Pressure mounts on Torquay to stay in race

WINNING home games will be crucial if Torquay is to rise to the next level.

Recording back-to-back wins in the past fortnight, which included a hard-fought 13-shot win last week at Bell Post Hill, Torquay still has plenty to offer and improve on.

“Daryl Kitchen was great for us last week — he is our team’s Mr Reliable,” Torquay’s Ash Prosser said.

Fellow skipper Brian Calthorpe has been a handful for opposition teams, only conceding a loss in Round 1.

Michael Jackson, Geoff Grigg and Karen Harrington have been stable teammates under Calthorpe’s leadership.

As City of Geelong and Drysdale set the pace, and with Ocean Grove now gaining momentum, Prosser knows the importance of this week- end’s battle with St Leonards.

“The cream is starting to rise to the top in Division 1, we must get the result to stay in touch with the top four,” Prosser said.

Torquay has an unchanged side going into the Round 6 battle, but the same cannot be said for St Leonards.

Only one win so far from five outings, the Saints have made a few cosmetic changes to the line-up, which also sees Barry Culph take charge of one of their rinks, replacing Ron Green.

Dean Deluca’s form in Division 2 has been steady enough to warrant a promotion and he will make his first appearance in the ones.

“It was a fighting effort last week against Drysdale,” skipper Culph said.

“We are still basically under-manned with illness and injury to some of our seasoned players, however the morale is still high and we have nothing to lose, going in as underdogs.”

Top side City of Geelong hosts Bell Post Hill and should be too strong while Drysdale will have too much firepower at home against Belmont.

Highton 2 will be looking to replicate last week’s 20-shot win against Leopold when it tackles the in-form Ocean Grove 2 side.

Leopold will need luck as it aims for its first match points against Geelong Cement.