Three wins in a row has brought a fresh glow to the stadium stars of West Lothian IBC still smartin at spending last season in Division 1 but now fired up to redeem their reputation as a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League.
Read MoreFaced last weekend with a testing visit to far north venue Elgin the points hungry travellers from Livingston returned feeling extremely satisfied with a 15 shot victory (85-70) that added to opening home wins over Falkirk and Ardrossan. The supremacy of West Lothian was hard earned by wins on the rinks skipped by Mark Allison, Neil Speirs, and James Speirs with the only blot being a single figure setback inflicted on Calum Logan.
Elgin can be tough nuts to crack on their home carpet and expressed that level of danger by outscoring their visitors 25-21 on the first seven- end phase and 31-21 on the third.
But the game-changing phase of the match was the second one and its highlight was a whirlwind type performance from West Lothian that saw them change the landscape with a storming 43-14 domination of their rivals. Mark Allison was the leader of the pack in that awesome transformation having charged from 4-5 to 20-5 with a thundering and lightening run of 3, 2, 8, 3. Allison was the toast of the WL camp being hailed the hero figure having gone on to skip Ian Drysdale, Connor McKendrick, and Cameron Greer to a mighty 32-12 win over N Barker.
Neil Speirs skipped Scott Logan, Robbie Cuthill, and Bryan Cooper to an 11-2 contribution on the middle phase and led 15-10 but was crossed 16-15 before getting back on track with a mighty 5 and edging a 21-18 win over A Barker. James Speirs made an inspirational start to skip Richard Mark, Grant Knox, and Craig Moss into a 13-5 lead after 12 ends suffered an alarming wobble before carding a double at the last to snatch a 16-15 win over M Stepney. Logan and his front-three of Blair Mackie, Raymond Logan, and Jamie Aitken were matching their opposition at 10-10 after 11 ends then 16-16 after 17 however conceded 2, 3, 2, 2 on the run in to lose 25-16 to M Junor.
The demotion of Balbardie IBC from the Premier League to Division 1 South is a continuing nightmare for the Bathgate based club as their latest 74-71 defeat away to Ayr leaves them pointless after three games.
The playdown action of the gents Scottish Junior Singles take centre stage this weekend with the local spotlight falling on Stuart Ford of Balbardie and Connor McKendrick of West Lothian who parade their skills at Dunfermline venue Abbeyview.
Balbardie champion Lorraine Craig has reached the glamour stage of the Ladies Scottish Singles Championship with the 30 times capped international star reaching the Last Four stage to be played at Blantyre over the weekend of January 6/7. Craig reeled off a hattrick of wins in last weekends playdown action at Falkirk where she was in sparkling form to beat Annette Christie of West of Scotland, 21-7, Jean Brown of West Lothian, 21-3, and Sandra Craig of Falkirk, 21-14. The semi final line up reads Craig v Lesley Doig of East Fife, and Caroline Brown of Blantyre against Emma McIntyre of Dumbarton.