BRAINTREE Bowls Club's meeting with neighbours Courtaulds Halstead went right down to the wire.

Halstead eventually prevailed in the regional first round of the National Tony Allcock National Trophy for Mixed 4s Over 60s, played at Braintree's Clare Road ground.

It was a most enjoyable match, played by two extremely sporting clubs, with the final result not decided until the last bowl on each green was delivered.

Two rinks of fours in each team battled it out over 21 ends, with the combined scores then added together to decide who has won the competition with the most shots.

Both home and away clubs mirrored each other on their respective rinks.

Rink one's home team of Roni Taylor, Olive Hawkins, Tony Heales and Richard Dodd lost heavily on two ends in the opening half of their match.

But in the remaining half they gradually narrowed the deficit to within eight shots, eventually losing 25-17.

On the other rink, the Braintree team of Pat Hart, Gill Costin, Paul Costin and Andy Beatty took an early lead which they maintained over the whole 21 ends.

But the Halstead team kept the gap between them to a minimum running out 19-17 losers to the hosts.

It meant that Halstead progressed to the next round, 42-36 on shots.

Praise should go to the green's staff for an extremely well-kept surface.