A GAME OF VERY FINE MARGINS

Team D fielded Special K in support of their three-man team and put us on the back foot by winning the toss. We led with blue and with well-placed stones early on, efforts were made to prevent Tides Out from attacking our single lying shot. Achieved, a steal of one.

Second end was remarkable. Loads of stones lying towards the back of the house with various shots swapping the lead. Snudge, playing third, managed to push the blues back with yellow now lying three. It all rested on me. A great draw, sneaking past a blue front of house to sit on the button, saved! Tides Out steps up and manages the self-same shot to sit on the blue. No chance of moving it, plan was to block the way in for a repeat. Consensus from the team was that blue was counting, blocking achieved. Examination of the two stones caused a dilemma and much discussion with both teams claiming position. Not possible for a measure. Call for a peel was disputed by Rob who tried to get the icemen to intervene, they refused. Eventually a peel was decided.*

We stole a single in the third end but then in the fourth there was a count of two for the opposition to put them back on even terms.

Fifth end things looking dodgy with a great stone from Snudge near the centre and reasonably protected. A difficult shot requested from Constable, Donny, failed but did open up the way in to clear the yellow for me. Wrong choice of handle meant I fouled a long guard and spoiled my chance, compounded by an extra guard from Tides Out. Only shot left was a wick off an outlying blue. Miraculously shot achieved and another steal.

Sixth end again with great positioning from early stones and a powerful and confident take out from scalpel, life was made difficult for Tides Out and a failure to advantage the hammer.

Seventh end, again well-placed early stones gave us the advantage, but potential tap up yellows lying front of house. My first guard not bad but not quite far enough over for full protection. Tides Out first stone fell short, but my second guard was well off the mark. Tides Out last stone, a do-or-die shot managed to get past the guard and with a compound hit on two yellows pushed one up to lie shot.

All-in-all, a very tight game but it was all down to expert placing from lead Deemo followed by some precision shots with take outs from both Scalpel and Constable all designed to create extremely difficult shots for Tides Out. As I said, very tight margins.

Ken.

Note from JW *The blank end at the second end as a result of both stones being with a few millimetres of the centres spot was the first I had experienced in more than 20 years of curling. Blank ends as a result of all the stones being cleared from the house are rare enough but this was exceptional. The refusal of the icemen to adjudicate was because it was not their position to get involved. They merely reminded us of the rules of curling which are as follows:

“If two or more stones are so close to the tee that it is impossible to use a measuring device, the determination is made visually.

If a decision cannot be reached, either visually or with a measuring device, the stones are considered equal, and: (i) If the measure was to determine which team scored in the end, the end is blanked. (ii) If the measure was to determine additional points, only the stones closer to the tee are counted.”

Victory for Team D but a tight game – Team A kept their opponents honest and were fighting to the end.

Team A were at full strength with James assuming the heady responsibilities of skip, and everyone moved round one position as the rules require. The usually three person Team D was ably supported by reserve Kay.  

Team D opened their account with a two for the first end. After that, the teams traded winning ends throughout, and, apart from Team D managing another two in the third end, all the scores were singles. With perhaps the exception of the final end, this was not a game of high drama, just good, close curling.  

So, by the start of the seventh and final end, it was 5-3 to Team D and all they had to do was stop the opposition from building stones in the head and play safe. However, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry – and in this case, Team D were staring at three opposition stones in the house with nothing of their own and only a very limited number of stones  left to throw.  From a position of quiet confidence, things started to look considerably less comfortable for the team. Was this a case of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?  Fortunately, we got something counting, only for James to do a fine take-out job on it.  However, he had left his striking stone lying shot but exposed.  John W had to take it out – and this he did and, in a moment of good fortune, his striking stone rolled to lie in a semi-guarded position.  Try as he may, James couldn’t get his final stone to curl in enough to shift it.  There was no need for JW to play his last stone. Hands were shaken and the post mortem was conducted in the bar.

John.