Dinas Powis entertained Ely Valley on Saturday 8th August looking for a repeat of their victory over the same opponents in the reverse fixture some four weeks ago, and to end a run of three straight defeats.
Unfortunately for the home side three of the four rinks got off to poor starts, with only Chris Blake's four holding a lead, and indeed after 11 ends had been played Ely Valley held a comfortable 26 shot lead at 25-51, and things looked ominous for the home team.
To their credit Dinas picked up over the final ten ends of the game, but depute their efforts they were unable to bridge the gap and went down to a 67-93 (26 shot) defeat.
Alex Meddins rink picked up 11 shots over the final five ends, avoiding a heavy defeat but going down 19-27 to Mike Prosser's quartet and likewise Ritchie Janes' rink had a strong finish, picking up five shots over the closing ends, but themselves going down 14-27.
Mike Acklands rink, again facing John Applegate's four, dropped a five and a three on ends eight and nine which effectively cost them the points as they competed gamely but couldn't recover those dropped shots, and lost 15-22.
The only bright spot was a victory for Chris Blake's rink, but that too was not without drama. Leading 13-12 going into the 20th end they contrived to drop five shots and had seemingly thrown away the win, against Phil Robins rink, remarkably however they played an outstanding final end, picking up six shots to record two home points at 19-17.
This was a very disappointing afternoon for the villagers and they'll want to put in a more determined and improved performance next weekend when they face Aberdare Harlequins to avoid being dragged into a relegation dogfight.
D.Parker, H.Meddins, A.Hodges, C.Blake (19-17) J.Ackland, T.Hurcom, D.Vowles, M.Ackland (15-22) M.Gershenson, A.Harvey, G.Griffiths, A.Meddins (19-27) G.White, M.Edwards, C.Parsons, R.Janes (14-27)
To round off a poor day for the villagers the PG2 team made the short journey to Penarth (Rectory Road) and fell, somewhat surprisingly, to only their second defeat of the season, picking up two points from one winning rink as they went down 57-75.
The bright spot was another win for Alun Jones, ably supported by Mark Diment, Graham Duggan and Dave Ireland who came home 19-13.
Dinas have dropped to third in the league table, one point behind second placed Cardiff, with a game in hand, and have four games left to complete their season.
M.Diment, G.Duggan, D.Ireland, A.Jones (19-13) B.Harris, J.Follon, A.Locker, P.Marks (10-16) R.Fear, H.Lamont, M.Seaford, N.Giles (13-24) T.Gittins, R.Diment, D.James, C.Scott (15-22)