Stanley rallies to grab second invitation singles

Press, 27 October 1986, Page 19

Stanley rallies to grab second invitation singles

Graham Stanley (South Brighton) enhanced his fine record in “The Press”-Air New Zealand invitation singles bowls tournament when he won the event for a scond time yesterday.

He has been the runner-up in one of the other two years that the tournament has been played.

In the final at Beckenham yesterday Stanley beat his South Brighton clubmate, Morgan Moffat, 21-20 — the same score by which Moffat beat Stanley in a semi-final of the national singles last summer.

And the only time Stanley was in front yesterday was at the finish. Moffat led 6-0 early and he looked to be well on the way to victory when he was ahead 14-6.

However, Stanley’s fighting qualities did not desert him and he struck back to narrow the gap to 15-16. Moffat then scored a three to go ahead, 19-15, and he was with in one shot of victory at 20-17.

But then Moffat’s drive, which had served him

well earlier, lost its accuracy and Stanley drew two fine shots on each of the last two ends to snatch the game, 21-20.

It was a match which contained a lot of driving, and Stanley, who played the shot bravely when under pressure in the middle stages, was rarely off line.

The win gives Stanley an all-expenses paid trip to the rich Manawatu Lion Masters singles later in the season.

The final was the only game that Moffat lost in the tournament. He was the only player of the 16 who took part to go through the seven section rounds unbeaten.

Stanley had one loss, and it was a heavy one, 21-9, to Stewart Buttar (Burnside), in the second round on Saturday. However, apart from a tight battle with Ken Watson (Linwood) he won most of his other games convincingly. Bernie Johns (Linwood) was the next most successful player with five wins, and he had a chance of pipping Moffat

for a place in the final if he could have beaten him in the seventh round, and then followed Bruce McNish (Spreydon) and the Papanui pair, Jack Dale and John Gill, each with four wins.

Gill was 20-11 up on Moffat when they met in the first round, but the last point would not come for him and Moffat recovered to win 21-20. Results.— Section one First round: L. Hanger (Burnside) 21, A. Griffin (Kaiapoi) 16; R. Patterson (Southbridge) 21, W. McDonald (Spreydon) 11; B. Johns (Linwood) 21, R. Howman (Burnside) 15; M. Moffat (South Brighton) 21, J. Gill (Papanui) 20. Second round: Moffat 21, Patterson 10; Johns 21, Griffin 9; McDonald 21, Gill 11; Howman 21, Hanger 19. Third round: Moffat 21, Griffin 9; Johns 21, Patterson 18; Hanger 21, Gill 17; McDonald 21, Howman 16. Fourth round: Gill 21, Johns 13; Moffat 21, Howman 17; Hanger 21, Patterson 11; Griffin 21, McDonald 18. Fifth round: Johns 21, McDonald 19; Patterson 21, Griffin 14; Moffat 21, Hanger 12; Gill 21, Howman 20. Sixth round: Gill 21, Patter-

son 8; Johns 21, Hanger 11; Moffat 21, McDonald 14; Griffin 21, Howman 12. Seventh round: Gill 21, Griffin 19; McDonald 21, Hanger 13; Patterson 21, Howman 9; Moffat 21, Johns 14. Section two First round: G. Stanley (South Brighton) 21, C. Thompson (Sumner) 6; L. Jones (Southbridge) 21, W. Wilkinson (Beckenham) -17; K. Watson (Linwood) 21, "S. Buttar (Burnside) 11; J. Dale (Papanui) 21, B. McNish (Spreydon) 5. Second round: McNish 21, Wilkinson 11; Thompson 21, Watson 16; Dale 21, Jones 14; Buttar 21, Stanley 9. Third round: Watson 21, Wilkinson 20; Buttar 21, Jones 16; Stanley 21, Dale 5; McNish 21, Thompson 17. Fourth round: Dale 21, Watson 17; McNish 21, Buttar 18; Stanley 21, Wilkinson 12; Jones 21, Thompson 7. Fifth round: Dale 21, Buttar 9; Watson 21, Jones 14; Thompson 21, Wilkinson 14; Stanley 21, McNish 16. Sixth round: Stanley 21, Watson 18; Buttar 21, Thompson 20; Jones 21, McNish 11; Wilkinson 21, Dale 18. Seventh round: Stanley 21, Jones 9; Wilkinson 21, Buttar 6; McNish 21, Watson 18; Thompson 21, Dale 6. Final: Stanley 21, Moffat 20.