Two home friendly mixed matches and two important Triples League fixtures were the feature of the Budleigh Bowls Club calendar this past week, writes David Roberts.

The week started with the visit of a strong Honiton team and so it was that the visitors walked away with a convincing overall win.

Best of the Budleigh rinks was that of Annie Clarke Tony Gooding and skip Mo Bond, who were holding a four-point lead at the halfway stage but failed to capitalise on this advantage and eventually lost out 13-10 in a riveting encounter.

There was a similar story on rink two, as Margaret Avery, Andrew Skudder and Mike Clark started so well, taking an impressive six-point lead after seven ends. It was at that point that the Honiton bowlers changed up a gear and scored heavily through the rest of the match and, despite the home team scoring five shots on one end, Budleigh couldn’t quite match their opponents and went down 13-27.

Against Exonia at home, there was a great comeback win for Melissa Camp, Tony Gooding and Mo Bond. Whilst the match was close all the way through, it was the gritty finish over the last four ends for the home team that secured a 20-18 win. On rink two, Derek Stanley, Gwen Hurst and Tony Lim fought well with some close ends but lost out 5-29.

In the Wednesday Triples’ league there was a potential changing of the guard and some results that opened the door for the chasing pack, as were defeats for the two top of the league teams.

Team Willow - Derek Stanley, Andrew Skudder and Marilyn Jackson outplayed Team Ash in the final ends of their match to take a convincing 18-11 win.

Team Oak have been threatening to beat a top team and this was the day, as David Tomlinson, Annie Clarke and skip David Roberts held their nerve to recover a two-point deficit going into the last end against Team Beech to register four shots to win 16-14.

The club is now looking to start the Internal Competitions on Saturday 11th December.