Early exit in handicap cup for West Lothian sides

Dec 29 2011 by Kieran Westbrook, West Lothian Courier

WEST LOTHIAN’S hopes of grabbing a record-breaking third straight Edinburgh and Lothians League Handicap Cup were left in tatters after all three sides made early exits.

The omens had been good for them fulfilling their ambition of becoming the first club to register a hat-trick of victories with three teams in the last eight.

However, all dreams of a record-busting trio of cup wins were extinguished when all three sides went down.

The team of Lewis Hills, George Flanagan and Barrie Hills, who won last year, was kept intact but their handicaps were adjusted because of their previous success.

In a home tie against Murrayfield they went down 5-2 to a team of Premier Division players with most games being very tight.

At one point the score was 2-2 with Lewis Hills and Flanagan recording the host's two wins but that was the nearest they came as the Murrayfield trio gradually pulled away.

A team comprising Drew McLaren, Ian Wodecki and George Anderson travelled to Corstorphine where they went down 4-5, the closest possible score with the last game lost at a heartbreaking 15-13 in the deciding set. On paper, the West Lothian team looked the stronger outfit but found the handicaps difficult to deal with – all except Wodecki who won all three of his games.

Anderson won the other but it was McLaren who had the extreme misfortune to lose out so cruelly in the crucial last game.

The full house of losses was completed when a team comprising Andy MacDougall, Keith MacKay and Iain Henry went to Edinburgh Sports Club.

The first two are previous winners of this competition but Henry was making his debut.

Their opponents, on the other hand, comprised a team of the very best young prospects in the east of Scotland with a keen eye very much focused on the next round. So it was this mixture of youthful exuberance along with the handicap advantage, that put the West Lothian club to the sword in a 5-0 whitewash.

The cup treble was an ambition target given the vagaries of any handicap system, and now that dream has been crushed it is time to concentrate on the league which is now in recess for the festive season.