East Lothian 9/8

On Wednesday Tranent visited Port Seton and left with a much needed six points following a very tight game at the same time as Haddington were defeating Winton 8-0 and EL Co-op were winning 6-2 at home to East Linton. Meanwhile Prestongrange reduced any relegation worries with a 6-2 win over neighbours Castlepark and Elphinstone suffered a shock 8-0 loss at Dunbar. Then on Friday night the game of the season so far seen Haddington claim a 6-2 win over Port Seton in a titanic tussle which went down to the last bowls of the game with Port Seton lying a 5-3 win before lady luck played a visit to Haddington as two huge results for skips Malcolm Higgenbotham and Alister Kennedy turned the result on its head and moved Haddington into the joint leaders spot as EL Co-op were suffering a 6-2 loss at Elphinstone. Tranent couldn’t back up there win over Port Seton as form team Prestongrange left Polson Park with six points and there was further bad news for Tranent as Castlepark defeated Dunbar 7-1 and East Linton left Winton with all eight points to pull both Winton and Tranent back into the relegation fight. Port Seton and Haddington are now tied on 83 points with two fixtures remaining with Port Seton leading on shots while EL Co-op are three points behind the two. In the fight to avoid the drop, alongside Dunbar, eight points separate six teams with Winton now in the dreaded spot on 55 points, Castlepark are on 56, East Linton have 58 and Tranent are on 61 points, Elphinstone are on 62 and Prestongrange sit on 63 points. This Friday Port Seton will look to bounce back from their two defeats as they entertain Winton. The two form teams in the league meet as Prestongrange welcome Haddington and EL Co-op will be looking for maximum points as they host Castlepark. Tranent will be looking to ease all fears of relegation with a win at Dunbar and the winners of the East Linton v Elphinstone game will feel they have gone a long way to securing Division One status.

In Division Two it’s a three way fight for promotion with Ormiston leading the way on 93 points while West Barns have 92 and Aberlady sit poised if the top two slip up on 88 points. Prestongrange A look like claiming the Division Three title as they lead Tranent A by seven points with both heading towards promotion. Whilst in Division Four Stenton hold a healthy seven point advantage over Prestongrange B with Ormiston A a further six points behind.

The ELBA County ties are now back up and running on Wednesdays with all quarter finals due to be played next Wednesday 14th. Finals day is on Saturday 24th August at Elphinstone. Meanwhile the Jubilee Cup for the Top Ten title comes to fruition this weekend with the semi-finals to be played on Saturday and the final on Sunday. The quarter finals which were due to take place on Tuesday night featured the following: Haddington v Tranent, North Berwick v West Barns, Ormiston v Elphinstone and East Linton v Port Seton.

The Garden County Seniors had a great win on Monday against Stirling East resulting in all five rinks winning at East Linton and a 94-61 win. This victory was sweet revenge for the defeat earlier in the campaign away from home and has become more significant as league leaders Midlothian lost by 22 shots against Fife. Top rink this week was the rink of George Cowan who won by 11. They were ably backed up by wins for Tom Young (+7), Keith Fender (+6), Alistair Russell (+5) and Andy Burt (+4). The Garden County Auld Yins now lead the section by two points and an unconfirmed thirty shots from Midlothian meaning they can afford to lose by fourteen and still go through to the final when they face Midlothian in the final section game at Musselburgh on Monday for which the following team has been selected: M Newlands, D Hogg, A Valentine & G Cowan (Skip) P Fallen, D Pryde, G Smith & T Young
K Boyd, D Whitson, B Scott & K Fender J Hamilton, R Strang, D Arnott & A Russell J Murray, I Veitch, W Franklin & A Burt Reserves: T Rattray, D Kennedy, B Brunton & A Jamieson