In the battle of the Wanderers the points were not decided until the very last ball of a dramatic match at the Bladen Club. The first leg saw both teams struggle registering their lowest legs of the night with scores of 57 to 55 in favour of the home team.
In the second leg, Puddletown pressed home their advantage when after Ian Belt had a stick up bolter, Sam Napper flopped his first ball on his way to an excellent (15) and was backed up superbly by Mike Thomson who converted his chance with ease on his way to a further 15 which took the home team to a quality score of 75. In reply, Greyhound again struggled to find their range and were indebted to last man Solar (13) to take their leg score to 61 but the lead was increased to 16 for the home team. In the third leg Jake Gale (15) got the stick up his play deserved with a quality conversion of a running four which propelled his team to a score of 68 which the Greyhound could not get near as they hit a second consecutive 61 to see them fall 23 pins behind.
Puddletown skittled steadily in the fourth leg to hit 61 and in reply first man Shrek (12) gave the visitors the best possible start but despite some improved play the Greyhound could only pull back 5 pins following a score of 66. The fifth leg saw the home team again produce quality skittles with Gary Rashleigh (13) and Matty King (13) taking their chances with aplomb to lead their team to an excellent 73 which could have been more with the chances created, the Greyhound found stick ups elusive in reply but consistent skittling saw them hit 64 but the lead was now at 27 for the home team.
The sixth leg saw further solid skittles from Puddletown in their score of 61 and in reply the visitors again improved their play but it was that man Solar that helped pull some pins back with a crucial 14 in a score of 68. With their lead at 20 going into the last leg, the home team were looking for another solid score to put the game to bed, however it looked like they would be heading for their worse leg of the night until last man skipper Matt stepped up to the plate brilliantly to convert a single pin chance on his way to a 14 which took Puddletown to a score of 59 and set the Greyhound 80 to win. Looking for a fast start they got one thanks to Shrek who hit an excellent 16, but with 4 players left 43 was still needed but Pogo made big inroads into this by converting a split two chance on his way to a quality 15 but following a 5, the last two required 23 and after Max had only two pins with his first ball, he hit a crackerjack all or nothing second ball and kept his cool to hit a 14 to leave last man Solar 9 to win. After a great first ball which left the backer and two second backers, he held his nerve superbly to firstly convert the split two before nailing the single pin to the delight of his teammates and the dismay of the home team who can feel understandably robbed of victory by 1 pin.
