West Lothian IBC flop in Ayrshire challenge

Nov 5 2009 by Our Correspondent, West Lothian Courier

WEST Lothian IBC’s challenge for the qualifying honours in the A section of the Premier League suffered its first setback with a 13-shot defeat from Prestwick when the gladiators from Livingston entered the lions den in Ayrshire last weekend.

Both teams came into the match undefeated after three games played and although West Lothian battled bravely and gave a good account of themselves they went down 82-69.

Wins for the rinks skipped by George Sneddon and Neil Speirs kept WL in the picture but their success was B-rated in contrast to the A performance from Prestwick that claimed Mark Allison and Thomas Mann as their victims.

All three seven-end phases of the match were strongly contested with not a lot separating the two teams. However Prestwick had the home environment in their favour and made it work for them to return advantages of 31-23, 27-26, and 24-20.

The major problem confronting the WL challenge was the exciting form of Prestwick legend Robert McCulloch with the former Scotland captain cashing in on late counts of 5 and 3 to contribute a 15-shot win to the home cause.

McCulloch and Co. counted at 11 of the 19 ends completed and claimed the rink of Richard Mark, Blair Mackie, Raymond Logan and Mann as their 27-12 victims.

Allison and his rink of Bryan Cooper, Ian Laverie and Calum Logan were also playing against the collar although it took the loss of 2, 2, 1 on the run in to condemn them to a 22-15 defeat from Peter Boyd.

Speirs might well have collapsed at 13-8 down to Colin Smith but instead rallied by skipping Ewan Wilson, James Greenock and James Speirs to a mighty 5 then on to a commendable 26-21 victory.

Sneddon always had Drew Boyd in his grip but only just and it took a 2, 1 finish for him to skip Cameron Greer, David Wilson and Joey Strickland to a 16-12 win.

BALBARDIE IBC are a serious challenger for the promotion place at stake in the B section of Division One but have had a tough opening schedule and they lost further ground with an 85-81 defeat away defeat from Bainfield.

“We expected it tough and got it tough but quite frankly we would have enjoyed a more comfortable win but for the form of Balbardie skip Ewan Shearer. who was quite phenomenal against us,” said team manager John Bell of Bainfield.

Balbardie arrived as underdogs but not lightweights and after nine ends stood 12 shots up, but Bainfield had their lives to fight for and turned the tables in admirable fashion to edge a four-shot win.

Balbardie dished out stiff punishment to Paul O’Donnell and his rink with the young skips opposite number Ewan Shearer particularly outstanding, but the Bainfield cause was saved by wins for Robert Marshall, Gavin Smith, and Stevie McLeod.

The phase scoring shows Balbardie putting Bainfield under 26-18 pressure over the first 7-ends but the home side transforming the picture with a significant 39-28 reply on the second then edging the third, 28-27.

The match was a frustrating one for O’Donnell and his rink of Craig Paterson, Gary Purdie and team captain Craig Moss, who in the opinion of Bell played well enough yet were heavily outgunned 31-14 by Shearer.

The 36-year old outdoor cap included a purple patch spell of 4 (2), 1, 6, 2, (1), 1, 2, 3 to skip Gary Orr, Kenny Martin and Andy Forrest into a commanding 25-10 lead after 17 ends.

Marshall steadied the ship for Bainfield though and included an uplifting run of 3, 3, 5, 3 as he skipped Graeme McIntosh, Brian Stoddart and Jamie Gracie to a 28-14 win over Mark Bonnar, Alistair Wilson, Gerry Duggan and Walter McDougall.

Smith registered seven duck-eggs over the first eight ends and trailed 11-2 as a consequence, then 13-4, but found a new lease of life and did exceptionally well to fight back and win.

He skipped Chris Downie, Jamie Aitken and Colin Hutchison on a 1, 4, 3, 3, 1, 1 revival then onto a 21-15 triumph over Colin Fraser, Davy Ross, Jim Speirs and Graeme Byrne.

McLeod made a big impression with successive counts of 5 and 4 to skip Derek Smith, Willie McDonald and Alan Brown into a 17-6 lead after 11-ends.

However they were then hard pressed to hang on and edge a 22-21 win over Lawson Trotter, David Lawrie, Diz Drysdale and Sandy McDougall.

WEST Lothian IBC ladies doubled their wins in Division 1C of the league cup with a nerve-tingling 82-78 win over Bainfield at the Inveralmond stadium.

Wins for the rinks skipped by Ann Clark, Lily Sword, and Wendy Purdie more than covered the defeat of Jennifer Sneddon.

Clark made telling space from 8-7 to 17-7 with a run of 1, 4, 3, 1 then skipped Irene Taylor, Isobel Lindsay and Catherine Howie to a 26-19 win over Kathryn Crombie.

Sword was mighty over the first seven ends to skip June Thorburn, Muriel Henderson and Jennifer Richardson into a 15-2 lead, but life became tougher for them before settling for a 24-19 win over Anna Anderson.

Purdie had mum Sandra at second in company with Beth Erskine and Jean McPherson, and skipped them to a last-gasp 20-19 win over Anne Watson who had led 19-13.

Sneddon and her rink of Lucy Noon, Betty Tate and Helen Tully were always up against it and lost 21-12 to Mandy O’Donnell.

Balbardie scored a 75-54 home win over Allander and top the D section on shot margin from Whiteinch.

THE major talking point at WLIBC last week centred on the shock defeat of Calum Logan, Thomas Mann and Neil Speirs in the Triples championship with the star trio eliminated 17-5 by Stuart Isbister, Graeme Eddington and Graeme Lees.