MEN'S FOURS REACH AREA FINAL

Tonight at Cove, the Oakley rink of Ric Newson, Malcolm Grime, Spencer Kerley and Ted Brown took on the 2014 County Champions in a bid to reach the Northern Area Final of the County Fours Championship. Oakley undoubtedly began as underdogs but in the early stages the Oakley front end had the better of their opponents, both of whom are current Middleton Cup players, and approaching half way Oakley led by 9 shots to 3. Cove are, however, nothing if not resilient and, thanks to some fine conversion shots from Wayne Reed, hauled themselves back into the game reducing the deficit to 10-9 to Oakley. When on the next end Cove picked up a 4 to move into a 13-10 lead, it looked as if, yet again, Oakley would falter against Cove. However scores of 2 and 1 on the next two ends drew the match level and from then on the game went Oakley's way as they ran out 22-13 winners. Congratulations to al four players but particularly for Malcolm who has never previously reached an Area Final. The Area Final will be played next Thursday evening at Yateley