The men’s side from East Lothian Indoor Bowling Club indifferent form during another relatively disappointing Scottish Premier League campaign is being well and truly consigned to the past with the stars of the Alex Marshall Arena currently engaged in a tremendous Scottish Cup run that has taken them into the final at Perth IBC on Saturday April 9.
Read MoreTheir latest success saw them engaged in an epic semi-final battle against next-door neighbours Midlothian at Stirling IBC with the garden county emerging with hard fought but in the end convincing 83-68 victory and they remain bang on course to become the first side to win the title for a record extending seventh time. East Lothian faced a selection challenge with team captain Scott Kennedy a late call-off due to a back injury so former national under 18 singles champion Calum Darling was drafted into the side from the reserve bench and Graham Robertson handed a skipping role in place of Kennedy.
The path into the final was mapped out by winning performances on the rinks skipped by Billy Mellors, Graham Robertson and Derek Oliver with the only blip being the defeat of Alex Marshall MBE by David Peacock. The intensity of the clash was flavoured and heightened by its local derby context and the competitive rivalry served to ensure the exchanges were of high tempo and temperature, producing moments of great drama and thrilling excitement. The opening exchanges were totally controlled by East Lothian as they produced a powerful effort across the four rinks to register a healthy early advantage. Midlothian did steady the ship as the game entered the halfway mark but then East Lothian rallied brilliantly in the final phase and ran out convincing winners. The year’s cup giant killers Galleon who have made it all the way to the final despite their lowly Division 2 status will provide the opposition in the final. They caused a major shock in last weekend’s semi-final by defeating defending champions West Lothian while they also took the scalp of another premier league side in the shape of Auchinleck in an earlier round so everything suggest they will be no pushovers.
East Lothian IBC has a strong looking interest in the final stages of the joint Scottish Indoor Championships that are down for decision at Falkirk IBC this weekend. Jamie Higgins and Derek Oliver target regaining the gents 4 bowl pairs title they won in 2013 and the strong partnership tackle Jim Meikle and Ian McLean of Blantyre in tomorrow’s (Saturday) semi-final action at 2pm. The other last four clash in the pairs features pairings from Prestwick and Arbroath respectively. Dee Hoggan, Mags Thomson, Yvonne Veitch and Janet Fairnie go for national title glory in the ladies fours and they face a semi-final encounter with Turriff tomorrow at 2pm. The other semi-final is being contested between East Kilbride and Auchinleck. Calum Darling will continue his bid for another national title when he lines-up in the semi-finals of the gents under 21 singles where he faces high quality opposition in the shape of current national singles titleholder John Fleming Jnr of Inverclyde. The clash will be staged on Sunday at 10am while the other last four encounter is between Jason Banks of Garioch and Coatbridge’s Thomas Strachan. All the finals involving our representatives will be staged on Sunday at 2pm.
The qualifying action in the Jock Brodie Senior Challenge Cup, sponsored by Norman T Craig and Co-operative Funeralcare, continued at the Alex Marshall Arena last Wednesday and Perth were crowned champions of the B section following a hard fought 6-2 point’s win over Teviotdale. Joining them in the knockout semi-finals, this coming Wednesday (April 6) is West Lothian after their 6-2 triumph against Midlothian was enough for them to be confirmed runners-up. The action continued on Wednesday and it was again all to play for but this time in the A section as current table toppers Bainfield tackled East Lothian while Headwell faced Abbeyview and for the second successive week all four sides went into their final fixture with a chance of qualifying for the semi-finals.
East Lothian IBC hopes of landing a first ever title success in the Central Seniors District Top Six ended in failure when they went down 6-2 on points against Dunfermline side Abbeyview in last Sunday’s final staged at Finty IBC in Glasgow. Lessel Middler looked in pole position to register the first points for the garden county ‘auld yins’ when he led 18-14 in his singles clash with Duncan Lawson but a disastrous run so him lose 7 shots without reply and he succumbed to a highly unlikely 21-20 defeat. B J Smith and George Gray scored a single on the last end of their pair’s clash to register a 15-14 triumph to make the overall points score level and the destination of the trophy would now be decided on the triples encounter. Going into the final end, Abbeyview held a one shot advantage and despite the best efforts of Mike Trenholme, John P Hamilton and Ronnie Douglas, they could not stop the ‘Fifers’ from winning the title.
The ultra-talented youth side at East Lothian IBC finished off a fantastic season by winning another title last weekend, this time the Midlothian Youth Team Championship tournament. The young garden county brigade put in great overall team performance throughout the day winning all their games against Stirling, Bainfield, Midlothian and Falkirk before clinching title glory with a final game win against Abbeyview. “It’s been a great season for our youth section and massive well done to them all”, said youth convenor Peter Fallen. “Finally would like to give a special mention to our team captain Dean Riva who has played his final game for the youths and I would like to thank him personally for his contribution to the youth section this season and previous years. This season especially he has produced performances his Uncle Alex (Marshall) would have struggled to compete with so keep up the hard work and all the best for your future in bowls”.
The AGM at East Lothian IBC will be held on Thursday (April 7) evening from 7pm. President Peter Fallen is hoping for a large turnout from his members.
Members of Gifford Bowling & Sports Club are reminded that their AGM will take place this coming Sunday at 2pm.
Finally, Tranent Bowling Club stages their opening of the green ceremony next Saturday (April 9) from 3pm. New members are welcomed along with live entertainment planned in the evening.
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