The Bulls travelled to Gloucestershire’s Kingsway venue in an optimistic mood off the back off their 26-14 victory against the same opponents in early October as they looked to open a gap at the top of the incredibly close Group C. The late withdrawal of Captain Becci Cox saw a slight shake up in the fours as the experienced Linda “Sat-Nav” Lewis stepped into the fold with Tony Vitale moving across to skip the rink.
A strong start for the Bulls saw Joe Loveys get revenge on Saul Featherstone following his narrow defeat in the reverse fixture with a 14-10 win whilst Bryan Watkins battled hard to overturn an early deficit, just falling short in the final ends to a 17-9 defeat. The pairs continued their positive start to the season as Lynn Williams & Ian Roe took an 18-9 win whilst Gary Peachey & David Millington Jones secured a draw to put The Bulls 5-3 up at the end of the first session.
Session Two saw Herefordshire continue to adapt well to the fast Kingsway mats with Luke Rawlings, Dave Watkins & John Mills taking an 18-5 win, getting crucial shots on the board with the other triple falling to defeat. It was a tale of two close wins in the fours as the rink of Claire Herbert, Anthony Chesterton, Shirley Cox & Merion Attwood took an 11-8 win whilst Pete Goulding, Nic Lloyd, Linda Lewis & Tony Vitale battled hard to a 10-7 win; giving The Bulls an overall lead of 11-5 at the halfway stage.
Gloucestershire had a point to prove in the second half and came out fighting hard in the third session. A win and a loss in the singles was not enough to secure the bonus whilst a further two losses in the pairs saw The Bulls lose their grip on both the bonus and the overall lead as Gloucestershire headed into the final session with a 15-13 lead.
Whilst all was still to play for it was clear that the momentum was with Gloucestershire. By the halfway stage the triple of Alan Link, Dean Rudman & Jim Knowles held a 10-1 lead whilst Mills’ trio were down 10-3 with the bonus hanging in the balance. Meanwhile in the fours, Vitale’s rink were 5-3 down in an incredibly close match whilst Attwood’s team were level at 4-4 in an equally close affair. Sadly, it was not meant to be as Gloucester continued to build momentum with Knowles and Mills falling to defeat as Gloucester picked up the bonus in the triples. In the fours, Vitale’s side lost out whilst Attwood’s rink were just able to secure a draw on the final end, also splitting the bonus points for the discipline as Gloucestershire completed their comeback to take the overall win 25-15 (205-163).
The defeat leaves the Bulls third in Group 2 with 3 of 6 fixtures played. However, they are still very much in the battle for qualification to the main knockout round, being only 10 points off Wiltshire at the top with next week’s away game against Avon looking crucial.
