ATHERLEY squeezed through to the last 16 of the Canada Life Denny Cup in an extra-end thriller against East Dorset.

Beaten over 21 ends, Richard Shelley's rink were still the Atherley heroes in the sudden-death play-off, scoring the crucial shots against Nicky Jones at Christchurch in a 77-75 triumph.

"We are over the moon - we went out there with so much belief in ourselves and bowled really well as a team," said Atherley indoor secretary Gwyn Guy.

On that additional end, East Dorset were holding shot until Dennis Durrant sent the jack into the ditch, giving Atherley two. Bill Ward regained the initiative for East Dorset but Shelley swung the pendulum back to Atherley - and opposing skip Jones could do nothing about it.

Earlier Shelley had fought back after being 9-0 down to lose narrowly to Jones.

Atherley also went down in the other contest at Christ-church with Dave Archibald being pipped by Nicky Smith, an outdoor member at Atherley.

At Southampton, Colin Thresher's foursome scrambled a one-shot success for Atherley after their 25-14 lead was severely dented by dropping a seven on the 19th end to Julian Haines.

The second game at Hill Lane saw a 15-12 home win for Peter Ward who had trailed 7-4 at 10 ends to Kevin Cousins in a high-quality tussle that saw East Dorset without regular skip Russell Morgan through business commitments.

Atherley's next opponents on Saturday, January 20, are Wey Valley (Guildford) who crushed Egham 86-63.

Scores

(Atherley rinks, East Dorset skips only).

At Atherley: Larry Collins, Dave Edmonds, Iain Bunday, skip Colin Thresher 25 Julian Haines 24; Pete Gange, Barry Littlewood, Steve Spreadbury, skip Peter Ward 15 Kevin Cousins 12;

At Christchurch: David Bishop, Mick Barrett, Peter Line, skip Dave Archibald 19 Nicky Smith 20; John Barter, Dennis Durrant, Ray Wilkinson, skip Richard Shelley 16 Nicky Jones 19.