© Gary Bradley 2005- all rights reserved,
all trademarks hereby acknowledged
A lyric from a well known Scottish Anthem "and sent them homewards to think again", perfectly describes what happened in this year's AP Jess Battle at Gourock Park yesterday. Proud President John Mc Master and his troops had no answer to the fighting spirit of the Men from 'The Park' and was send home empty handed following a fantastic fightback by Gourock Park.
                   Pre-match banter on Gourock's Website, written by their match secretary, Graham, suggested that Gourock were expecting an easy victory, as after all they had already inflicted two hefty league defeats upon Gourock Park earlier in the season and that I must have been having nightmares worrying about the prospect of facing another hefty defeat against our friends and rivals in this ever so important annual all-Gourock challenge.
                                                                                                           In reply to Graham, I simply wrote that I was quietly confident of a Gourock Park win on home soil and that I suffered no sleepness nights and only had pleasant dreams of a 'Park' victory and to see the beautiful trophy once again having pride of place back at Gourock Park in my year of Presidency.
                The battle got underway around 2.30pm as 6 Rinks from both clubs took to the top green in dry but cold weather. A late call off for Gourock Park almost saw us going two points down without a bowl being rolled, but thankfully, Dan Kelly was happy to receive a call before he headed off to see Morton playing Gretna at Cappielow.
                                                                                                                                           At around the 12th end mark, the scoreboards did not make good reading, as only two of them showed that Gourock Park were in front. However the fighting spirit of our troops was never in doubt as the first game of the day to finish saw Phil Owens Rink come storming back from around 6 down with three to play, to grab the first important point for Gourock Park.
                                                                                                                                     This seemed to act as a catalsyt for Gourock Park as a little while later, another rink, John Hagen's, fought back from defeat to take the lead with around just 3 to play and suddenly Gourock's President, John, knew things were not going to plan.
                                                                                                                                            Elsewhere Ian Brown's Rink and Terry Duffy's Rink were still well ahead and Gourock were also well in front in two of their games and with none of these scores looking like they would be reversed it was down to John Hagen's Rink to secure the two vital points required to bring success Gourock Park's way.
                                                     If John's Rink had drawn the match the trophy may have been decided on shots and although I did not count the respective shots on the boards for both clubs, I hoped it would not come down to such a nail biting climax. Any fears I had soon disappeared as they further increased they slender lead to go into the last end three shots up and go on to claim the first victory for Gourock Park.
                                                                                       With the secured points totals of both clubs now reading Gourock 5pts, Gourock Park 3pts, all attention then switched to the two remaining games, both of which saw Gourock Park well in command, which in turn secured overall victory for Gourock Park by 7pts to 5pts. The Shots score was Gourock Park 88, Gourock 77.
                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                       
After the match the players enjoyed a great meal prepared and served by the fantastic Ladies of Gourock Park and the speeches were presented by both myself and Gourock President, John Mc Master and off course the all important handing over of the majestic AP Jess Trophy to Gourock Park were I hope it will remain for years to come.
The highest-up Gourock Rink, who finished 11 shots up, were John Dillon, John Mc Master, Jim Miller and Skip, Graham Clements.
                         Gourock Park's highest (13 up) were
Ramsay Crawford, John Ellis, Archie Forbes and Skip, Ian Brown.

This was a sweet victory for Gourock Park following those hefty League defeats to Gourock earlier in the Season and its especially sweet for myself in my year as President.
                                                                           Gourock will be hurting after this sore defeat, but as Graham has already stated on his Gourock Website, they were simply beaten by the better team on the day.Yes! they were missing some key players, but so too were Gourock Park with names like Robert Grant, John Kane, Rodger Lynn to name a few not available for selection, so they cannot use that excuse. Its all about who performs best on the day and that honour easily falls to Gourock Park.
      "Ya Beauty!  C'Mon the Park"!
                                                                
Since local firm AP Jess began to sponsor this great match between our two Clubs, the score is now tied at 2 wins each. Neither Club has so far managed to claim victory on enemy soil, although Gourock were very unlucky in Season 2003 when they lost out by winning a fewer amount of ends following a tied score in both shots and points.
                                                                 Who will be first to break the trend? I for one hope it will be Gourock Park when we visit our hosts at Gourock in 2006.

Well done to Gourock Park and commiserations to our friends from Gourock Bowling Club.

PS I hope you like the background music I have especially chosen to help cure your wounds!!! 


Saturday 10th September
President John Mc Master presents the AP Jess Trophy to his rival Gourock Park President, Gary Bradley
Ramsay Crawford, Ian Brown, Archie Forbes & John Ellis
Gourock Park Highest Rink
President Gary Bradley and Club Secretary, Hamish Ramsay
Some of the Gourock Park Members gather for a photograph to record their victory
Kind thanks to Graham Paterick for the photographs..

Gourock Park President
Gary Bradley