A visit to Maderia in the Exeter and District Over-60s Triples League for the Budleigh men this week was a match where there was no great expectation of a positive result, but against the odds an overall win was achieved and six valuable points banked, writes David Roberts.

Tony Barnes, Peter Hillman and David Roberts had a great start, taking the first nine bowls without reply and went on to win 17-6.

On the other rink, Bill Barber, Paul Griffin and Andrew Cardy were always in contention and put in a strong performance, but just lost out 14-21 as the Maderia men finished strongly.

The Budleigh Ladies played in the Top Club competition against Maderia, and, whilst losing overall, there were some great individual performances.

Gwen Hurst, Joan Shaw, Di Dixon and skip Marilyn Jackson outplayed their opponents to win their rink convincingly, 18-8.

Ann Vincent, Bunty Hudson and Bobbie Vanstone were unlucky to just miss out in the triples, being edged out by the narrowest of margins at 21-20 and Mo Bond put up a real fight in the four wood singles, only to be defeated on the last end, ultimately going down 21-19.

In the pairs, Melissa Camp and Penny Weeks fell behind midway through their match, but fought back so well scoring eleven shots over the last five ends, but just missed out, losing 22-20.

The Budleigh men also played their Top Club match which saw them play away against Axminster on an outdoor plastic green and, with an obvious disadvantage, lost out over the five disciplines.

However, the undoubted 'stars' of the evening were the triples rink of Tony Lim, Bill Barber and Gerry Roberts, who mastered the surface superbly to seal an 18-17 success.

There was also a great performance from Peter Hillman and Andrew Cardy in the four wood pairs; the pair battling through to earn a richly deserved 17-all draw.

In the Section three Unbadged Pairs, Peter Hillman and David played away at Maderia and progressed to the next round in a close match which they won 17-13.

The coming week sees the visit of Feniton in a mixed friendly whilst there are matches against Topsham and Sidmouth in the respective ladies and men's triples leagues.

The men also have a challenging encounter against Maderia in the Foxlands knock out competition with that contest played over two rinks, home and away.