Bainfield’s away form remains suspect in Division B of the gents indoor bowls Premier League with The Edinburgh Elite suffering a 14 shot defeat (84-70) from Falkirk however it was a tough ask with the victors setting the pace at the top of the table.
Wins on two rinks was a pleasing factor for a Bainfield team hoping to build on two home triumphs on the trot but the efforts of the Fours skipped by James Hogg and Craig Paterson couldn’t cover the defeat suffered by Robert Marshall and Gavin Smith.
“We did compete well enough on three of our rinks but sad to say my own result was a bad one in double figures and it cost the team dear it has to be said”, reflected team manager and skip Gavin Smith. It turned out to be an ominous signal that Falkirk launched the match on a 9-0 clean sweep as they enjoyed two more, 6-0 at the fourth and a damaging 11-0 on the fifth, to register 31-8 on the master scoreboard.
Bainfield were rocked back onto their heels by this opening onslaught but did start to steady the ship although they still lost the first of the three seven-end phases, 36-18.
Smith at this stage had failed to score and was 15-0 down. The second phase was a much kinder one for Bainfield with the visitors capturing it 30-24 to whittle their match deficit down to 12, and it would have been even better than that but for a 5-0 against them on end 14.
Bainfield remained competitive on the third phase and were within touching distance at only six shots down in the match on two occasion however a 6-0 clean sweep against them at the last cost them the phase, 24-22, and sentenced them to a 14 shot defeat. Smith and his rink of Graeme McIntosh, Kerr McKail, and Alan Brown looked solid on paper but were suffering a 16-0 hiding after eight ends and it was coming at the hands of former East Lothian and Scotland star Steven Glen. There was an improvement from the under pressure Bainfield rink but only that their situation didn’t get progressively worse with their bad day at the office ending with a hefty 27-9 defeat.
Marshall and his rink of Josh Spalding, Kevin Tennant, and Colin Hutchison wasn’t on the end of a hiding but having been in touch at 8-9 after 11-ends they conceded four single on the trot and slipped to a 17-11 defeat from Gary Flynn. Hogg enjoyed a purple patch spell of 3, (1), 1, 4, 4, (2), 1, 1 (2), 4 to skip Mark McIntosh, Brian Stoddart, and John McDermott into a promising 20-9 lead after 15-ends but their rate of scoring slowed down in a 25-20 win over Jim McHutchison. Paterson carded 4, 2 at ends 12 and 13 to skip Jamie Reid, Danny McCourt, and Daniel Gormley into an 18-15 lead then they battled on to clinch a 25-20 victory over Steven Allan.