Ballarat comes from behind to steal win from Bears
Ballarat edged-out Central Wendouree in a one-shot nailbiter to bring its winning streak to five in the Ballarat District Bowls Division Premier Saturday Pennant.
The victors came from six shots down with three ends to play to secure a come-from-behind win at home on Saturday.
The home side wore black arm bands during the match to pay homage to the father of teammate Greg Stewart, who passed away this week.
"We dedicated the game to him, so it was good to win," Ballarat skipper Wes Lennecke said after the match.
"They jumped us early, they were up at smoko and it came down to the last five ends when we hit the front.
Ballarat managed two rink successes against the Bears, who entered the match in red-hot form after beating Victoria and Sebastopol the two weeks prior.
Skipper Brad Fothergill stood tall for Ballarat, coming from behind to beat out Central Wendouree's Tony Gutteridge by five shots. He was backed up by Tony Wood, who's effort at third aided the comeback.
Lennecke heaped praise on the pair, who were down by nine shots at the break.
"They were down by a fair bit and ended up getting the win," he said.
Lennecke's five-shot victory over Paul Kennedy on the final end hammered home the win for his side.
Meanwhile Central Wendouree's Col Johnson almost single handily stole victory for his side, with a nine-shot win over Zac Stewart.
EYE ON TARGET: Kim Watts of Central Wendouree helped his rink to a nine-shot win while bowling third under Col Johnson.
"We knew at the start of the game they were going to be tough to beat, they are always hard and we new we'd have to do the basics," Lennecke said.
The win marked the fifth straight for the club, which sit at the top of the table with a two-game lead over Victoria. Lennecke said the team was trotting along well.
Central Wendouree second Rod Bolton said the club was disappointed to lose, but would leave emboldened they could match it with the best team in the competition. He said the side had come together over the last few weeks.
"We've stuck to our guns, we haven't got a lot of young blokes but we've just been doing our bit to hold it together," he said.
"We won't take anything for granted next week, we've got Leamonth next and we know they are struggling, but hopefully we can come out and win."
Elsewhere Learmonth recorded its first win of the season with a 12-shot victory over Creswick.
David Kelly led the way for the club with a 14-shot win over Gerry Flapper.
Buninyong defeated Sebastopol for the second time this season, dropping the Kookaburras out of the top four.
BMS won a top-end clash with Victoria, and Xt Xavier upset Wendouree.