The talented senior side from East Lothian IBC defence of the Senior Scottish Cup suffered a shock early termination, with the three times champions defeated 58-45 by Alloa in the preliminary round action Falkirk IBC last Wednesday.
After booking their place in the League Cup final the previous week the garden county ‘auld yins’ were on a real high and were given a pre-match boost with the return to action of icon figures Willie Wood MBE and Jock Brodie. But Alloa are a very decent side and finished a close second in a tough East A section and it was them who always had command of the major scoreboard and ran out deserved winners.“Unfortunately we were unable to produce our best form on a very fast paced surface at Falkirk and we were always on the back foot from the very start”, commented senior team convenor John Hamilton.Peter Laidlaw turned in a winning performance for East Lothian while Willie Wood MBE grabbed a draw but that was as good as it got after Jock Brodie (-8) and Tommy Young (-10) suffered damaging defeats.
The ladies side journey in the Scottish Cup also came to a halt last Saturday with a 85-71 defeat from Division 1B side Stirling in their preliminary round action at Bainfield IBC in Edinburgh, but credit to the garden county elite they went down fighting.The fact that Nancy McNeil had to pull out of the side at the last minute due to injury and that Emma Brown was on international duty was probably the deciding factor in us winning or losing the game”, reflected team manager Sheena Currie.Wins on the rinks skipped by Yvonne Veitch (+6) and Gillian Mackintosh (+3) kept East Lothian in the picture, but their combined 9 shots failed to cover the heavier defeats of Janet Fairnie (-4) and Muriel Hamilton (-19).
On the international stage the talented East Lothian duo of Emma Brown and Dee Hoggan were part of a Scotland Ladies Under 25 side last weekend that had to settle for runners-up spot behind winners England in the international series at Erewash IBC in Nottingham. This weekend Ewan Fallen will be parading his skills at Glasgow IBC as he is part of the Scotland Gents Under 25 side looking to wrestle back the British Home International Series title from auld enemy England.
East Lothian IBC’s participation in the Scottish Mixed Team Championship event came to an abrupt halt as a re-jigged side suffered an 8-0 points mauling at the hands of a very good Balbardie side in last Sunday’s second round action at Falkirk IBC.
A senior side from East Lothian IBC progressed through to the next round of the Central District Senior Top Six tournament following a hard fought 4-2 points victory over Tweedbank in last Thursday’s opening round action at Midlothian IBC in Dalkeith. The clash was a very tight affair with singles and pairs encounters both ending in draws but a good win for the triples tipped the scales in East Lothian’s favour.
The qualifying action in the Jock Brodie Senior Challenge Cup, sponsored by Norman T Craig and Co-operative Funeral & Monumental Services, continued last Wednesday at East Lothian IBC and East Lothian B served up a tremendous display to inflict 6-2 pain on Berwick. In the other match played Falkirk recorded a 6-2 win over Tweedbank. The qualifying action takes a break for a couple of weeks but East Lothian is hosting a Senior Scottish Cup second round clash on Wednesday February 18.
The youth side are in East of Scotland Junior League action tomorrow (Saturday) morning as they make the short trip into Edinburgh to tackle Bainfield.
Finally officials at Gifford Bowling & Sports Club have announced their AGM will take place on the evening of Saturday February 28 at 7.30pm. All members are requested to attend.