IT was same old, same old on the road for Werribee in the Bowls Victoria premier division.
The Bees’ terrible record away from the Hive continued with an 87-62 belting at the hands of powerhouse Moonee Ponds at Queens Park on Saturday.
Saving the Bees from total destruction was Ben Major, who produced his best performance of the season in a 27-16 mauling of Brett Spurr, but it was not enough for his teammates to avoid a fourth consecutive loss on their travels to start the season.
“Ben Major’s rink was outstanding,” Bees skip Snowy Barker said. “He had an absolute blinder of a game.
“All the opposition said that they have never seen him like it with the game he played.”
Barker’s rink played a tightly contested 18-15 loss to Shane Fordham.
But the Bees were soundly beaten in the other two rinks, with Mick O’Neil being outclassed 27-12 by Mark Jacobsen and Darren Christie mauled 26-8 by Adam Galloway.
On the back of losing a number of star players during the off season, Barker said his club was realistic about where it stood in the pecking order this season, and the results against the higher ranked sides in the competition were a telling indication.
“They are a pretty good team Moonee Ponds,” Barker said. “You get disappointed, but you walk away from it knowing where you are.
“We are where we are and if you try to build yourselves up you get even more disappointed.”
The Bees return home to the synthetic surface at Chirnside Park. They are a totally different team at home, yet to lose in three starts.
Their biggest rival, Altona, will visit Watton Street for a western showdown at 1pm Saturday.
There will be some added spice to an already simmering rivalry after the defection of a number of Bees to the A’s during winter, including former player-coach Brett Dodd, skip David Zitter and rising star Dane McKinnon.
Premier Division: Moonee Ponds 87 Werribee 62
Division 2: Hoppers 81 Port Melbourne 79
