Tonight brought the 3 remaining ties in the Men’s pairs, with one tie already played on Monday evening – and that saw the holders lose their crown to former champions.
The holders Gosforth’s Michael Cymber & Simon Richardson lost their grasp on the trophy, with a narrow defeat to former champions and club mates Josh Minto & Chris Yeomans 17 – 15 on Monday evening.
In tonight’s action there was nearly two good comeback wins, firstly the game at Gosforth where home players of John Harthen & Jimmy Curtis took on Newbiggin’s Bill Waters & Lee Birch. Curtis got of to a great start forging ahead 12 – 2 at the half way stage. The next 3 ends was won by the Newbiggin duo but only scoring 3 singles, however on the next end Birch scored a 4 and then another single on the next end put them only 12 – 10 behind. Curtis managed two singles on ends 15 and 17, which put him 14 – 11 up with the final end to come. But Waters & Birch scored a count of 3 to force an extra end. However the Gosforth pair were not to be denied and managed to score the vital shot on the extra end and take the semi final spot.
The other comeback this evening was recorded by Cramlington’s Bryan Turner & Keith Miller who overcame Rothbury’s David Bolton & Rob Donkin. The tie looked to be heading the way of the Rothbury duo, after leading 9 – 5 at 10 ends, and then 14 – 11 after 15 ends. But the Cramlington pair scored a 4, 1 and 2 on the last 3 ends to recover and take the win 18 – 14. Bryan and Keith will now face Minto & Yeomans in the semi final.
The last game of the evening was an all St. Georges affair, with Keith Lowery & Paul Lawson taking on Alan Stewart & Karl Jameson. Stewart & Jameson got off to a tremendous start scoring 15 unanswered shots after 8 ends, which put them very much in the driving seat to take the match. The pattern continued unfortunately for Lowery & Lawson and Stewart & Jameson took the tie 24 – 4.
The semi-finals are part of the semi-final weekend – and played over / or some part of the 4 days scheduled. As you realise (or not) the fours takes place tomorrow, so depending on results, with duplication already, and possible triplication in the mix. So please bear with me while I sort the programme out.