MONMOUTH Bowls Club started their away match at early league leaders, Blackwood, in very promising fashion.

Although the rink of Captain, Tom Williams, found themselves well behind, the other two rinks skipped by Jeff Parker and Haydn Holder, held their own early on and it looked as though Monmouth would take some points home.

However, a strong finish by the home team secured all three rinks and all 12 points.

Monmouth hope that a home match next Saturday, against Bedwellty Park will bring another win to improve their position in the league.

On Friday, three Monmouth players represented East Monmouthshire in an Inter-Divisional match against South Monmouthshire, played at Abergavenny BC’s Avenue Road ground.

The rink featured Tom Williams, Lead, Jon Miller, 2, and Haydn Holder, Skip, and these three were joined by a former Monmouth player, Mark Hancock, who now plays for Chepstow.

Again, a tight start saw early ends shared until the score reached 6-6 after 9 ends. The visitors then began to dominate, with their opening pair playing particularly well and scored a comfortable victory.

In Singles action, on Sunday, Haydn holder travelled to Pontllanfraith to face Oakdale’s Chris Storey.

He found the faster green very much to his liking and established a strong lead which he managed to protect, seeing off any attempt at a come-back, to win 21-8.

Haydn now waits to see whether he faces John Newton from Machen or Billy Tait from Belle Vue (Newport) in the fourth round.