PART of the City of Ely Bowls Club’s dream treble died on Sunday with defeat at the hands of holders Desborough Maidenhead in the quarter-final of The Egham Trophy.

Bowls

With Ely’s ladies already through to the last 16 of The Mason Trophy and the quarter-final of The Denny Cup due to be played next weekend, the club was confident of avenging last year’s quarter-final defeat against the same opponents to maintain their quest to win all three national club competitions.

The early signs were very positive and Ely’s determination was summed up by Andy Easy when, in killing the first end of his match, he managed to damage the jack so badly that it needed to be replaced. Andy Ware and Ian Brown stormed into leads of 8-0 and 9-0 respectively after three ends and, at the same stage, Stuart Popple led 4-3. Easy however had struggled to contain his opponent and was 6-0 down. After five ends Ely held a slender six-shot lead but by the conclusion of the 10th end the lead had increased to eight.

The next few ends proved pivotal in the match and Ely’s lead was cut to a single shot. Easy’s rink continued to find the going tough and had slipped to a nine-shot deficit whilst Ware’s comfortable lead had disappeared completely after dropping seven shots on the 14th end. A commanding position on the 16th end when holding four shots saw Ware’s opposing skip pick up a lucky four to lead by two. In spite of being only two shots adrift after 19 ends, the Ely team seemed to be clinging on rather than mounting a serious comeback. Desborough extended their lead to eight shots after 20 ends and hung on for victory by 79-71 at the end of the match.

Full rink scores:

Stuart Seymour, Sue Alexander, Ellen Falkner, Andy Easy 12 – A Price 25

Carolyn Day, Catherine Popple, Wayne Bailey, Stuart Popple 16 – A Knapper 18

Matt Marsden, Rosemary Easy, Sarah Seymour, Andrew Ware 19 – S Jones 23

Sara Matthews, Sarah Gove, Chris Falkner, Ian Brown 24 – I Honnor 13