Pitting two of the competition’s most evenly matched sides against each other, it was always going to be a tightly-contested match at Shepparton Park Bowls Club with serious finals implications in play.
The Bombers were able to get the better of the big moments, triumphing in three of the four rinks, with Don Cook’s 23-15 success in rink two particularly telling in the result.
The Parkers gave themselves a chance of stealing the match courtesy of a Herculean effort by Vince Page in rink three, inspiring a 30-18 victory for the home side.
But consistency across the green would cost Shepparton Park in the end, falling by the barest of margins to stay locked in fourth position on the table.
Second-placed East Shepparton survived a major scare, defeating Rushworth 14-86 to 4-80 to claim its sixth win of the season.
Splitting the rinks two apiece, Kevin Cox would prove the difference in the contest with his rink four squad enjoying a dominant 31-10 victory to turn the game in East’s favour.
Bruce Wootton and Chris Garvey were impressive for the Rushworth side, orchestrating 23-15 wins in rinks one and three to give their team a shot at causing the upset.
Tatura-Hill Top couldn’t repeat its round 10 heroics, falling to Mooroopna 16-100 to 2-92.
Meanwhile, ladder-leader Shepparton Golf bounced back in a big way, dominating Mooroopna Golf from start to finish in a 18-124 to 0-62 rout.
- Avenel highlighted proceedings in division three, upsetting Mooroopna 14-86 to 4-83 to keep its finals hopes alive.
A closely contested match from start to finish, Josh McDonald’s rink three squad would ultimately prove the difference, registering a 22-12 win to give Avenel the buffer it needed to hold on for the victory.
Hugh Stephens did all he could to swing the result back in Mooroopna’s favour by inspiring a 28-19 win in rink four, but it would be to no avail as the Cats fell to their fourth defeat of the season.
Seymour made it 10 wins in a row with a hard-fought 14-97 to 4-76 win over Tallygaroopna.
The Redlegs would have been buoyed by the fact they split the rinks two apiece with the raging premiership favourite, courtesy of Terry Lea-Whyte and Greg Rowan triumphs.
The problems came in the remaining two rinks, where Robert Brown inspired a crushing 28-8 victory and Graeme Flint was clinical coming away with a 28-20 triumph.
Shepparton Golf and Shepparton Park rounded out the winners’ list, claiming victories over Stanhope and East Shepparton respectively.
- Nagambie put division four on notice with a stunning 18-134 to 0-68 annihilation of Dookie.
Sweeping all four rinks by 10 shots or more, it was a true team performance by the Nagambie squad as it continues to challenge Seymour VRI for the prized top position on the ladder.
Euroa stayed in the hunt for a top four spot with a crucial 14-99 to 4-80 win over Seymour.
Dominant victories for Tim Scarlett (32-15) in rink one and Brian Diffey (30-17) in rink two would prove the catalyst for the triumph as Seymour simply couldn’t reel in the deficit with two wins of its own.
The remaining winners in division four were Kyabram and Shepparton Park.
- In division five action Murchison, Tallygaroopna Tatura-Hill Top and Merrigum came away with wins.
- In the division six north competition East Shepparton, Kyabram, Colbinabbin and Shepparton Park 1 saluted, while in the south it was Eildon 1, Yea and Alexandra 1 that registered victories.
