By Peter Brennan
The pressure has been on at Yarra Junction Bowling Club for some weeks, and that inevitably brings crunch time, zero hour, call it what you will. That arrived this week for the weekend team, when it was time to sink or swim, with nothing to fall back on. Not so much for the midweek team, which, thankfully, still had some margin for error. They travelled to Boronia, a pleasant club with a nice green, but somehow failed to come away with any points at all. Every rink was close, every game a good game, and every one a narrow loss. So with one game to go the likelihood of a top-two finish has withered away, but a third-place finish is still the most likely scenario, with a home game to finish the season.
The prospects of the weekend team were dire in the extreme, with no wriggle room left. A mid-season slump had all but ruled out finals, but some good wins and other favourable results created one last chance, a sudden-death match against Mooroolbark 6 at Yarra Junction. It was the last match of the season. The same scenario applied to both teams. The winner snatched fourth spot and a place in the finals and the loser kissed their season goodbye.
It was a titanic struggle, on a hot day. Mooroolbark threw everything at Junction and went out to an early substantial lead. But a game of Pennant lasts a long time, a good four hours, and gradually Junction wrested back the momentum and closed the gap. There was a determination to win from both clubs that was palpable. As the afternoon wore on the breeze picked up, making the conditions more challenging. When Junction took the lead they were determined to keep it and held on to win two rinks, lose one, and tie the fourth, winning overall by fifteen points. It was a very good win for the club and sees them finish the season in fourth position, and play finals. The Pennant is still there to be won, and what had seemed a forlorn hope has become a chance again.
A reminder to everyone that the club has a qualified coach and offers free coaching to anyone who would like to try their hand at lawn bowling. Contact the club, or just come down. Come down too for Barefoot Bowls every Friday evening at 6.30pm while summer lasts, for a very pleasant and enjoyable evening’s entertainment.
