One word……UNBELIEVABLE!!!

How on earth did we not win this game? The champagne was on ice, the party was ready to start and we managed to grab an unbelievable draw from the jaws of victory!!

Credit where credit is due; the Police did not give in at any stage and accomplished one of the greatest fight backs that I’ve ever witnessed in any sporting event. The fat lady was definitely not singing!

After a couple of late team changes, a strong Fire Service team took to the green brimming with confidence after some good results of late. With 10 of the team having visited the stadium for a practice session the night before we were looking to catch the conditions early on and try to get off to the best possible start. As Team Manager it was heartening to see players going for a practice on the Tuesday evening and credit to the Irish contingent for coming up with the idea.

A good start was what we were after, and a good start was what we got. Rink 2 only lost 1 of the first 5 ends and raced into a 10-3 lead. Rink 3 was winning alternate ends and was only 5-4 down. Rink 4 after being 4-0 down after 3 ends, which included a no shot at the first end rallied to be only 4-2 down. Rink 5 only lost 1 of the first 5 and looked strong at 5-2 up. Rink 6 had raced into a 7-2 lead after 5 ends and on Rink 7 there were fireworks with Hugh McDonalds’s rink being 11-5 up with the help of counts of 5 and 4. All in all it was exactly what we were after and the big scoreboard showed a 39-21 lead after 5 ends and maybe showed how the practice session had helped the team to settle quicker.

The question was could we keep up the great standard of bowling and keep ahead of what was a very strong Police team?

The Police actually had the better of the next 5 ends across the green but only marginally. They managed to reduce the 18 shot deficit to only 13 shots but across the green the Fire Service team looked as though everything was in control and perhaps we were just unlucky not quite getting the maximum results from some of our converting shots. After 10 ends we only had one rink down but in capturing a 3 at the 10^th end, Rink 3 had fought back to be 9-8 down.

Half way and we were in a strong position but could we keep it going? Well the answer was yes, not just keep going but stretch further away. From ends 11 to 15, Rink 2 win 7-4 to go to 18-13. Rink 3 is the only rink to lose ground in this phase of the game and by losing 3 shots to 7 is trailing their opponents by 5 at 11-16 after 15 ends. Rink 4 with the help of counts of 3, 4 and 2 win over the 5 ends 9-5 and stretch to a lead of 18-12. The tightest game on the green is proving to be on Rink 5 and with the scores tied at 4-4 for ends 11 to 15 the rink score moves from 8-8 to 12-12. Rink 6 was starting to take control of the game and with a 7-3 victory in this phase stretched to a double figure lead at 18-8. Finally on Rink 7 the Fire Service battled to a 6-4 win and was now leading 20 shots to 14. Three quarters of the way through the game and we now had a 22 shot lead overall at 97-75. Had we done enough, most of us thought so, but as already highlighted we incredibly let this excellent advantage slip away.

The last phase of the game had now been reached and it was obvious that not all the rinks were going to get the full compliment of 21 ends in before the bell but it was now up to us to finish the game off. The police went on a charge!!

On Rink 2 the fire service who was leading 18-10 after 13 ends only picked up 1 more shot, at the 17^th end and the police finished off with a run of 2, 1, 1, (1), 2, 3, 3 and a 2 to triumph 24-19. On Rink 3 the teams exchanged 1’s at the 16^th and 17^th before the Fire Service finished by burning what was going to be the 2^nd last and losing a 1 at the final end(18^th). This meant an 18-12 deficit in the end. Rink 4 from being in a seemingly strong position at 18-12 after 15 ends lost the next 4 ends to counts of 3, 1, 2 and 3 and ended up losing 21-12. This was despite Ian Fleming burning a number of ends with counts against him in the latter stages of the game. The titanic battle which was taking place on Rink 5 looked to be going the Fire Services way with Malcolm George and his team sneaking into a 16-14 lead with 2 ends remaining. However anyone who has played against Willie Wyles from Fife, will know that he has a never say die attitude, and with counts of 3 and 2 at the last 2 ends the Police pipped this game with a 19-16 margin. Rink 6 was the one rink that the Police were not getting the upper hand on, or so it seemed. The Scottish/Irish combination on Rink 6 picked up a 2, 2, 1 and 3 from ends 16 to 19 to have a huge 26 shots to 8 lead but just as it looked as though the margin on this rink would be enough to hold off the Police comeback they picked up a 1 and a 4 at the last 2 ends to finish 13-26 and their contribution had a massive impact on the big scoreboard. It was also a mirror image on Rink 7 with a 5-1 score on ends 16 to 19 putting the Fire Service into a 10 shot lead at 25-15. However the last 2 ends were captured by the Police and with counts of 4 and 2 they rallied to lose 25-21.

A less than impressive end to the game and you could tell by the faces on the Fire Service team that this was a game that felt like a defeat. The astonishment and disappointment on the Fire Services faces were coupled with the elation on the Police faces and it was a truly devastating result for us all at the end.

However, what can we take from this game? First of all, we competed and played very well against a strong Police team. We have also hopefully learnt a very valuable lesson on how to play for the full 4 hours or 21 ends. Also remember that we lost this corresponding fixture last year by 48 shots so this is an excellent turn around and we are now unbeaten in 3 games!!

R .Donaldson

Team Manager)