WESTLECOT ladies produced a spirited performance but were beaten in the Yetton Plate competition last Saturday, going down on the last end to Dorchester 80-78.

This was despite sharing the rink honours 2-2 and winning their two home games by 11 shots each.

The Old Town ladies found life tough away at Dorchester, losing by a single shot on Janet Willis’ rink and struggling badly on the other before falling to a decisive 23 shots defeat.

Westlecot were trailing across the board from almost the outset but thanks to two good recoveries on the home rinks led by Pat Murray and Wendy Anderson, they came extremely close to snatching victory.

Murray was 9-7 down at home after nine ends but won her game 22-11 after winning 10 of the last 12 ends.

Anderson’s rink were equally impressive, coming from 11-5 down after eight ends to win 27-16 following a run of 11 victories on the last 13 ends.

Overall, Westlecot won the first two ends but were 25-17 down after five ends, 48-31 after 10 and 67-45 adrift at 15 but the gap was pulled back to 75-64 at 18 before finally losing narrowly 80-78 at 21.

The defeat means Westlecot ladies have now been eliminated from all national team competitions this season, although for some of the newcomers in the line-up, it was a good experience for the future.