Deer Park pulled off an incredible comeback win in the Bowls Victoria pennant clash against western suburbs rival Werribee on Saturday.
After being a staggering 29 shots down with 12 ends to go, the Parkers stormed home to secure a one-shot win.
Deer Park president Ray Franksen described the 83-82 victory as the most incredible game he had ever played in.
“After we got up and won, there was not one sound from either camp,” he said.
“They didn’t know how they lost and we didn’t know how we won. I’ve never played in a game like it.
“We just kept plugging away. The sides that were getting beaten easily started coming back and, all of a sudden, we looked at the board and we were only 10 shots down with four ends to go. We just fired up … we didn’t want to lose and that’s what got us through.”
Franksen said part of the reason for the slow start was his side’s inexperience on carpet greens, which were four seconds quicker than the Parkers are used to at home.
“For the first quarter of the game we were useless because we just haven’t played on anything as quick as that,” he said.
“Once we got used to it we were able to hang in there.”
Saturday’s hard-fought win was enough to maintain Deer Park’s stranglehold over top spot on the division 1 ladder and the Parkers are now 27 points clear of second-placed Glenroy.
Although they are out of finals contention, Werribee proved its best is still good enough to match it with anyone.
The eighth-placed Bees are the only side to test Deer Park in the past 10 weeks.
The first division victory capped off a stunning Saturday for the Parkers, with all five of the club’s sides winning.
It’s the third time this season that has happened.
Deer Park will now turn its attention to its clash with seventh-placed Preston-Reservoir this week.
“We’re treating all games the same,” Franksen said. “We feel that if we play to our best then we think we shouldn’t get beaten.”
Meanwhile, Melton’s finals aspirations were dealt a blow with a shock loss to Moonee Ponds on Saturday.
Melton went down by five shots and is now in danger of losing touch with the top four.
The club is sixth place on the ladder, 13 points behind fourth-placed Essendon.
Melton will host Werribee this weekend in what is a must-win clash.
