East Lothian IBC senior side bid to capture the Senior Scottish Cup for a fourth tine ended in massive disappointment in last Wednesday’s final; losing 6-4 on points to first time winners Lanarkshire at Headwell IBC in Dunfermline.
Read MorePre-match the formbook had suggested a slight edge of favouritism in the direction of the garden county ‘auld yins’ however the indication wasn’t translated to where it matters, on the carpet, and the final outcome of two winning rinks wasn’t good enough in the end. A disappointed East Lothian Team Convenor John P Hamilton said afterwards, “We started and finished the game poorly and Lanarkshire punished on both these phases and deserved their victory”.
Tommy Young and his front three of B J Smith, Ross McGuire and Peter Fallen made a disappointing start to trail 10-7 after 10 ends but raised hopes of a fightback with a treble to draw level, however, the revival was short lived. The rinks six-end run-in became an experience of nightmare proportions with a single the only answer to losses of 1, 3, 2, 2, (1), 1 that sentenced them to a 19-11 defeat from George Prosser. The damage was double-edged as the 9-1 setback had a major influence on the shot-aggregate outcome that finished 60-53 in favour of Lanarkshire. Alastair Russell and his rink of Jim Neilson, Jim McLeod and Ronnie Douglas finished strongly but were mostly always against the collar in a 16-10 defeat from Michael McParland. Garden county legend Willie Wood MBE looked to be heading for a very happy outcome as he skipped Billy Higgins, George Gray and David McGill into a 15-10 lead over Sandy Syme. However, a barren last couple of ends saw them surrender four shots without a reply but they held on for a 15-14 triumph. Dougie Berwick was the East Lothian high-flyer with the gent’s side team captain skipping Lessel Middler, Davie Pryde and Gordon Gray into an inspiring 11-5 lead then delivering a commanding 17-11 victory over Peter Jones.
Scottish Cup title glory is now just one more win away for the East Lothian IBC gent’s side with the team from the garden county emerging from their semi-final battle against newly crowned Premier League champions Blantyre with a 6-4 point’s victory. “Absolutely outstanding result for us given the fact we played a very good Blantyre team at near full strength while we had several key players missing”, said an EL spokesperson.
An epic encounter from start to finish saw the premier league rivals trade punch and counterpunch in dynamic fashion as a battle that went right down to the wire before East Lothian emerged victorious. Joe Mower stole the show for East Lothian with the former World Under 25 champion producing an outstanding individual performance to skip Lessel Middler, Kevin Cunningham and Jamie Higgins from 8-9 to a 23-10 win over Jim McCann. That was supported by a crucial win for Graham Robertson who led from start to finish as he skipped Mark Yuill, Andy Burt and Mark Johnston to a battling 18-17 win over Alex Kelly. Scott Kennedy and his front three of Aaron Betts, David Sked and Stewart Thomson lost out 21-20 in a cracking battle against fellow Scotland cap Brian Irvine with the outcome settled on the last end. Andrew Jeffrey, Jamie Gordon, Dean Riva and Billy Mellors found it tough going against world stage star Ian McLean but their late revival in a 27-18 defeat did help East Lothian claim the shot aggregate honours 79-75. Opposition in the final on Saturday at Abbeyview IBC in Dunfermline comes in the shape of local rivals Midlothian. East Lothian’s end of season ambition is to etch the club’s name on the coveted silverware for a record extending eighth time and that mission is enhanced by the returning presence to the line up of team captain Dougie Berwick while team morale is further boosted by the return of exciting youngster Lewis Betts. There are two enforced absentees in the shape of stalwart figures Andy Burt and Jamie Gordon, so the rest of a slightly restructured line up reads: – L.Betts, A.Jeffrey, D.Riva, B.Mellors skip A.Betts, D.Sked, S.W.Thomson, S.Kennedy skip L.Middler, K.Cunningham, J.Higgins, J.Mower skip M.Yuill, D.Berwick capt, M.Johnston, G.Robertson skip
The club is running a coach to the final and there are a limited number of seats remaining for any supporters wishing to travel and support the team. The coach is scheduled to depart Meadowmill at 10.15am and anyone interested is requested to contact club secretary Scott Kennedy on 01875 614166 for further information.
The ladies side have been in great form this season and that continued last Saturday as they marched into the semi-finals of the Ladies Scottish Cup with a super-charged performance that saw them score a commanding 10-0 points victory over East Fife at Headwell IBC in Dunfermline.
Wins on all four rinks – skipped by captain Lauren Baillie (+25), Emma Logan (+12), Janet Fairnie (+8) and Yvonne Veitch (+4) – served to keep the spirits very high in an East Lothian camp fired up to etch their name on the coveted silverware for a first time.
“Another tremendous result for the ladies against good opposition and there is a real buzz and belief around the camp that we could go all the way this year”, said team manager Gordon Pryde. Standing in the way of a place in the final for East Lothian is a major hurdle in the shape of 2014 champions Auchinleck with Saturday’s semi-final to be played at Glasgow venue West of Scotland IBC. Another big performance will be required if East Lothian harbour hopes of making the end of season showpiece final for a first time. The fantastic news for team manager Gordon Pryde is the same pool of players being available and not surprisingly, he has named an unchanged line-up that reads: – M.Murray, K.Hoggan, M.Kivlin, E.Logan skip B.Riva, M.Devine, D.Hoggan, Y.Veitch skip M.Penman, J.Russell, M.Thomson, J.Fairnie skip J.McFarlane, P.Turner, Le.Baillie, La.Baillie skip/capt
Last Wednesday’s final round of qualifying action in the Jock Brodie Senior Challenge Cup, sponsored by Norman T Craig and Electrical Services of Dunbar, saw three matches staged at the Alex Marshall Arena. Midlothian secured top spot in section A with 6-2 win over Headwell while West Lothian finished up in runners-up spot following their 6-2 triumph over Tweedbank. Tournament favourites Perth leapfrogged East Lothian to claim top of the table honours in section B following their 8-0 win over Teviotdale. The draw for the semi-finals paired Midlothian and East Lothian while the other tie featured Perth against West Lothian. Both semi-finals were scheduled to be staged on Wednesday with the final taking place this coming Wednesday (April 11) at 11am.
The talented youth side headed to Abbeyview IBC in Dunfermline last Saturday to participate in the East of Scotland Top 6 tournament. Fresh from their recent league and Top 10 double the youths headed over the Forth in a confident mood and they made it through to the semi-finals from a tough qualifying section. Alloa provided the opposition in the last four and despite a good win for Danny Stevenson in the singles; it was Alloa who progressed to the final with wins in the pairs and triples.
On the domestic front at East Lothian IBC the first major final of the end of season week long finals extravaganza takes place tomorrow (Friday) night at 6.30pm when defending champions Cockenzie & Port Seton tackle EL-Coop in the final of the Wood & Hay sponsored Top Club tournament. Finals week will conclude next Friday (April 13) evening and a huge night of action is in prospect with finals of several domestic singles tournaments all down for decision.
Tranent Bowling Club and East Lothian Labour Club stage their joint opening of the green ceremony at Polson Park on Saturday 14th April with the first jack of the new outdoor bowling season being thrown at 2pm.