Bowling: East bloody high-flying West for good measure

Jun 11 2009 by Our Correspondent, West Lothian Courier

EAST Lothian gave West Lothian a bloody nose last Saturday by inflicting a first defeat on the section leaders after five games played in the Cities & Counties Championship for the Andrew Hamilton Trophy.

The normally adept Garden County has struggled to flourish this campaign and with two defeats were off the pace in the East section but they showed they still had a sting in their tail with a battling performance to beat their high-flying visitors 115-111 at Haddington.

Graeme Archer was an absentee and his place at skip was taken over by the promotion of George Sneddon while Mark Allison returned to the team at lead

West Lothian remain top-of-the-table, two points clear of Midlothian, Edinburgh and Leith, and East Lothian, but with two teams qualifying after the seven-match programme they have additional protection from a shot margin bank of 151 compared to the 10, -8, and -11 of the chasing three.

Midlothian came back into the picture with a 117-111 home win that damaged their victims Edinburgh and Leith, but Border dropped off the radar with a 138-122 defeat away to West Fife.

The form book on the run-in continues to favour West Lothian although West Fife at the Deans this weekend and Border at Newbridge the following week can’t be treated lightly as both teams can be dangerous if hitting top form. Midlothian are away to Fife and away to Stirling County East; Edinburgh and Leith are at home to Stirling and away to Fife while East Lothian are away to Border and at home to West Fife.

West Lothian cheered wins on three rinks at Haddington but the success of Grant Logan, George Sneddon, and Thomas Mann just failed to cover the setbacks suffered by John Aitken, Neil Speirs, and Raymond Logan.

East Lothian made the better start on more familiar territory to capture the first seven-end phase 40-31 and they tightened their grip by dominating the second phase 48-30 but West Lothian showed great spirit with a 50-27 revival on the run in.

Logan (Grant) gained an 11-6 edge after 10 -ends against Derek Oliver and was always just doing enough to skip Mark Allison, Iain Grant, and Blair Mackie to a 22-15 win.

Sneddon suffered a serious-looking flip from 12-7 up to 17-13 down but recovered well to skip Stewart McMaster, James Speirs, and Alec Allan to a 25-20 win over Struan Robertson.

Mann was nip and tuck, hammer and tongs with world-stage star Alex Marshall MBE and did well to keep the home team icon at bay as he skipped Frazer Muirhead, Walter McDougall, and Gary Smith to a 15-13 win.

Aitken found himself 11-4 in arrears after 10 ends but closed to 14-14 in company with Bryan Cooper, Gerry Duggan, and Calum Logan then in a battle to the line they were just piped 18-17 by the great Willie Wood MBE.

Speirs and his rink of Cameron Greer, Ian Robertson and Sandy McDougall were against the collar at 18-9 down to Alister Kennedy after 17 ends and in the end went down to a 20-14 defeat.

Logan (Raymond) and his front three of Ewan Shearer, Barry Sword, and Andrew Dunnett stood 23-9 down against Jamie Higgins after 14-ends and lost 29-18.

THE final days play in the Roofline Scotland sponsored Inter County Top Ten Tournament takes place at Eddlewood in Hamilton this Sunday.