Fired-up Matt clinches the treble

At the Corbet Field yesterday the Matt Le Ber-skipped mixed fours team survived a Manx-laid banana skin in their closing group match and by doing so not only secured the mixed title but also the overall gold medal to add to the gold Lucy Beere and Rose Ogier delivered in the ladies pairs on Thursday.

‘It’s been a very good week with home advantage and it seems to have paid off,’ said Le Ber.

‘We struggled yesterday – me and Todd – but the girls did the job and we knew it was still in our hands this morning and as long as we won a set we would get gold overall and team gold as well,’ he added.

‘The good thing about sets play is that after losing the first we knew we had to win the second.

‘The rink wasn’t the best, more the wind which kept one hand straight, but we managed to get that one at the end to do it.’

Isle of Man have pooped Guernsey’s bowls parties before and threatened to do so again as a few rinks away England were taking on the Spanish, hoping to cash in on any Guernsey slip-up.

For a while it seemed that might just happen.

After dropping the first set it was key that Le Ber’s team got two match points by claiming the second.

A triple on the first end settled the nerves and the lead soon became two as Le Ber drew a superb final bowl that drew high fives and low fives all round and another point on the board.

The home team were supercharged to get the job done. No more mistakes.

But Mark McGreal, the Manx skip, was not on the same script and a super delivery picked up the jack and pushed it to within a foot of the ditch to make four.

It was a highly damaging end for the home team and squared matters at 4-4 with three ends left. A single on the next got Guernsey’s noses back in front and they added another single on the fifth. Nearly home.

As the sixth end concluded with Isle of Man closing the gap to a shot the buzz was that England had dropped a set to Spain.

Guernsey had the fours title in the bag but to make absolutely sure of the overall crown, a set win was still needed.

two down early in the set Guernsey were in a spot of bother. Beere tickled one of the counters but could not dislodge it.

She tried again and missed and now the pressure was fully on the skip to save the day and that is exactly what he did, firing and taking the jack into the ditch.

guernsey were now holding shot and when McGreal slipped his final bowl just too long and into the ditch the golds were secured.

Meanwhile the EBU annual meetinghas confirmed that Ayr will stage the 2021 championships.