Kirkliston on cloud nine after ninth WLBA Top Ten title

Aug 19 2010 by Mairon Laird, West Lothian Courier

KIRKLISTON captured the WLBA Top Ten title for a record extending ninth time with a commanding 6-2 victory over old rivals Linlithgow at Broxburn last Sunday in the final of the national qualifying event sponsored by The White Knights.

Wins in the Singles, Triples and Fours sparked the celebrations in the Kirkliston camp while Linlithgow had to settle for the hard earned consolation of a win in the pairs.

There was much to admire about the latest success of ‘The Cheesetown Boys’ and not least the winning performance of spearhead figure Raymond Logan in the Singles.

In a flashback to the good old ‘Super Ray’ days the 1998 national champion served up an exciting performance to score a commanding 21-11 win over fellow Hamilton Trophy colleague Stevie Fleming.

His defeat of Fleming was a major influence on the outcome as it achieved several positives starting with the banking of the first two points and the deposit of a double figure advantage in the shot margin bank.

Logan’s good win in 21-ends also worked as a boost of confidence for his team.

Fleming is no mean competitor and the Linlithgow spearhead made a confident start to lead 5-4 but he was left in the slipstream when Logan kicked into gear with a run of 2, 1, 1, 2, 1 that accelerated the former cap into an 11-5 lead.

Fleming did rev up his challenge with a 3, 1, 1, reply to 10 but Logan answered that growing menace with a super charged run of 2, 4, 1 then after dropping a single regained that momentum to power over the finishing line with a hat trick of singles.

The Pairs was the next match to finish and it was a cracking encounter that saw Colin Stein and Gary Smith just tip the scales by reeling off a hat trick of singles to snatch a 9-8 win over Steven Forrest and Neil Speirs.

This game had a particular thrilling climax with Stein and Smith each entertaining and exciting the large crowd with fraction perfect draws to the jack when Kirkliston looked like building a game winning head.

The 2-2 state of the match was misleading however with Kirkliston holding dominating positions in the Fours and Triples.

Grant Logan having pepped up the Kirkliston support as early as the fourth end when skipping his father Gordon at second, his brother Greg at third, and Andrew Suddon at lead to a sizzling count of 6.

The rink then added a couple more singles to hold a 10-1 lead over Andrew Cruickshanks Jim Fraser David Alexander and Gary Orr.

The six was the only major blip on the Linlithgow card but it cost them dear in a 14-8 defeat that saw Kirkliston card eight singles over the 15-ends.

Meanwhile John Aitken had skipped David Masterton and Calum Logan into the driving seat with a 12-4 lead over the Linlithgow triple of Fraser Simpson Graham Keery and Graeme Byrne.

Several ends had been burnt in the process causing a time lag but at 13-8 down and two ends still to complete Linlithgow recognised the match result was now beyond them and shook hands.

The major bonus for the Champions of the Top Ten is the privilege to carry the West Lothian banner into the Scottish Inter County Tournament so 2011 will give Kirkliston the opportunity to become national champions for a third time.

Was Kirkliston’s name on the Cup given that last end drama denied Newbridge twice when play from their abandoned semi final clash was resumed at Uphall Station last Friday night.

Armed with a 21-4 win from Thomas Mann in the Singles it was likely that Newbridge only needed two more points from the six up for grabs in the Pairs, Triples, and Fours.

Kirkliston took the Fours then Aitken snatched the Triples with a 4 at the last to win by a shot while the Pair defended a 2 shot lead but were peeled by the loss of a 2 that might have been a 3 but for Newbridge passing up the chance of a last bowl winner.

TONIGHT (Thursday) heralds the semi finals of the WLBA Top Five Singles sponsored by the BARBQ clubs and features Blackburn against defending champions Kirkliston at Queensferry and Newbridge against Springgrove at Bankton Mains.