Garfield's two wins from three sides produced a good week's results for the club this week.
Division two: Garfield defeated Thorpdale 82/68
Garfield played host to the side from Thorpdale and, with three rinks up and one down, won the day well overall by 14 shots.
The team of Graeme Burton, Bob Lamport, John O'Shea, and skip Shane Oliver began well with six shots in the first two ends; however, their opponents came back to level it up at seven shots all.
After that, the game was close all day, with the scores levelled three more times, including the penultimate end.
The Garfielders squeaked in with one shot on the last end to win the game by 19/18.
Les Pumphrey, Geoff Pumphrey, Joe Lenders and skip Steve Bassed likewise started with a flurry on the first two ends; the difference was that they kept it going to win convincingly 31/11.
The team consisting of Lexi Taylor, Roger Worden, Cheryl Breteler and skip Richard Ross were behind the eight-ball all day, recording a 12/28 loss.
Alan White, skipping the team consisting of Ron Saunders, Gerry Fuller and Gary Helmore, lost the first end to their opposition, but then they got going and, steadily but surely, worked their way to a win 19/11.
As a result of this good win, the side finds itself in fourth place on the ladder. Exactly like the midweek side, they are four points in front of Moe, who are fifth, so again some work is required to get them into finals.
Division five: Garfield (2) defeated Drouin (3) 62/48
Playing up the road at Drouin and despite only winning one rink of the three, Garfield came home with the points.
The team of Luke Monckton, Brad Fowler, Helene Newton and skip Gwen Fabris played a very tight game all day with scores tied four times up to the 18th end.
They won the 19th end, but a comeback by the home side in the last two ends, saw the Garfielders go down by 15 shots to 20.
The team skipped by Bian Fox and consisting of Rick Sillett, Henry Breteler and Annette O'Shea were down badly all day till the 16th end, when they were down by 13 shots.
However, an unchallenged comeback in the last five ends had them reduce the deficit to just four shots, losing the game 15/19.
Jasmine O'Shea skipped the team of Frank Prins, Trevor Peters and Len Preece. They started with a five-shot lead before their opponents scored, then parlayed that into a game and match winning result of 32/9.
Garfield still sits in fifth place this week. Some serious work will be required to push their way into the four before the end of the home-and-away rounds.
Midweek
Division four: Garfield lost to Traralgon RSL (2) 51/69
Garfield travelled away to face Traralgon RSL on their grass on Tuesday.
One winning rink of the three was not enough to bring home the bacon, and they lost overall by 18 shots.
The team skipped by Gordon Moxey and consisting of Annette O'Shea, Gwen Fabris and Bob Lamport struggled from the outset and finished up losing 12/29.
Gerry Fuller's team, consisting of Rick Sillett, Cheryl Breteler and Gerry Wakefield played a very tight game all day, then – with 10 shots in the last three ends – ran away to win the game by 23 shots to 19.
The team of Lexi Taylor, John O'Shea, and Helene Newton, skipped by Malcolm Newham, filled out the threesome, but also lost 16/21.
The side remains in fourth position on the ladder despite the result of this loss, but just four points ahead of Moe, with some winning to be done in the last three games to make the finals.
Garfield Bowling Club wishes to express its sorrow at the passing of long-time member and first side player, Tom Cleary. A true gentleman, he will be greatly missed.
A service will be held at the Bunyip Basketball Stadium located within the Bunyip Recreation Reserve on Friday January 31 at 1pm. A private cremation will follow.