Cusheon Trophy Final

With five of the regular team missing, it was with some trepidation that Oakley turned up at Loddon Vale IBC for the final of the Cusheon Trophy. However, the heavy defeat by a strong Basingstoke Town side, forecast by some (and expected by many!) just did not materialise and the 26 Oakley supporters together with many from the Town enjoyed a very tight and enthralling Final. Dave Harrison's rink started well and led by 1 shot after 5 ends with Ted Brown's rink a bit slower off the blocks being 4 shots down but restricting Town to just 5 shots. Not a lot of change over the next 5 ends with Dave maintaining his 1 shot lead at 7 - 6 and Ted reducing the deficit to 3 shots at 4 - 7 and this trend continued to 15 ends with the scores level on Dave's rink and Ted still just 4 shots behind. Notable though that after 30 ends of play only 36 shots had been scored. A rally by Ted's rink though reduced their difference to just 2 shots after 18 ends, but the other rink slipped slightly and were 3 shots down. Still all to play for though, and at 20 ends Ted's rink led by 2 shots, but the strength of Jim Rainbow, Caz Harris, Neil Clark and Dougie Morgan proved just too much for Dave's rink who dropped another 5 shots over the last 3 ends. With no real chance of making a big score, and 1 shot down on the last end, Ted came very close to trailing the jack with his last wood to pick up 3 or 4 shots to further reduce the deficit, but it was not to be and Trevor Morgan drew the shot with his last wood to tie at 13 all. Final scores were, Dave Clewer, Coral Wearn, Malcolm Grime and Dave Harrison lost 11 - 19 and Mary Taylor, Martin Smith, Trevor Wearn and Ted Brown drew 13 all.