TAFF ELY BOWLS CLUB

SIMON Coughlin gained his second club open singles championship at the Goods Yard Stadium defeating his opponent Alan Malkin who was making his fourth attempt for the Taff Ely club championship title.

Way back in 2000 Reg Rand defeated Malkin making then his first appearance, losing out with the very last bowl which had to be decided with a measure and this latest attempt saw a tightly fought out encounter. Coughlin over the years faced his opponent twice in the singles competition and failed to win in the qualifying rounds.

Coughlin on this occasion stated that a third attempt being in the final he would hopefully defeat his opponent and to destroy a fourth bid from Malkin which has eluded him over the years.

Losing the first end with a double, Coughlin gained 3 singles to his opponent’s single and with a full house in the bag after 6 ends, Malkin, for the majority of the match faced an uphill task to regain his momentum.

Completing 16 ends Coughlin led 14-9 and with the battle reaching towards its closing stages Malkin clawed his way back to level at 18-18 – with what followed being of disastrous consequences for Malkin who entirely lost his composure with all four of his deliverys, wayward of the head, to allow Coughlin “to say thank you very much I take the title” with the 3 shots that was drawn to the head.

Coughlin at 18 shots apiece having the better of his opponent through the encounter faced what was expected to be a very close finish ended with a very loose end of play that Coughlin deservedly at the end lifted the singles championship trophy.

In the final of the open pairs, Tommy Cannon and Peter Andrei on the first 3 ends of play scored 3 doubles – by the 7th end leading 7-4 against their opponents James Wason and Howard Pullin, on the next end, Wason and Pullin hit their opponents for six and continued to perform holding their lead for the remainder of the encounter.

Cannon and Andrei collected a count of 4 shots and a single on the respective 12 and 13 ends to be just one shot adrift.

With just the one shot behind, Cannon and Andrei holding a count of 5 shots on the next end saw Pullin drive at the head with his last bowl to destroy the end and replaying the end, ironically Wason and Pullin gained the fistful of shots to shoot in front 19-13. Three singles and a double added to their score of 19 shots.

A glimmer of hope for Cannon and Andrei collecting a triple on the penultimate end that now required 6 shots to save the match with a brave attempt, that Wason and Pullin defended their advantage to sacrifice just the 1 shot allowing Wason and Pullin to add their names to the honours board for the open pairs club champions for 2017.

In a semi-final of the club open triples an encounter that went right to the wire that required an extra end, brothers Rob and Steve Richards with their skip Tony Hughes battled away against Rob Williams, Ken Jones and Ian Randell.

Hughes and co with a double, a count of 4 and a single on the first 3 ends followed with a count of 4 shots from their opponents, and with another double by Hughes and co at the 5th end to lead 9-5.

Reaching the 15th end with now Randell and co in front 16-13 the final 3 ends of play Hughes and co fought their way back collecting 3 singles to take the match into an extra end.

With Hughes and co winning the toss of the coin for the extra end, Randell was presented with the jack to make the first delivery where his lead Rob Williams duly obliged by delivering a killer bowl that was delivered perfectly to the jack.

Desperate attempts to remove the match winning bowl failed by the defending positional bowls that followed the killer bowl delivered by Williams. Hughes final last delivery just missing out that gave Randell and co a place in the final.