by Ian Clough

HISTORY-MAKING York Indoor Bowls Club ladies capped an amazing season by adding the Yetton Trophy to their Vivienne Trophy triumph.

The team are the first to record the double in the Thanet Road outfit's 41-year history, beating Egham in the final 77-76.

York went into the semi-finals with no expectations as they faced one of the favourites, City of Ely, whose ranks included four internationals.

However, York got off a great start, leading 25-9 after 20 ends then 45-22 after 40.

York’s dominance continued and after 60 ends the score stood at 70-31 before City of Ely conceded with 16 ends still to play and York leading 80-34.

Carol Instone's side led 6-2 after five ends, 13-5 after ten, then 22-6 after 16 before finishing up winning 27-6 after 18 ends.

Helen Walker’s team also had a good win, leading 11-1 after five ends, then 16-5 after ten and extending their advantage to 22-7 after 15 before their game finished with the score at 22-9 with five ends still to play.

Sue Allen’s side led 6-1 after five ends, 11-5 after ten, then 18-8 when their game came to a halt with four ends still to play.

The closest match came from the Linda Harrison versus Sarah Seymour game. Harrison’s side came back to 7-5 down after ten and the teams were level at 11-11 on the 15th end. York scored two singles and the game finished 13-11.

Egham, last year's runners-up and the team York beat when they last won the Yetton Trophy in 2002, had beaten Madeira 80-70 in the semi-finals.

York got off to a good start, leading 34-30 after 33 ends, with Walker’s side leading 9-3, Harrison’s 11-9 and Instone's 9-8, although Allen’s team trailed 10-5.

At the half way stage, York still had a slight advantage as they led 41-37, with Walker and Instone still 9-5 and 11-10 ahead respectively. Harrison’s team were 12-12 and Allen’s rink trailed only 10-9.

Unfortunately for York, Egham had the upper hand over the following 20 ends, where they scored 23 shots to York’s ten.

York did not let the game slip away and, with ten ends to play, the aggregate score stood at 67-66 to Egham as Walker’s team had extended their advantage to 20-10 and Instone's side led 17-16.

Harrison’s side had come back well and were only one behind at 19-18, with all three rinks having three ends to play. Allen’s side went into their last end 22-11 down.

Allen picked up a valuable three to finish with a 22-14 defeat. The next rink to finish was Instone's, who dropped seven shots on the 19th and 20th ends but crucially picked up a single on the last to only lose 23-18.

Walker’s had picked up a further four shots and Harrison’s still trailed by one shot 20-19, so with two to play the score stood at 75-75.

Walker finished first and sealed a great day with a two to win 26-10, which meant Harrison’s team had to make sure they did not drop more than a single for York to take the title.

They held their nerve and only dropped a single to give York the title 77-76.