Ulster Transport B picked up a point away at Falls after a late surge by the home team gave them victory in a close match.

Scoreboard

Upcoming Matches, Other Results and the NIPGL Division 4 Table

Ulster Transport have two teams in Division 4 and promotion for one or both is the desired outcome this season.

It is a very different league this year with 13 teams instead of 9 and only 5 (Albert Foundry, Cavehill, Falls, Ewarts and Hilden) who played in D4 in 2023 as well as Ulster Transport B.

There are 7 new arrivals; 3 relegated from Division 3 (Pickie, Saintfield, Comber), 3 from 12 player Division 5 (Balmoral, CI Knock, Ulster Transport C) and 1 new team (Owenbeg).

All teams will play each other once until the league is split in two on 27th July with the top (probably 6 team) and bottom half playing a round robin for the title/promotion and survival/relgation respectively.

Therefore different challenges await both Ulster Transport teams this season.

Result Card

A game that was in the balance up to the 14th of 18 ends* at 52 - 53** before a late Falls B surge took the game away from the Ulster Transport B side.

Bill Beveridge and Jim Maxwell were both unlucky not to get a point, dropping shots in the last couple of ends, Linda Brown recorded another win (2 out of 3 in friendly matches) with a solid performance from everyone on her rink and James Robb was the exception with an excellent game at 2nd on Joe McAdam's rink.

*All Division 4 games are 2 trials and 18 ends unless both teams agree to play 15 ends before the match begins.

**Some rinks were playing at a faster pace than others, several were only on their 12 end and the end by end overall score above does not reflect this.

Player Team Statistics

It is only the start of the season and similar to the A Team, it will take a few games for the players to become comfortable in settled rinks ahead of a long campaign.

There are 20 players in the squad (plus A Team reserves) and 4 were not available for the first match.

Note: B Team players may not play for the C Team this season and vice versa.

Next League Match

Owenbeg started up again a few years ago and rejoined the NIPGL, only playing Midweek matches. This is their first season back in the Saturday leagues at Division 4 and their green will be a big advantage for home games.

Ulster Transport B play Owenbeg at home on a Tuesday night (14th May 2024) and while there is no recent history betweeen the sides, there is a better oportunity of victory on the UTBC green instead of an away match.