Deer Park jumped back onto the Bowls Victoria premier division winners’ list at the weekend, comfortably accounting for Yarraville Footscray after a poor run of recent results.
After losing their past three matches, the Parkers travelled to Yarraville Footscray in need of some confidence and emerged with three rink wins for the day and a 91 (16) – 66 (2) victory.
It was their second win from the first six rounds of competition.
Deer Park president Neil Cromie said the effects of the win could not be underestimated.
“It was a much-needed win, to put it lightly,” Cromie said. “It might sound funny, but although we had been beaten we hadn’t been playing that badly. So we have a bit more self belief now that although things haven’t gone our way at times this year that we can compete.
“I’m fairly confident that this could turn the season around for us.”
Deer Park shot out of the blocks to establish an early lead, and while the home club came back late in the day and was able to claim a rink win, the visitors always had enough of a buffer to stay in control of the contest.
Skippers Brett Mahoney (27-12), David Holt (27-18) and Neil Smith (20-11) all scored sizable wins, while Robert Doody (17-25) was the only loss on the day for the visitors.
Cromie said some minor tweaks to the order of players in three of the day’s rinks had an impact for his club.
“They all just seemed to gel a lot better with this set-up,” Cromie said. “Bowls comes down to the rink that plays well together, generally wins. You can have not the best four players, but if they gel together it can make a big difference, and that seems to be what we have now. A much better balance in the rinks.”
Cromie said upcoming clashes with MCC, Melbourne and Essendon would have a big say on where his club finished the season.
“We play MCC at our home, who are middle of the table and a couple of spots above us on the ladder, and they’re the sorts of games that we need to win,” he said.
“Winning those games gives us an outside chance to make finals, but definitely a chance to avoid relegation.
“As we all know, sport is a game of confidence. If you have confidence in what you are doing then you can overcome a lot.
“We’re confident we can go to the Christmas break at worst 4-6, but hopefully 5-5.”
