The 18th Marconi Short Mat Bowls Club's Open Tournament, the sixth for the Christmas Trophy, attracted a full compliment of 35 rinks at the club's headquarters in Beehive Lane on Monday.

The Round Robin eliminating format consisted of seven groups of five rinks with winners of each group, plus the best overall runner-up qualifying for the quarter-final stages.

Only one rink, that of Trevor Robinson (Southminster) finished with an unblemished record and Edward Simpson (Woodlands) dropped just one point.

They were joined by the other group winners Tom Brooks (Hadleigh Castle), Don Pammant (Sanquine), Ken Moring (South Ockendon), Tony Hayes (East Hanningfield) and Eric Tamlyn (Hannakins Farm).

The best runner-up was Pat Glover (Sanquine) whose shot difference of +12 beat Alan Green (Great Pardon) and Jon Powell (Willows Park).

The quarter-final results were: Trevor Robinson 11, Tom Brooks 7: Edward Simpson 7, Don Pammant 2: Eric Tamlyn 6, Ken Moring 3: and Tony Hayes 6, Pat Glover 4.

In the semi-finals, Joan Jenkins, Val Tamlyn, Barbara Cornish and Eric Tamlyn beat Jenny Orpin, Chris Lomas, June and Tony Hayes 11-4 which prevented a possible back to back triumph for the East Hanningfield rink.

Eric Cooper, Ted Simpson, Ricky Coster and Nigel Reed then inflicted the first defeat of the day on Bill Wright, Kevin Burridge, Neil and Trevor Robinson with an 8-3 success.

Although the Woodlands Rink finished good winners by 13-4 it did not really reflect the closeness of the match.

They were indebted to their skipper Nigel Reed, who had a magnificent tournament and continued in the final to convert losing ends into a match winning advantage, which ensured his team finished unbeaten throughout.

Picture: Nigel Reed showing the concentration that helped his Woodlands side to victory.

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