AFTER an embarrassing home defeat the previous week, Alcester Bowls Club's Northfield squad were at home again to Richmond and were anxious to get back to winning ways.

Dave Hovell got the match off to a flying start with a fine 21-4 but he was the only winner out of the first four jacks so that at the halfway stage, Alcester were two shots adrift and it looked as though they were going to struggle yet again.

The tables were turned in the second half with John Alderson coming home with a fine 21-6, Dave Roberts 21-15 and Dee Roberts 21-20 to give Alcester a little more creditable performance and victory by 11 shots overall.

In the Yardley Wood league, Alcester's A team went down by 16 shots away at West Midlands Police.

Although good wins were registered by Terry Rawlings, 21-4, Chris Hollins, 21-15 and Len Daniels 21-18, the team suffered from having one bad losing card, as has happened on a number of occasions this year.

Let's hope that next season they can get it right and not have one bad losing card on most away games

In the Heart of England league, Alcester A had to travel to Greet, knowing that they would find conditions difficult on the small fast green.

This lived up to expectations as the first two games to finish for Alcester were both 7-21 losses and meant they were already 28 shots adrift.

John Alderson got things back on track with a good 21-11 and then it was the turn of Dave Roberts, who at one point was losing 2-6 and then started bowling superbly and turned the game around for a fine 21-7.

Chris Hollins came off 21-15 which meant that Alcester were only two shots behind with two games remaining on the green and it was obvious the game would go to the wire.

Both games went all the way, with Ron Hawksley fighting valiantly for a 21-20 victory, while Dave Hovell was just edged out by the same margin.

As a result, Alcester came home kicking themselves with no league points to show for their efforts after a good display and just losing out by two shots overall.

The B team, meanwhile, were at home to Woodbourne and they showed them the way home with an excellent 45-shot victory.

Skipper Sue Daniels was on song yet again for a fine 21-5, closely followed by Dee Roberts 21-7 and Cath Osbourne 21-8.

With six winners out of the eight, Alcester thoroughly deserved their victory.