Mortlake seal top four finals spot with last round lawn bowls win against Port Fairy

Mortlake secured a top-four finish in the final round of the Western District Playing Area home-and-away season, defeating Port Fairy away, 57-52.

Skipper Darren Grant, whose 20-shot rink win paved the way for Mortlake's success, said his team was thrilled to make a return to finals.

"It feels fantastic," he said. "It's a great result and a lot of hard work went into it, we're just lucky to get over the line. It's good for the competition to have the smaller clubs like us in the finals. We've only got 50 members... so to be able to have a go at the finals is just fantastic."

Mortlake join City Memorial's Red and Gold teams, as well as Warrnambool Bowl Club's Gold outfit in the top four. Grant, who has more than 15 years of experience as a bowler, said the club knew its own limitations but made sure it always aimed to give themselves a shot at finals each year.

Mortlake came into Saturday's clash knowing they had to win to play finals, with either a Port Fairy win, or a draw, gifting the latter a finals berth instead.

"We knew the winner went into the four," Grant said. "So it was good to have a bit of pressure on the opposition as well.

"We put in a lot of practice, we came down here (Port Fairy) twice through the week and practised here."

The skip praised his rink - made up of Peter Beardsley (lead), Jacinta Marney (second) and Colin Goldsworthy (third) - for their dominant display on Saturday.

"Colin in third and Peter leading... we've been together for five or six years," he said. "Jacinta's come in towards the end of the season and she's bowled really well."

Grant also paid respect to the opposition, with Steven Gibbs' Port Fairy rink fighting hard in the final ends against George Draffin's rink to make up the five shots to no avail.

Mortlake, who moved from fourth to third on the ladder after the win, will play City Gold in an elimination final on Saturday.

Grant is confident his team will be highly competitive against the bigger clubs, despite the obvious challenge.

"We only lost to City Memorial (Red) by eight shots a couple weeks ago," he said. "We can do it, we're underdogs and we've got nothing to lose."

In the remaining matches, reigning premier City Red capped off their perfect season with a 36-shot win against Dunkeld, while second-placed Warrnambool Gold defeated City Gold 67-52 to push the latter into fourth spot.

Warrnambool Blue, Koroit Blue and Dennington Jets all celebrated wins to close their seasons.

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