Phil Marsden

THERE was plenty of time for reflection on the long trip back from Port Noarlunga, with Gawler’s Thursday division one ladies overwhelmed by the home team to lose 41-81.
It was always going to be a tough ask traveling to last year’s Premier League team to play on its home turf in cool and blustery conditions, but a 40-shot deficit was still disappointing.
With two rinks falling by a combined 40 shots, Teresa Dean and her charges continued their good early season form to draw with their opponents.
With Gawler’s division one Saturday side being relegated by a single point last season, the point it earned from the draw could be important come season’s end.
Losing by two shots last week, the division three ladies suffered further heartbreak this week, losing by the smallest of margins to Modbury.
Wins to Di Marsh and her girls, as well as the four of Pearson, Heffernan, new bowler Chris Cufone and skipper Marsh (nine shots up) saw Gawler win the rink count 2-1 and take four points home, but lost overall by one shot, going down 52-53.
The result still sees Gawler keep in touch with the top-four, but a few lucky rolls could easily have seen its a 1-3 win/loss record swing to 3-1.
On Saturday, after two losses on the road, Gawler's division two team returned to home turf and the winners circle by overcoming the visiting Ascot Park by 25 shots.
With three solid rink wins, Gawler banked 14 of a possible 16 points to sit mid-table after four rounds.
With disrupted and ever changing rinks due to player unavailability, it is hard to gauge where this team sits and it will continue to be an unknown until such time that a settled side is on the green.
Affected by a constant drain on its players by the division two team, the division five Gawler Red side struggled against Clearview to eventually succumb by 25 shots.
Losing two skippers and a third to the top side, Gawler fought gallantly with no rink going down without a fight, but ultimately was unable to take a single frame.
New skippers Phil Parker and Andrew Smith and their charges did best to go down by two shots and five shots respectively.
The division five Gawler White was outclassed by home team Two Wells.
With the Two Wells green vastly different to Gawler's, it was always going to be a tough ask, and the final score line of 57-102 made that evident.
Rounding out the action, a big rink win to the four of Cufone, Barker, Phillips and Hamilton wasn't enough to secure victory for Gawler’s division seven side.
Winning the rink 24-10 earned the side two points, but with the other two rinks not quite close enough, Semaphore prevailed by nine shots.