THERE was a sense of similarity in Friday night’s Ex-Services Maestro matches, with all five games finishing around the same time.
An examination of the cards reveals the winning shot was scored on the 35th end on three of the five rinks, while the remaining two games lasted 34 ends, giving spectators plenty of value.
The battle of the night belonged to two players from the host club, with good mates Bruce Gillies and Peter Colvin going head to head in the major division.
As in all games, there can only be one winner, and it was Gillies who moved through to the round of 16 with an absorbing 33-29 victory.
So tight was this match that both players were in a position to win on any of the final four ends, with Gillies just in front 28-27 after 31.
A single to Colvin tied the score at 28-all, before Gillies went two ahead on the next.
Colvin again trimmed one off the deficit to leave everyone on the edge of their seats at 30-29 in favour of Gillies and when he grabbed his fourth three count of the night he took the match by four.
It was an impressive fightback from Gillies who trailled 25-18 after 24 ends.
In the Minor division Harden’s John Curtis won just two of the final seven ends, however it was enough to just edge past Greg Cotter (Coota Ex) 31-29.
Throughout the match Curtis collected the
majority of his score in bunches, including seven from ends two to four, another seven in six ends from the seventh, only interrupted by a three to Cotter on the ninth, and another seven from the 14th to 18th.
Cotter grabbed a maximum count of four on the 22nd to grab the lead for the first time, however Curtis again dominated a mini period of the match, winning four of the next five ends to skip clear 28-23.
Cotter then enjoyed a good sequence of ends, with four singles and a two over the next seven to tie the score at 29-all, however Curtis closed out the match with a double and will now meet Bimby Martin in the next round.
One of the Ex-Services Club’s keenest newcomers Rod Bradley kick started his Maestro campaign with a win, however he needed 35 ends to dismiss the
challenge of Harden’s Dave Walker 31-24.
Winning all but one of the first seven ends, Bradley had opened up a handy 9-1 lead, and by the time 20 ends had been decided his margin was 14 at 23-9.
However Walker then dominated the next 40
minutes of the match, winning nine of 11 ends, including a three on end 25 and a full count of four two ends later, to be back within two at 26-24.
Determined not to let his good early work go to waste, Bradley regrouped and with three singles and a two in his favour escaped with a final margin of seven.
Garry Cassidy flew the flag for the Country Club, setting up a second round clash with Col Luck after downing another Harden visitor in Jake Fisher 31-25.
Both players won 10 of the 34 ends played with
single shots, however it was Cassidy’s ability to win more multiple count ends that proved the difference in the end.
The opening dozen ends were tight, with Fisher ahead 9-8 after the 12th, however Cassidy took all four shots on offer on the next to hit the lead 12-9.
The turning point in the match came over ends 19 to 25, with Cassidy winning all seven including two threes and three twos to give him a handy break of 28-23, however Fisher added 10 to his tally in winning four of the next five ends to be back with six at 29-23 after 30.
Cassidy went to within one of victory on the next and wrapped up the match with a single two ends later.
The final match of the night saw Harden’s Rod Cooper knock out Coota Country Club’s Bill Cosgrove 31-27.
Cooper won the opening two ends and was never in arrears for the opening 20 ends, after which the score favoured him 20-15.
Cosgrove kept plugging away, however it would be another 12 ends before he could draw level for just the second time in the match at 27-all after 32, but his hard work went unrewarded as Cooper added two on the next and a pair of singles to move through to the second round where he will meet Neville Stubbs.
Only two nights of action this week due to Australia Day falling on Thursday, with six games set down for last night and another six on Friday.
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