All is not yet lost – but with just two games to go Bainfield are in desperate straights having sunk to the bottom of the indoor bowls Premier League as a result of being torpedoed by a 14 shot defeat from fellow Section A strugglers Coatbridge.
Read moreBainfield had home advantage and were expected to make that count in a clash between the two relegation zoned teams but they failed to cope with a more determined opposition driven by the experience of former international stars in the shape of Willie Harkness and Robert Provan.Wins on the home rinks skipped by James Hogg and Gavin Smith failed to save the day for a Bainfield team that suffered heavier setbacks on the rinks skipped by team captain Craig Paterson and Barry Hill. Coatbridge were worthy of their win by virtue of holding the upper-hand on all three phases albeit by narrow margins having set the scene with a 31-24 capture of the first seven-ends. Then edging the second, 29-28, before winning the third, 27-21. End seven can be seen as a game-changer given that the early battle for supremacy stood deadlocked at 24-24 after six but Coatbridge then made telling space to 31 with a morale boosting 7-0 cleansweep.“The result is a massive disappointment for us as we are now anchored in the automatic relegation position two points adrift of Coatbridge but they were the better team on the day”, reflected team manager Alan Brown. “There is still a glimmer of hope for us in that we have a better shot margin bank of –93 to their -121 and Coatbridge could drop points at home to a Blantyre team bullish about their chances of making it to the playoff final”, added Brown. It was major blow to the Bainfield cause that the rink of Graeme McIntosh, Craig Aitken, Jamie Reid and Barry Hill suffered a damaging 19 shot defeat (30-11) from George McKenzie having suffered three setbacks.
The first of these saw McKenzie – with Provan at third – produce an opening blitz of 1, 3, 5, 1, to lead 10-0 then card a mighty count of 5 at end 12 to lead 19-8 before completing the misery of Hill and Co with an 11-1 domination of the third phase. Paterson and his rink of Josh Spalding, Stephen Pringle, and Daniel Gormley were making good headway to lead Gary Prunty 13-11 after 12-ends but the nightmare loss of 1, 3, 1, 4 caused them to slip to a 23-18 defeat. Hogg carded a super count of 5 at end eight to skip Kevin Tennant, Alan Brown, and Colin Hutchison into a 10-6 lead over Harkness then kept the now veteran winner of 21 caps sufficiently on the back-foot to score a 22-16 victory. Smith and his front-three of Chris Downie, Mark McIntosh, and John McDermott slipped from 8-2 up to 11-9 but recovered strongly to cross 19-13 with counts of 2, 1, 3, (2), 4 after 15 and battled on to beat Robert Murphy, 22-18.