Purdie is strong favourite to retain her IBC title

Nov 27 2008 by Our Correspondent, West Lothian Courier

WEST Lothian IBC champion Wendy Purdie is a strong hope to retain her national singles crown when she parades her skills in defence of the title in the final stages at East Lothian IBC this weekend.

The holder makes an early appearance at the Meadowmill Stadium near Tranent as she tackles Jane Brooksby of Falkirk in the semi finals at Saturday’s 9.30am session.

The West Lothian interest is two-fold with buzzing international star Neil Speirs bidding for the Gents’ Singles title and opening against Scott Briggs of Midlothian on the 11.30am session.

The Balbardie IBC banner is also present in these national finals and is strongly represented in the Two-Bowl Pairs event by high-profile figures Sharon Leitch and Lorraine Malloy, who open against Prestwick at 11-30am.

THE gloom has started to lift from the West Lothian IBC challenge in the B section of the Premier League with the team from the Inveralmond stadium at Livingston doubling their points tally from two to four at the weekend.

West Lothian responded to their relegation zone crisis by scoring a comfortable 90-74 victory over East Fife at Methil in a crunch encounter between basement rivals.

However, there is concern that the star-studded visitors only fired on two of their four cylinders, suffering disturbing setbacks on the rinks skipped by internationalists George Sneddon and Thomas Mann, leaving the much-needed points to be rescued by strong performances from rinks skipped by Neil Speirs and the returning Graeme Archer.

The outcome anchors East Fife at the foot of the table on two points while West Lothian share the second-bottom rung with Arbroath, but have a much superior shot margin bank.

West Lothian captured the first seven-end phase 34-27, thanks largely to a 12-1 contribution from Archer.

Then, inspired by a 16-0 input from Speirs they dominated the second 43-15, however, a disappointing climax saw them outgunned 32-13 by the home side on the third.

Archer and his young front three of Ewan Wilson, Kenny Black and Calum Logan made a sensational start to the match in the shape of a spectacular 25-1 lead after 12 ends that included a mighty five at the eighth.

The foot then came off the accelerator and counts at just two of the remaining nine ends forced them to settle for an otherwise admirable 30-10 win over Colin Falconer.

Speirs was at his liveliest of the campaign to date to skip Bryan Cooper, David Wilson, and James Speirs to a commanding 30-12 win over G Livingston.

An early highlight saw Speirs card a super six at the fourth end to lead 11-2, then a truly magic spell that lasted 10 ends on the trot produced counts of 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 1, 5, 1, 1, 1 that accelerated the score to 30-5 after 16 played.

East Fife showed their greatest menace against the experienced rink of Derek Mairs, Des Hagart, Jimmy Mallon and George Sneddon with Gary Mackie inflicting a resounding 25-12 blow by winning 14 of the 21 ends.

Mann seemed to be holding his own when skipping Cameron Greer, Ian Drysdale and Stuart Johnston to a 13-11 lead thanks to a five at the ninth – however, they failed to hold Mark Stenhouse on the long run in and lost 27-18.

Elsewhere in the B section, Aberdeen scored a 64-54 home win over second-placed Coatbridge as leaders East Lothian won 96-59 at Arbroath to stay undefeated after six games.

BALBARDIE IBC made it three wins out of six with a commanding 28-shot away victory over Alloa (90-62) to put four points between them and relegation-zoned Alloa and Cumbernauld in Division 1B.

Wins for the rinks skipped by Gerry Duggan, Graeme Byrne and Ewan Shearer, plus a peel for Sandy McDougall, made it a better day for the visitors who look well out of the promotion race with six points to make up on table-toppers Falkirk.

Duggan was the highest flyer at Alloa, skipping Gary Orr, John Ellis and Iain Grant to a 29-14 win while Colin Fraser, Davie Ross, David Lawrie and Graeme Byrne triumphed 21-14.

Shearer skipped Mark Bonar, Scott Murphy and Andy Forrest to a 20-14 success while Lawson Trotter, Ian Drysdale, Diz Drysdale and McDougall finished all square at 20-20.

GRAEME Archer is back in the international reckoning after a season of self-exile with the winner of 36 caps named in the trial squad to play on his home carpet at West Lothian IBC on Sunday, December 14.

Archer is joined by his Inveralmond colleagues, George Sneddon, Neil Speirs, Thomas Mann and Mark Allison.

The SIBA have also announced their full team for the Junior International series at Abbeyview in January and it is good news for Cameron Greer but bad for Calum Logan, with the teenage star falling out of favour.

THE ladies of Balbardie IBC continued to show good form in the shape of a 94-71 win over Lanarkshire at Bathgate, with wins for the rinks skipped by Sharon Leith and Lorraine Malloy carrying the day.

Balbardie sit one point clear of Coatbridge in second place but trail undefeated leaders Falkirk by four with four fixtures still to come.

Leitch skipped Kim Ross, Agnes Thomas and Marian Coats into a 19-10 lead then produced a sizzling finish of 1, 3, 2, 3, 3, to triumph 31-10 while Morven Shearer, Jessie Stevenson, Marion Halliday and Liz Boyle finished peels at 23-13, having led 16-5.

Malloy zipped from 9-6 to 18-6 with a run of 1, 5, 2, 1 then skipped Catherine Lochran, Catherine Shearer and Sadie McKenzie to a 22-14 win while a tumble from 11-9 to 11-19 saw Doreen Reeder, Ally Blagg, Margaret Taylor and Margo Duff lose 23-17.

WEST Lothian ladies continued to suffer in the same E section as Balbardie but their 93-61 defeat by Falkirk at the Inveralmond stadium was a form-book result.

Wendy Purdie did best for WL with the reigning Scottish Singles champion skipping Jennifer Richardson, Jean McPherson and Carole Clarkson to a 20-16 win over Vikki Leishman.

The other rink results were: Ann Clark 15, Maureen Leishman 25; Jennifer Sneddon 13, Jane Brooksby 25; Angie Uttley 13, Pat Johnston 27.

WEST Lothian IBC crashed out of the Headwell Team Championship event with a 5-3 points defeat from Perth at the Dunfermline venue.

Neil Speirs skipped Bryan Cooper, Ewan Wilson and James Spiers to a super 39-7 win in the Under-35 rink, however, the gents rink of David Ledgerwood, David Wilson, Ricky Forrest and George Sneddon were crushed 31-7.

The ladies rink of Irene Taylor, Jennifer Sneddon, Ann Clark and Margaret Russell lost 18-14, while the Seniors skipped by Peter Ball finished peels at 14-14.