West Lothian Bowls Round-Up

Oct 7 2010 by Mairon Laird, West Lothian Courier

WEST Lothian suffered a nine-shot defeat from Midlothian at Dalkeith in last weekends opening match in the B section of the Premier League but put up a bold show before going down 81-72 in an exciting climax

Major figures Neil Speirs, Thomas Mann, George Sneddon, and Mark Allison were absentees but the obviously weakened WL team brought sweat to the opposition brows as the outcome hung in the balance at 72-71 in favour of the home side after 20-ends.

Midlothian saved their skin with a 9-1 count across the four final heads in a match that saw both teams finish with two winning rinks.

The successful skips for West Lothian were Calum Logan and James Speirs while the damage perpetrators for Midlothian were Graeme Archer and Willie Rankin.

The phase scoring tells the story of a match fought out on a tightrope situation with West Lothian making a good start to edge the first 7-ends, 28-25 but Midlothian levelled with a 26-23 reply on the second then tipped the scales 30-21 on the third.

The pre match confirmation of Graeme Archer as Midlothian’s ‘player of the year’ for last season worked wonders for the former West Lothian star.

Archer was on fire from the off to blaze a 12-0 trail after five ends then he stood 18-4 up before skipping Derek Lowe Robert Trench and Ian Brown to a 26-11 win over Raymond Logan.

It was probably an injustice though that Logan and his rink of Cameron Greer Ian Drysdale and David Wilson were curtailed to counts on just six.

Bryan Cooper looked to be heading in the right direction when skipping Paul Lynas Blair Mackie and Stuart Johnston into a 13-10 lead after 15-ends but only managed to add two more shots in a 19-15 defeat from Rankin.

Calum Logan grabbed his chance to make the most of his elevation to the limelight position with the 20-year old skipping Richard Mark Stewart McMaster and Des Hagart into a 18-5 lead then on to a 22-15 win over Billy Peacock.

James Speirs likewise as he skipped Ewan Wilson James Greenock and Jimmy Mallon to a battling 24-21 win over Colin Walker.

West Lothian will expect to make life hot for Bainfield when they welcome the newly promoted team to Livingston and the home team is beefed up by the return of Thomas Mann and Mark Allison.

BALBARDIE found life on the road a tough experience and their hopes of leading the promotion race in the B section of Division 1 have been blighted by an 83-71 defeat at Alloa.

The Bathgate based team have the chance to get back on track this weekend as they are at home to Tweedbank.

WEST Lothian ladies opened with an 80-65 win over Teviotdale in the C section of Division 1 in the League Cup at the Inveralmond stadium last Saturday.

Ann Clark set the stadium alight with a mighty 5 on her opening end then remained on fire to skip Irene Taylor Isobel Lindsay and Lisa Barrett into a 22-7 lead before wrapping up an excellent 29-18 win over Sonya Turnbull.

Lily Sword zipped from 8-8 to 17-8 in the space of six ends then skipped Lucy Noon Sandra Purdie and Jean Brown to a good 21-13 win over Irene Bennet.

Jennifer Sneddon had Betty Tate Irene Fergus and Helen Tully in good positions at 11-3 and 13-6 before slipping to a 17-16 defeat from Caroline Hogarth.

Wendy Purdie and her rink of Beth Erskine Muriel Henderson and Jean McPherson were in touch at 9-9 after 11-ends but slipped to a 17-14 defeat.

WEST Lothian Seniors found their opening visit to Bainfield in the East B section of the League Cup a challenging one and crashed to a 74-53 defeat with the only consolation a 15-15 peel for George Rarity against Mike Marshall.

A HIGHLIGHT in Division 1 of the League Cup at WLIBA saw the rink of Calum Black Andrew Cavanagh Frazer Muirhead and Ian Drysdale conjure up a magic 3, 5 finish to steal a 12-10 win over Drew Paterson Simon Sweeney Blair Mackie and John Aitken.