12th West Lothian Masters claims top names in early rounds

Jul 22 2010 West Lothian Courier

THE 12th West Lothian Masters is underway with a field that is 221 strong chasing the £1000 title and signature green jacket, but two of the 16 seeds were first-round fallers on Monday night so George Sneddon and Bryan Cooper won’t have their name etched on the prized trophy.

Sneddon has known glory as Scottish singles champion and Hong Kong Classic winner but the No.8 seed, and pairs gold medal winner from the Commonwealth Games and World Championships failed to cope with Drew Paterson of Newbridge at Armadale.

Paterson represented danger to the now 60-year-old Scotland manager as his form lines include a national triples title and although having faded from the frontline scene in West Lothian he remains competitive and won well in 21-ends.

The Newbridge bowler made a strong start to lead 11-2 then still had Sneddon very much on the back-foot at 19-11 and went on to triumph 21-14.

Cooper went the distance to reach the Masters final in 2008 but the 28-year-old No.12 seed from Bathgate became a first-hurdle faller when failing to negotiate a safe passage against Colin McConaghy of Glenmavis at East Calder.

McConaghy is a regular winner on the weekend open pairs circuit so has form and he produced it to beat Cooper 21-15 in 22-ends having picked up from 12-13 to bring the former county singles/junior open/district junior singles champion under pressure at 19-14.

Mark Allison, the No.9 seed from Broxburn came close to biting the dust but survived a 21-20 thriller after a marathon 29-ends against Gordon Logan of Kirkliston at West Calder.

Logan came off a 14-18 pace to cross 19-18 with a run of 1, 3, 1 then a nailbiting climax at 20-20 was followed by a no-shot end before Allison edged the winning single.

Gary Smith, the No.7 seed from Linlithgow, is a player that can cope with sweat on his brow and the Scotland/England international player showed that quality when answering an 18-15 deficit with a 2, 1, 3 finish to beat Tom Grant of Broxburn at Ratho.

You don’t have to be a winner to create a special moment in the Masters as was the case with Joe Arthurs of Newbridge who looked written off at 20-5 down to Scott Mushet of Philpstoun at Ratho.

But lo and behold Arthurs had other ideas and launching an explosive fight back he closed excitingly to peel at 20 – then lost out on an umpire’s measure to a much-relieved Mushet on the 19th end of a memorable encounter.

Andrew Semple is a bright young hope and he carried the Oakbank banner forward with a battling 21-18 win over the talented David Forrest of Glenmavis in 25-ends at Bathgate.

Bathgate was also the venue for the demise of Davy Ross of Glenmavis with the Scottish pairs champion leading 13-12 before making a 21-12 exit to David Masterton Jnr of Kirkliston.

Richard Mark cashed in on a 9-0 lead and went on to include two counts of 4 in his 21-11 win over Gerry Duggan of Bathgate at Buchan Park.

Kirkliston are bidding to win the Masters title a magnificent seventh time in a row and their leading contenders in the shape of No.1 seed Grant Logan, No.2 seed John Aitken, and No.5 seed Neil Speirs remain in action.

The unmentioned seeds to progress were No.3 Andy Dunnett (Queensferry), No.4 Graeme Archer (Uphall Station), No.6 Ewan Shearer (Bo’ness), No.10 Steven Fleming (Linlithgow), No.11 Brian Edwards (Broxburn), No.13 Sandy McDougall (Glenmavis), No.14 Walter McDougall (Glenmavis), No.15 Alec Allan (Newbridge).

Frazer Muirhead the No.16 seed from Uphall Station was a late absentee.

The venues for tonight’s fourth round play are Broxburn, Bellsburn, Pumpherston and Queensferry, then on Friday night at Glenmavis and Deans with the final day’s play at Uphall Station on Sunday starting at 11am with the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Gary Clelland, the Immediate Past President of the WLBA from Bellbsurn, is one happy bowler at the moment having returned an international champion from representing Scotland in the Disability Festival of Sport event played at Nottingham.

Gary performed in category B6 and was part of a 10-person squad that triumphed over England and Wales in the Home Internationals and with so many points in hand that they retained the Fife Trophy despite losing a further top-ten Test match against England.

The popular West Lothian bowler showed up well in the pairs, triples, and rink formations.

“This is the first time that Scotland’s disabled bowlers have won on English soil and it was a brilliant experience to be part of that,” he remarked.

Willie Duff of Balbardie IBC has taken over the reins of president of the Scottish IBA and the start of his one-year reign was hallmarked by a major piece of history making with the announcement that the gents and ladies associations at national level have amalgamated.

President Duff said: “This is the culmination of three years of hard work by the Joint Committee of the SIBA and SWIBA and gives us the best possible chance to improve the organisation of the Indoor Sport in Scotland, and to assist the clubs we are elected to represent.”