MURRAY Downs and Racecourse have gone down in the 2022 Region Pennant bowls finals after coming up against tough competition in Euston last month.
Murray Downs qualified for the Murray Mallee Region finals after taking out the Division 1 Weekend Pennant final against Swan Hill earlier in the year.
They narrowly went down to the eventual winners Cohuna Golf in their first round 47 shots to 48 and to Mildura in the second round, 40-44.
In the final game of the competition, they lost to Birchip 37-46 and went on to finish fourth in a very competitive fixture.
Murray Downs coach Josh Thornton was left to search for answers after what had been a disappointing tournament for the club.
“We lost the first two very narrowly,” he said.
“We probably should’ve beaten Cohuna Golf, who were the eventual winners.”
“It went down to the last bowl.”
Despite not winning a game for the event, they were competitive in every match they played.
“We should’ve done better,” Thornton said.
“Being harsh, I was very disappointed the way we played on the day but we also weren’t that far away.”
“The best team on paper won, but we definitely should’ve done better.”
Racecourse earnt their spot at the finals by taking out the Division 1 Midweek Pennant final against Swan Hill.
They would also face the eventual winners in round 1, going down to a strong Kerang outfit 40-33 shots.
Keen to bounce back they easily took care of Irymple in the second round 51-34 shots before finishing the tournament on a high destroying Sea Lake 86-15 shots.
Racecourse finished second for the weekend.
Thornton, who ran the event as part of his role as the country manager for north-west Victoria, was really pleased with how the event went.
“I think it ran fantastically, all of the feedback I received was great,” he said.
“Euston were fantastic hosts and the facilities were spot on.”
“They really looked after us.”
Matches played over the weekend were 15 ends, a shorter format than the usual 25 ends that teams play in pennant competitions.
Cohuna Golf and Kerang will head to the Champion of State Pennant finals at Moama Bowling Club on May 21-24.
Both teams will compete against other region winners in midweek and weekend divisions for the opportunity to be crowned state champions.
