Imps finish with win

The Imps 372 Dewlish Monsters 359 at the Conservative Club

The Imps won their last group match in the Blackthorn British Skittle Championship at home to Dewlish Monsters by 13 pins.
The home side went 2 pins in front on the first hand hitting 58. On the second hand stick ups from Phil Slade (11) and captain Terry Gosney (16) pushed the Imps score to 68 while the visitors struggled to a hand of 46 to put the Imps 24 pins in front. Monsters managed to pull 2 pins back on the third hand as Imps hit 62 and they replied with 64. The Imps fourth hand of 58 should have been better with two low stick ups from Phil Slade (9) and Derek Taylor (10) and two 5's to finish the hand, this gave Monsters a chance and when their bottom two players both hit spares Simon Ross (14) and Lee Ford (13) they hit a hand of 68 to pull a further 10 pins back and put 12 pins between the teams. Imps struggled on the fifth hand and only hit 56 with anchor man Andy Taylor's stick up of 12 saving the hand, Monsters again came back strong and hit a hand of 61 to pull another 5 pins to leave just 7 pins between the teams.
After two poor hands the home side needed a strong finish to set Monsters a target, a steady hand was improved when sixth man Derek Taylor had a 15 stick up and the Imps finished with 70 the best hand of the night to leave the Monsters 78 to win. M.Eavis hit a 15 stick up for the visitors but the target never looked like being reached and 64 was hit to give the Imps a 13 pin victory. Derek Taylor playing his first match in this years competition was top score on the night with 54 while M.Eavis was top score for the visitors hitting 52.
Both sides go out of this years competition while Pin Ups and Breakaways progress from the group.