Emu Point Red clinch spectacular Lower Great Southern Bowling League division one pennant four-peat

Emu Point Red have cemented themselves once again as the Lower Great Southern Bowling League’s best outfit after securing a spectacular pennant four-peat at the weekend. A resurgent Emu Point Red side overcame a slight hiccup in their qualifying final to surge through and lift their fourth consecutive division one pennant on Sunday. Emu Point Red flexed their muscles in the grand final on their home greens at Emu Point Sporting Club with a crushing 20-shot victory over Middleton Beach Gold, 63-43. However, their road to the decider was far from comfortable. After sitting top of the ladder for most of the season, Emu Point Red suffered a shock loss to Middleton Beach Gold in the qualifying final on Saturday and their hopes of a four-peat were on a knife’s edge. Middleton Beach Gold advanced through to the final with a dominant 61-46 victory, forcing Emu Point Red to play off in the preliminary final against Albany Gold. Albany Gold booked their spot in the grand final playoff after a thumping 81-29 victory over Denmark before a fuming Emu Point Red smashed them 73-47. Emu Point Red skipper Jon Sharp has been instrumental in all four pennant victories but this one was his final match for the club, making it a fitting ending to his Albany tenure. “To win four in a row has been good and for me, I’m leaving town so I’ve played my last game for Emu Point,” Sharp said. “It’s comforting to finish my time in Albany with another win. “We’ve had a pretty good time down here in the last four years to win four in a row and it’s pretty big for the club.” Sharp said their shock qualifying final loss was one they needed to make a push for a fourth successive pennant. “Yeah I think (it was a loss we needed); we probably weren’t at our top but they certainly played good,” he said. “It just meant that we had to be on top of our game to beat them and we were on Sunday. “We were on top most of the year. It probably made us rethink about what we needed to do. “So in the afternoon we certainly produced that and we were all fired up to have a pretty big game on the Sunday.” In division two, Mt Barker Golf Red secured the pennant with a 70-44 triumph over Albany Green, while Denmark clinched the third division with a 70-54 win over Middleton Beach White.