Team C (Ken Herd) vs Team D (John W)  23rd November 2023

Not the best of days for Team Herd.

This was not a match of great drama but just one of a steady build-up of stones for Team Waterlow while Team Herd struggled to shine.

Team Herd were made up regulars but Team Waterlow had called in super-sub Bob Cameron at the last minute due to Kay needing to rest a hurt wrist following a tumble on the ice earlier in the day (and fifth man, Steve L, already having declared himself as unavailable that evening).

The game started well for Team Herd who won the toss and took the first end with a single.  The second end went the other way with Team W picking up a two. Even in the third end no-one looked to be gaining any particular advantage as Team Herd won it with just one stone.

So it was even-Stevens at two-all going into the fourth.  But from then on, things really didn’t go well for Team Herd.  They struggled with both accuracy and weight and were not getting stones in the house. Team W on the other hand moved up a gear and were much more consistent.  Deserving particular mention was lead Dave Dunsire who in his comeback year was performing admirably – it was as though the Covid wilderness years had never happened.

Nor was luck on the side of Team Herd – on several occasions errant stones ended up doing the job for the opposition by turning advantage into disadvantage which Team W needed no second invitation to capitalise on.  Team W progressed steadily, never making particularly big or spectacular scores but winning every end from then on.   

It was probably the last thing that Team Herd wanted but the brisk and efficient play meant that unusually we even had time for an eighth end – which Team W duly took.

An evening for Team Herd to forget and one of quiet satisfaction for Team W.

John.

Team B (John Mac) vs Team D (John W) 15th November 2023

Ouch! That really hurt. As losing skip, I’m not sure I have the inclination the rake over the gory details of this particular drubbing. We’ll see if the pain subsides. JW

OK, it’s a week on and much too late to recall much of the detail but I guess that for the public record I should say something about the highlights (or perhaps more exactly, the lowlights) of this game.

It started off a very balanced game, with the teams evenly matched. But at the fourth end, it looked as if the wheels might be falling off for Team MacConnachie – John Mac had the hammer and he needed it. By the penultimate stone, Team Waterlow were lying four or five stones to the good and John Mac’s options were very limited – a tap-up was about all he could try. His stone set off and John knew he was so far off the brush that without even waiting to see the result of his throw, he headed for the gents for a tissue to stem the annoying nose-bleed that he was suffering from (and, no, I hadn’t hit him!). But amazingly, unseen by John his stone brushed one of the front guards just sufficiently to get it through a gap that wasn’t there – he had pulled the loss down to just a single stone and the game was all square going into the fifth end.

After that it was Team Waterlow’s wheels that fell off. It’s a blur now but we couldn’t do a thing right while Team MacConnachie just rolled serenely on. We didn’t win another end. The final end was the final straw – Team MacConnachie were getting stones in the house, Team W were not. I thought for my last couple of stones I could pull something back but no, nothing, not a thing; nada, zip, zilch, sweet frog all! Six stones against and a match to forget.