West Lothian face a testing Hamilton Trophy away fixture against Borders at Gordon this Saturday and it’s a winner takes all clash in respect of the result determining who will clinch a top two place in the East section of The Cities and Counties Championship.
Read MoreSection leaders East Lothian are already assured a place that qualifies them for the quarterfinals knockout stage but second placed West Lothian go into the final match defending a single point lead over third placed Borders. Midlothian share third place with Borders but have such an inferior shot margin bank that they don’t have a realistic chance of stealing the second place spot while the expected challenge from Edinburgh & Leith is now non existent.
West Lothian will arrive in the village of Gordon well fired up for the battle ahead as last weekend’s raid across the River Forth saw the mighty machine assembled by team manager Gordon Logan massacre West Fife by 55 shots (146-91) at Crossgates. Wins on all six rinks – skipped by Andy Dunnett, Sandy McDougall, Raymond Logan, Thomas Mann, Steven Fleming, and Grant Logan – reflected a strong team performance in a match that saw West Lothian lead from start to finish. The phase scoring highlights the overall supremacy of the visitors with the double figure margins of 14 (44-30), 10 (46-36), and 31 (56-25) combining to make the WL invasion of a strong part of The Kingdom a memorable one. End 10 was a significant one as WL sledge hammered their opposition 15-4 across the green and reaped the reward of entering the comfort zone of 35 shots up (78-43) then a 14-2 on end 19 to reaffirm their superiority at 54 up (135-81) sealed the fate of the home team.
Dunnett and his rink of Ewan Shearer, Jordan Pearce, and Walter McDougall included the spectacular full house count of 8 shots in a 32-14 win over D Junor while John Black, Alec Allan, James Speirs Jnr and Sandy McDougall finished strongly from 7-12 to beat R McFarlane, 23-13. Raymond Logan added 5, 1, 3 to skip Steven Forrest, Connor McKendrick, and Gary Smith into a 10-4 lead then onwards to a 25-17 win over A McIntyre while Andy Semple, Greg Baldry, John Aitken, and Mann added 1, 4, 1, 6 to 27-14 in their 28-20 triumph over JJ Watson. Fleming zipped from 4-6 to 18-9 as he skipped Jamie Aitken, Blair Mackie, and Calum Logan to a 20-13 win over P Brown while Drew Paterson, David Lamb, Mark Allison, and Grant Logan finished 2, 3, 1, 1, (1), 1 to beat C Wilson, 18-14. West Lothian are set to parade an unchanged team at Gordon this weekend.
Kirkliston star Calum Logan has earned the chance to emulate his title triumphs of 2010 and 2014 by reaching the 2016 final of the Jack High Insurance sponsored WLBA Junior Open for The Fred Meikle Trophy. Logan held most of the aces as he turned up trumps in Monday night’s semi finals at East Calder, defeating Connor McKendrick of Middleton Hall, 21-9. The other semi final saw Shaun Cairns of Harrysmuir parade his exciting brand of skills in great fashion to score an impressive 21-10 win over Steven Fleming of Buchan Park. The final of The Meikle Trophy for The Junior Open Title takes place as part of the climax to the County Championships being staged at Linlithgow BC next Thursday (30th) night.
Buchan Park BC made a major addition to the clubs proud history by its first time capture of The Kelso Cup with the jubilant celebrations being sparked by a commanding 39- 18 victory over Whitburn in the final played at neighbour club, Broxburn. It was Buchan Park’s first ever appearance in a Kelso Cup final while the last of Whitburn’s four inscriptions on the coveted silverware (1908) came in 1982.
The final – watched by a good sized crowd – was living up to its expectations of producing an epic battle for the honours associated to a Two Rink Championship of West Lothian with the master scoreboard showing a 19- 17 knife-edge situation in favour of Buchan Park after 10-ends. End 11 produced game-changing drama with Whitburn holding six shots on their rink skipped by Peter Lynch; but opposite number Brian Irvine killed five of them with a brilliant judged last bowl draw into the head. Irvine went into end 12 against the collar at 10-6 down but inspired by his ‘wonder bowl effort’ he captured the next six ends, carding 3, 3, 1, 1, 1, 2 to skip Scott Brooks, David Ledgerwood, and Stewart Grant to a 15-10 win over Scott Halliday, James Halliday, Colin Fraser, and Lynch.
Meanwhile Barry Sword was in razor sharp form to skip John Black, Ross Howie, and Kenny Shaw into a 10-4 lead over Whitburn’s Mark Finlayson, Charlie Williams, Rab Sutherland, and Robert Knox. Knox rallied his troops to 10-8 but Sword, in thrilling cavalier fashion, chopped off that menacing rally with a swashbuckling counter attack of 1, 2, 2, 1, 2, 3, 1 to win 22-8.
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