PENARTH Bowling Club's drive for success in the Munro Cup was almost certainly derailed at Barry Athletic last week, when the home side delivered a bruising defeat by 63 shots to 84.

Penarth travelled in high hopes but knew that the Athletic would not relinquish their unbeaten record easily.

So it was that only Nick Chandler supported admirably by Mike Conway, Mike England and Bob Horne, managed to register a win. After 4 ends they led by 6 shots and never lost that lead eventually victorious by 14 - 12.

The other 3 rinks struggled against strong opposition and all lost. Dave Plank ( 16 - 32 ), Clive Fry ( 16 - 21 ) and Dave Clements ( 17 - 19 ).

The final score basically nailed down the Penarth coffin and hopes of securing the title were buried.

Things did not get any better at Whitchurch Hospital in Saturday's PG1 fixture, when all 4 rinks suffered disappointing efforts, resulting in an overall defeat by 13 shots, securing no points at all.

The biggest disappointed rested with Dave Plank, Dave Dalby, Bob Willmott and Dave Murphy as the surrendered a 2 shot lead on the last end by dropping 4 shots and losing 19 - 21.

It has to be said that the opposing skip bowled a wonder wood to turn a 1 shot lie against him to 4 shot count.

Colin Grant, Derek Blainey, Ken Thorne, and Terry Buckingham were involved in a real ding dong battle almost pulling a win out of the bag losing by 1 shot ( 16 - 17 ).

Clive Fry, Paul Church, Mike England and Phil Davies equally fought out another close losing encounter going down by 14 - 18.

Bringing up the rear was Nick Chandler, Bob Horne, Jack Beanland and Mike Conway as they suffered a 6 shot reversal ( 16 -22 ).

There is no doubt that the stormy conditions hampered good bowling on the day on what was a tricky and unrewarding afternoon all round.

A dry and reasonably settled afternoon at Rectory green saw the PG2 side pull off somewhat of a surprise by despatching Merthyr Guest Memorial to the realms of defeat in a great 24 shot margin which secured a most welcome 12 points.

Haydn Trow, Brian Knight, Dave Ingram and Neil Gaskell led the charge and were rewarded for their efforts with an impressive 29 - 15 win.

Following close behind them was the rink of Derrick Musk, Berwyn Lansley, Phil Davidge and Russell Daniel.

They amassed a well earned lead of 14 shots after 11 ends and despite a wobble over ends 14 to 18, dropping a total of 11 shots, they held firm and concluded by winning 25 - 16.

Colin Hicks led his rink of Don Shirley, Bob Lewis and Ron Birkby to an impressive 22 - 16 win by turning a deficit of 11 shots ( 5 - 16 ) on the 12th end to take 17 shots from the final 9 ends.

High fives all round !!!

Unfortunately Bob Hill, John Whitfield, Brian Chandler and Alex Forsyth could not quite make it a clean sweep as they went down narrowly by 23 - 28. Nevertheless overall an excellent result .

The ladies were, yet again, able to register a successful week winning all 3 games.

The most pleasing is likely to be the 41 - 35 win achieved over local rivals Windsor in an Evening league fixture.

Wendy Grant, Jayne Edwards, June Williams and Christina Church, although being 11 shots adrift after 4 ends, should great resolve in battling back to lead 14 - 11 after 9 ends.

They never lost the advantage and held firm to run out 22 - 18 winners.

On the other rink Belinda Price, Kath Jenkins, Betty Jones and Chris Davies should equal tenacity to build up a lead of 15 - 7 at the 11th end, never losing their advantage, finally winning by 2 shots ( 19 - 17 )

A double rink encounter meant the visit of Pontyclun which concluded with a win by 30 shots to 17.

The result on the day was underpinned by an impressive 22 - 7 win by Capt June, Joan Lewis, Lynda Jones and Jacky Regan. Pat Reynolds, Diana Wilcocks, Mary Bowen and Val Turner were a little unlucky not to have turned an 8 shot difference after 9 ends in to a win. They scored on every subsequent end but just failed to overhaul the opposition losing by 2 shots ( 8 - 10 ).

Another home game on Thursday welcomed Rumney Gardens in an Afternoon league fixture which Penarth were able to secure their third win in as many days. The margin of victory was a resounding 38 shots ( 64 - 26 ). All three rinks registered wins to ensure that Captain June saw the week out with a smile.