A third straight tight result in premier division bowls for Yarraville Footscray on Saturday saw it fall to a second loss from the opening three rounds and to seventh on the table.
On a wild and wintery afternoon, Yarraville Footscray played through wind, rain and hail to ensure its match with MCC went ahead, but came out the other side on the wrong end of a 14 (80)-4 (72) scoreline.
Bulldogs skip Wayne Roberts said that despite the difficult conditions and the result, he was glad the side made the effort to play.
“It was a cold and wet day, the greens went under hail twice and we went off five or six times with the rain, but I’m still glad we played,” he said.
“I’d rather play and get beaten than not play at all … while it wasn’t the best day to play bowls, it was good to get a game.”
It was largely a day of comfortable rink wins, with the two clubs splitting the four rinks, and three of the wins coming by double-figure margins.
The Bulldogs looked to have the upper hand for much of the afternoon, but Ray Coulter’s rink let a 10-shot lead slip late in the match to claim his rink by just two shots and deliver an eight-shot win to the hosts.
“Anytime you have a rink lose by more than 10, you know you’re going to be in trouble,” Roberts said. “My rink went down by 16 so we were struggling.
“Chris Ball won by 10 shots so we did well there – he was the star of the day for us.
“You can’t blame the conditions for this loss because everyone has to play in the same conditions – we just didn’t perform when we needed to.”
While Yarraville Footscray sits seventh on the table with just the solitary win, Roberts said the side was playing far better than the ladder position suggested.
“We probably should be three wins and no losses,” he said.
“We’ve played well in all three rounds and just haven’t quite got the win twice, so that could come back to bite us down the line.
“We’re probably not quite where I’d like us to be. We’ve got a hard game this week against Melbourne … if we don’t win that, we’ll be in the bottom three and it’s hard from there.
“The competition is pretty tight, so anyone can beat you on your day … you have to bowl at your best every time you walk out on the green.”
Ewen McRae
