SUFFOLK entertained Essex at the Haverhill stadium in their final Eastern Counties League match of the season.Suffolk had thrashed Cambridgeshire in their previous match but Essex had whitewashed Norfolk so manager Chris Southgate had selected a strong team for this important game.

SUFFOLK entertained Essex at the Haverhill stadium in their final Eastern Counties League match of the season.

Suffolk had thrashed Cambridgeshire in their previous match but Essex had whitewashed Norfolk so manager Chris Southgate had selected a strong team for this important game.

Unfortunately too many of the Suffolk players were sadly off form and failed to cope with the fast-swinging rinks at Haverhill.

The Essex players adapted much better and soon established a lead which they steadily increased.

At five ends Suffolk were eight shots adrift and at ten ends this had increased to 13 shots.

Things did not improve for Suffolk and after 15 ends they had slipped further adrift to be 23 shots down. The final score was 92-57 - a 35-shot difference.

On rink one Colin Gathercole, who has qualified for the final stages of the national singles, skipped home player Julian Poole and new caps Philip Page and Jinx Utteridge.

They started well to lead 5-0 but then lost 10 shots while scoring only one.

The recovery came with a count of six when Gathercole produced a delightfully weighted bowl to trail the jack into his team's waiting bowls, but then lost a five on the very next end and they finished losing by 18 shots to 24.

Martin Rumball and his team of Carl Finbow, Ian Clouting and David Southgate fought hard and looked to be Suffolk's best balanced rink.

They won 10 of the 21 ends but the Essex rink with Maynard and Ripley at the back were just too strong and included three counts of four in their score. Suffolk lost 22-12 in this game.

On rink three Mark Royal was often in trouble and failed to get out of it.

His front men of Stuart Fuller, Neil Frowhawk and Calvern Kemp were sadly outplayed by their opponents and when they did build a good position Richard Hart, the redoubtable Essex star, undid their good work.

Suffolk had a woeful start on this rink, losing 14 shots while scoring just a single on the first eight ends, but they improved to lose 23-11 at the finish.

On rink four, a tricky end rink, John Chalk, Gwyn Chambers and Lee Garwood, along with new cap Colin Chick, made a good start and led by 15 shots to seven at the halfway mark but then lost the plot as Essex scored 17 shots to just one and Suffolk lost 24-16 on this rink.

Manager Chris Southgate was very disappointed with the performance and the result.

He said: “I'm looking for some positives from this game and finding it very difficult.

“I believe that all Suffolk players need to practise more and to think more carefully about their game.”