18.

Rink two with S Ivey, T Deighton, P Hannaford and skip P Caddy had a tight encounter. Holding a one-shot advantage at tea, the lead increased to four before a 12-shot concession on the last six ends resulted in a 25-18 defeat.

Rink three of J Hawk­ins, P Walton, H Cross­man and skip M Green­land had a close match all through. Darts took a three-shot lead into end 19, but sadly then a five-shot loss saw them eventually lose 18-16.

Rink four of R Lambden, T Taylor, S Shaw and skip D Sherlock never recovered from an eight-shot drop on the first two ends and by tea were 18 shots adrift. They were unable to claw back this deficit despite a fightback and lost 33-15.

Dart/Stoke ladies put in a really good performance at home to defeat Babbacombe B 59-33 in the South Devon League.

Rink one with P Lamble, P Dease and skip M Weedon proved to be the closest match of the afternoon, with shots being exchanged on a regular basis. It was all square after 17 ends, but unfortunately a three-shot gain on the last end for the visitors culminated in a 15-12 defeat.

Rink two of A Sherlock, E French and skip G Bowden were never behind after having taken an early lead and achieved a convincing victory 21-12.

Rink three with C Ro0berts, S Joy and skip J Townsend put on the best performance of the afternoon. This included a 13-shot gain on six consecutive ends and led to an excellent 26-6 win.

A further chance for Dart's men to put away points in the bag came against Torquay B in the Mid Devon League, but sadly it was not to be. Despite a better all round performance, they eventually lost 81-67.

Rink one with J Bow­den, P Walton, S Shaw and skip D Sherlock started slowly, but a four-shot gain on end fivegot them back into the match. This comeback was short lived as by end 15 they were 10 shots adrift. Despite a mini-recovery over the closing ends, they went down to a 23-18 defeat.

Rink two of S Ivey, T Deighton, P Hannaford and skip P Caddy were still just in touch at tea, but slipped to a disappointing 25-10 loss against a four including former Darts player Mike Gregory.

Rink three with A Hawkins, B Brehout, R Swinden and skip M Hawkins got off to an impressive start, leading by 14-7 at tea, but Torquay came back hard, seemingly rejuvenated by the refreshments, to take a two-shot lead by end 14.

With the last wood there was a half-chance of a three-shot gain which would have squared the match, but it was not to be. A 21-19 loss

Rink four of M Durston, T Taylor, M Greenland and skip W Varnam proved to be the best performance of the day.

By end seven Darts were 12-0 ahead, only to take their foot off the pedal for six successive ends before regaining their composure to win 20-12. A very valuable two points.