WBT @ West Lothian IBC
Quarter Finals – Session 2
Robert Paxton faced qualifier Aaron Johnson in the 3rd quarter final. The British Isles U25s champion looking to add to his early round scalps of Jamie Walker and Wayne Willgress. The qualifier looked far from phased in his second appearance on the streaming rink and quickly settled into a rhythm to lead 4-2 in the first set. Paxton briefly punished the youngster in end 5, Johnson tried to add another rather than covering the back position. An invitation Paxton accepted to spring the jack to his own bowl. Johnson remained unaffected by the set back and scored ends 5,6 and 7 to wrap up the first set. Both players started well in the second set, Johnson unfortunate to flick the jack to Paxton when looking to add and bring about a change in momentum. Paxton quickly reeled off 5 consecutive ends to seal the second set and head into a tie-break.
Johnson immediately took control of end 1 of the tie-break as he added a back toucher and proceeded to run for cover with his remaining bowls. Paxton took the jack for the second end and drew a side toucher with his very first, Johnson wasted no time in deciding to run the jack to the ditch, failing with 3 runners the Norfolk youngster remained committed and missed on the high side with his last. Johnson had the jack for the last end and brought the mat right up to the minimum distance and attempted to run the jack into the ditch with his very first bowl. Paxton delivered his first to sit 6 inches wide of the jack and prompting Johnson to add ‘’I was actually going to draw this time!’’ The youngster remained committed to the jack and the ditch due to the position of Paxtons bowl, this time he caught the jack on the thin side to remove it from the rink and force a shoot-out to the re-spot. Paxton was first to draw to the repositioned jack and added the winner within a foot and a half, that Johnson beat with his 3rd bowl. Paxton looked for the runner and removed Johnson’s bowl to ask the qualifier to ‘do it again’ unphased by the request, Johnson delivered and sat inside Paxton’s bowl to make the shot by the smallest of margins. Paxton reverted to the runner looking to remove the bowl only to see the two bowls roll to the side of the rink with Johnson retaining the shot Aaron Johnson beat Robert Paxton sets 2-1 (10-4, 4-10, 2-1)
Les Gillett looked in full control of set 1 in his match against Nick Brett as lead 7-3 after 6 ends. An excellent reaching draw by Gillett at end 8 lifted Brett’s bowl up onto the jack for a single and a 4-shot lead heading up the last end. A front toucher with his first delivery on end 9 all but guaranteed Gillett set 1 with bowls to spare.
A treble for Brett had him off and running in the second set before an excellent Gillett side toucher to a re-spotted jack followed by a second shot to level the set. Two singles for Brett followed by another Gillett double had the two level at 5-5 after 6 ends. Brett trailed the jack 2 feet on end 7 to make three shots, Gillett removing one before Brett re-added a third. Brett headed into the 8th end knowing he would need at least a double to capture the second set. A huge last bowl by Gillett with a set lie against him saw him score a double of his own. He compounded Brett’s problems as he dispatched yet another front toucher with his first bowl. Brett opted to run at the head early to give himself room to draw, only succeeding at removing his own bowls from the rink and leaving himself barely 3 inches to draw to save the match. Despite a great last attempt on the dead draw Brett saw his bowl fall marginally short as Gillett’s front toucher remained the game winner. Les Gillett beat Nicky Brett sets 1.5 - 0.5 (9-4, 8-8)
Matt Osborne
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