DELIGHT FOLLOWS DISAPPOINTMENT

With the Men's "A" team having crashed to a heavy defeat at home to Alton Social on Friday and our Over 60s mixed team having come a distant second to Social on Saturday evening in the Tony Allcock trophy there were no expectations of victory on a damp Sunday evening as we travelled again to Alton Social for the Men's Top club event. On a heavy green and against a much younger team containing a plethora of Middleton Cup players, even the optimists amongst the Oakley supporters hoped for little more than that we would avoid a 0-5 whitewash. It was, however, Oakley that picked up the first point as captain Ric Newson grabbed a last bowl, last end victory over former Oakley player Ashley Nethercliffe. The second point went to Social as the 2023 County Singles winner Leo May won the singles and when Social moved into a 2-1 lead as the Oakley Fours conceded their match the odds seemed very much in favour of Social whose pairs and triples teams, still on the green, were all experienced Middleton players. However, bowls can be a strange sport and it was Oakley that picked up the Pairs with another last end victory. All eyes were now on the Triples which had three ends to play. Again the match went to the wire. The scores were tied at 18 ends but it was Oakley which scored a single on the extra end to secure a very unexpected victory. Well done to all 10 players and thank you to our reserves and supporters for their encouragement.