Altona did all the groundwork but failed to seal the deal in a 73-58 loss to Essendon in the Bowls Victoria metro premier division at Windy Hill on Saturday.
Altona’s only two defeats of the campaign have come after they were leading at the halfway mark.
Instead of being in a commanding position, the A’s find themselves back in the middle of the pack.
“When you play an away game, you set yourself up to get to know the green. You want to be in the game after 10 ends across the board, then you back yourself to win,” A’s skip Brett Dodd said.
“We were in front after 40 ends, but we fell away again. We’re pretty disappointed … the two losses we’ve had, we’ve been in the game both times.”
The A’s are yet to get it right on or off the green.
They are lacking continuity and consistency at training and on game day.
“We’ve identified training as something we need to improve on,” Dodd said.
“We also made a team rule that after 15 ends we’d get together and talk, but only one rink did it this week. That was brought up after the game.”
Brett Foley was the only successful rink for the A’s, winning by a single shot.
Dodd was soundly beaten by eight, while in-form Brad Peck suffered a six-shot loss after holding a late lead.
Brenton Coad was left frustrated, going down by one to continue his slow start to the campaign.
“They were really stiff to lose,” Dodd said. “They deserved to win that game – a couple of things didn’t go their way at the end. It’s one of those things – when it’s going your way, it goes your way; when it doesn’t, nothing goes right.”
The A’s will get to test their finals credentials when they host Melbourne at Civic Parade on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Yarraville-Footscray is still searching for its first win since earning promotion to the top division.
The Combines lost 72-63 to Bundoora RSL, picking up just one rink on the back of player-coach Wayne Roberts.
After two away games, the Combines will return home to Francis Street on Saturday to face Essendon.
