NEW Earswick Indoor Bowls Club faced Leeds in the second round of the Denny Plate and somehow managed to grab defeat from the jaws of victory.

From a position of strength in each of the four rinks - having led on aggregate for the whole match and having still been 59-52 up after 16 of the 18s ends - New Earswick contrived to lose 65-62, with only one rink claiming a victory.

At home, John Harrison, Gary Jones, Colin Pickup and Bill Waldie led 7-1 after six of the 18 ends but lost the next five to go 11-7 down and only picked up three more singles in the remaining 12 ends to lose 17-10.

Dave Imeson, Vic Thompson, Ken Harrison and Brian Gray fought back from 5-2 down after four ends to go 13-5 up after 11 but they only scored one single in the last seven ends to draw 14-14.

At Leeds, Bob Elliot, Colin Ellis, Rod Walker and Dick Osguthorpe found themselves 9-2 down after seven ends but picked up eight shots at the next three to take a 10-9 lead.

However, Leeds drew level at 10 apiece, and, although Earswick then won four of the last seven ends, they only scored singles each time whereas the home team notched 11 shots at three winning ends, including a crucial six at the 17th to win 21-14.

New Earswick's only victory came from Graham Lockwood, Dave Sykes, Andrew Fothergill and Kevin Liddell, who came from behind to level the scores at 6-6 after five ends and thereafter outscored their opponents on the way to a 24-13 victory.