Tongala pulls out all the stops
CRACKS are beginning to show in Tongala’s weekend pennant charge.
Playing mid-table side Deniliquin at home on Saturday, the league leaders were already pencilled in for a big win.
In reality that was anything but the case.
The visitors came out firing and won two of the available three rinks.
But Tongala only needed a sniff to clinch a five-shot, 76-71, victory and remain in the upper tier of the Campaspe Valley Bowls Division’s top flight.
Tongala pennant coach Sam Lyon said it was a bit close for comfort, but his side got the job done in the end.
‘‘We were lucky enough to get the result, one of our best players performed really well and he had one of our best wins,’’ Lyon said.
‘‘We’ve had some fairly big wins in the other seven rounds which keeps us up there. We just kept an eye on the overall score, which was the main thing.
‘‘This is a very open season, there won’t be an easy match at all this year. We’ve been lucky coming up against the bottom sides and with us only having one loss to Echuca,’’ he said.
This weekend’s action on the greens sees Tonny host seventh-placed Mathoura.
‘‘We’ve done the full circle and are back to playing Mathoura, this time at home.
‘‘We won’t take them lightly, they can get a hold of us and have narrowly beaten us in previous years. It’s good everyone is back in the field, just knowing every week is a tight one.
‘‘It’s been really good, it’s the first season we’ve had a club coach out here and having little team meetings is a bit different.
‘‘We have a bloke from Hay and a few from Bendigo so it’s a new-look team but it’s working well,’’ Lyon said.
In other division one weekend pennant results, City of Echuca defeated Rich River 75-65 leaving Echuca in third place.
Second-placed Moama cruised to victory over Mathoura in a 75-47 scoreline, keeping the hosts in striking distance of Tongala.
And Rochester defeated Deniliquin RSL 81-53, leaving Rochester midtable and RSL propping up the others at the foot of the ladder.
In the midweek pennant, it is Deniliquin who will return to the rinks with it all to do on Friday.
After two and a half weeks off the greens, the Friday players head back to competition in a few days’ time.
In a first-plays-third match, league leaders Moama will visit Deniliquin with 26 points separating them on the ladder.
A large win for the hosts could see the gap closed to just 10 — while a travelling win for Moama could extend that as far as 42.
In other matches, Echuca hosts Rich River and Mathoura play Rochester in a bottom of the table clash.