City Red hold off City Gold in division one weekend pennant prelim

Spokes' City Red outfit knocked off its Western District Playing Area counterpart City Gold on Saturday, triumphing in a thrilling 61-57 preliminary final battle.

And in the process booked its spot in the March 19 division one weekend decider against Dunkeld.

Playing lawn bowls for close to half his life - he started at 15 and turns 30 in June - Spokes is fixed on feeling the euphoria of winning a top-grade flag.

"I've played in one at Simpson but we lost unfortunately ," he said. "This will be my second grand final, so hopefully I can get on the right side of the board this time."

After a two-year break from the game - the birth of his son making committing to a full season hard - the Camperdown-based Spokes is now going the extra mile to play the sport he loves.

"It's a bit of a commitment, it's nearly an hour drive but it hasn't been too bad," he said of his first full season at City Memorial. "The club has been really welcoming."

And it was a chance to play alongside a good friend in Matt Solly that has made this season all the sweeter.

"I became friends with Matt through bowls and we always said we wanted to play a few games together, so that's how we ended up here," Spokes said. "He's a good mate, he was in my bridal party so its good to play some bowls with him.

"And it'd be unreal if we could win a premiership together."

Despite Red's title as reigning premier, the team took its time to get going and only just found itself in fourth spot to finish the home-and-away fixture.

"It wasn't a great year to start for our side," Spokes said. "But we just took each week as it came and it feels good to make it.

"We just scraped in, but we know we're good enough to be there."

And it was pure relief for Spokes and his teammates as they found form at the right time to beat Warrnambool Gold and City Gold in a semi and preliminary final.

"Playing against (Gold) is always tough, they beat us in our first game of the year and then we got them in the next one," Spokes said. "We knew it was always going to be hard and it came down to the last end."

Though the four-shot result was ultimately sealed off of the final end of Solly's rink, the blueprint of Red's victory came in large part to the dominance of Spokes' rink (26-15), skipped by Bryan Sheehan.

"Bryan and I have clicked the last few weeks, at the right time of the year," Spokes said. "Our rink is starting to gel a lot better and we had a good win today.

"Julie (Dosser) and Greg (Ritchie), they got the bowls in early and me and Bryan had to hold them off."

Spokes said City Red would prepare well ahead of its meeting with division one newcomer Dunkeld in the grand final at Terang next week.

"We'll have a bit of practice during the week and assess how'll we go against Dunkeld," Spokes said. "They're a handy side and have played a good year coming up from division two to make the final.

"We'll put a bit time into it and hopefully all our work will benefit for Saturday.

"I'd be great to get the win and keep that high standard for the club. I'd love to get my first and it'd be good to bring the premiership back here.

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