A busy weekend for the bowlers from Stoke Fleming, as they continued their battle against relegation in the Mid-Devon League.

Their first opponents on Saturday were the very experienced side from Paignton; already safe in the league and pushing for promotion, this was always going to be a difficult match, particularly with Stoke having not recorded a home win all season.

It all started very well, with Stoke being some ten shots up across the green after the first five ends. This was further extended by the half way stage to an advantage of 24 shots, thanks primarily to the excellent performance of Paul Lobb's rink, who were 19 – 3 ahead.

After tea the three rinks skipped by Tony Andrew, Paul Lobb and Billy Ewing continued their strong performances to storm away from their opposition.

Unfortunately it was a different story for the in-form rink led by Mike Hyne, who let a 15 – 7 lead at thirteen ends slip away, dropping two shots on the final end, to lose by a single shot.

All in all, however, a very good performance for Stoke and an important win.

Rink one of John Haynes, Bill Rowe, Arthur Wotton and skip Mike Hyne lost 17 – 18.

Rink two of Tommy Littlejohns, Brian Horst, Joel Jordan and skip Billy Ewing won 25 – 15

Rink three of Alan Edmonds, Tony Holley, Mark Jordan and skip Paul Lobb won 30 – 6.

Rink four of Mike Faulkner, Luke Bryant, Mike Jordan and skip Tony Andrew won 26 – 13. A final winning score of 98 – 52 gave the home side a 12 points to two victory.

Sunday, on paper, should have been a slightly easier task for Stoke, taking on fellow strugglers Totnes, but it simply didn't turn out that way.

Seven shots up after the first five ends gave Stoke a promising start, but everything was to change by the halfway stage. Although two of the Stoke rinks were still ahead, two had dropped behind.

Paul Lobb's rink, the hero of the day before, was having a torrid time of it and had let a three-shot lead at five ends slip to a 10-shot deficit at 10 ends. Dropping another 18 shots over the second half to finally lose by 17 – 34 meant that the other rinks had to try and cover a 17-shot deficit.

Both Mike Hyne and Billy Ewing's rinks were, however, up to the task and managed to win by a collective margin of the 17 shots needed. It was once more down to Tony Andrew's rink to try and gain the home side a victory.

On the penultimate end Andrew managed to turned a three-shot deficit into a one-shot victory, leaving the score all square with one end to play. Who ever won the last end would secure a team victory for their side.

Unfortunately the end did not go well for Andrew, who was some four shots down when he came to play his last wood. All he had to do was draw the shot and Stoke would bag an extra eight vital points.

Forced to play a wide, swinging difficult hand, he unfortunately didn't manage to pull it off, which gave the extra points to the visitors.

Rink one of Alan Edmonds, Tony Holley, Mark Jordan and skip Paul Lobb lost 17 – 34.

Rink two of John Haynes, Bill Rowe, Arthur Wotton and skip Mike Hyne won 24 – 16. Rink three of Mike Faulkner, Luke Bryant, Mike Jordan and skip Tony Andrew lost 16 – 20. Rink four of Brian Horst, Danny Duncum, Joel Jordan and skip Billy Ewing won 24 – 15.

Stoke finally lost 81 – 85, picking up only four of the 14 points on offer.

Next Saturday sees Stoke once again at home to high flying Marldon, where they will be once again battling for divisional survival.