East Lothian 24/07

The garden county ‘young yins’ step up their bid to become the first ever winners of the newly established national tournament when they go head to head with Lanarkshire in the semi-final which gets underway at 11am. The other semi-final will be played at the same time and features Midlothian against Dumbartonshire with the final expected to commence at approximately 2.30pm. Team co-managers Stevie and Michael Greenan have the luxury of being able to name the same personnel who performed so well against Renfrewshire in the last round. The team reads:- S.Gray (C/P), L.Newlands (Ath), G.White (Abe), J.Burnett (C/P) skip F.Pringle (C/P), Dec French (Elph), R.Cochrane (P/G), G.Blair (Hadd) skip/capt C.Allison (E/L), J.Robertson (Tra), S.White (ELCO), K.Frame (C/P) skip
R.Thomson (ELCO), C.Bell (Hadd), R.Irvine (P/G), E.Fallen (ELCO) skip Reserves: C.Brock (Hadd) & B.Inglis (Abe) Any player selected who is unable to play or unsure of travel arrangements is requested to contact Stevie Greenan immediately on 07712 277681.

The senior brigade from East Lothian suffered a second damaging blow to their qualifying prospects in the East section of the Inter-County Senior League Cup on Monday with the former two time winners crashing to a 6 shot defeat (58-52) from West Lothian at East Calder BC. The garden county ‘auld yins’ now find themselves four points adrift of Edinburgh & Leith so dropping down to third place with a tough run in including an away match this coming Monday against the current leaders. The combined defeats of the rinks skipped by Tommy Young (-8) and Alan Morgan (-4) proved too much to be covered by the good win for the rink skipped by George Cowan (+6) while Alex Jamieson led his rink to a hard fought draw. “I was disappointed with the level of performance from some players especially after such a good showing last week. We now have it all to do in our remaining fixtures and we probably now face a must win game against Edinburgh & Leith on Monday”, said team convenor Andy Burt.

Burt has reacted to the disappointing defeat by making a number of changes to his line-up ahead of the clash against Edinburgh & Leith at London Road Foundry BC and the team reads:- B.Scott (Mac), J.Holmes (ELLC), D.Kennedy (W/B), G.Cowan (E/L) skip K.Morgan (C&PS), G.Gray (ELLC), G.Blyth (ELLC), A.Morgan (C&PS) skip B.Brunton (Dun), J.P.Hamilton (W/B), G.Smith (ELCO), A.Jamieson (C&PS) skip D.Hogg (ELCO), J.Smith (ELLC), R.Strang (Elph), T.Young (Dun) skip Reserves pool: – M.Hunter (Giff), S.Delaney (Hadd), B.Fotheringham (Long), K.Boyd (ELCO), T.Morrison (Dun) All players are requested to report at London Road Foundary BC by no later than 11.15am. Any player selected who is unable to play or unsure of travel arrangements is requested to contact Andy Burt immediately on 07783 323079.

The biggest week on the outdoor bowling calendar comes to the fore from Tuesday (July 28) as Ayr Northfield is the venue for the gents, ladies and senior national finals. The showpiece event continues until next Sunday and embraces singles, junior singles, pairs, triples, fours and mixed pairs. A full preview of the East Lothian representatives will appear in next week’s paper. EL-Coop’s Sean Mackie will spearhead the East Lothian challenge at the Scottish Young Bowlers Association national championships at Ayr Northfield on Monday. Mackie goes for title glory in the blue riband singles event while Megan Kivlin and Dean Riva, also of EL-Coop, compete in the pair’s event. The local challenge in the triples comes from the Longniddry trio of Sam Penman, Bruce Kellagher and Matt Kellagher.

Tranent once again demonstrated the killer instinct that is required to become champions of Division 1 in the East Coast Carpets sponsored East Lothian Leagues following a commanding 7-1 home win over chief rivals Haddington in last Friday night’s action. It was fierce encounter that might well have gone in the visitors favour but not for the first time this season the leaders showed a tremendous cutting edge to their play when it really mattered. The champagne is very much on ice for the Polson Park side as the victory increased their lead at the top of the table to a very healthy looking 12 points and with only five rounds of fixtures to play it now only looks like a major disaster of results can deny them winning a title they last won way back in 2003. Castlepark kept their very slim title hopes alive as they held onto third place with a 6-2 home win over Gifford while Cockenzie & Port Seton remain in fourth after they produced a storming finish to grab a 6-2 away win at EL-Coop. West Barns emerged from a hard fought home clash against East Linton with a 6-2 triumph while there was a huge cheer of relief at foot of the table Dunbar as they claimed their first win of the campaign with a 6-2 home win over fellow relegation zoned Castlepark A; but both are destined for the drop. Bold frontrunners Prestongrange continue to lead the race for the Division 2 title but Aberlady and Tranent A are hot on the heels of the leaders. Ormiston are the clear leaders in Division 3 with the sprint for the other promotion place almost certainly between Haddington A and Athelstaneford. The Division 4 title race looks almost done and dusted with Cockenzie & Port Seton B having a 12 point lead over second placed Stenton. In the Thursday afternoon senior leagues the Division 1 title is almost certainly heading to the clubhouse at Polson Park after a remarkable run of results Tranent have the luxury of a 17 point lead over the chasing pack with only five rounds of fixtures to play. In Division 2 Aberlady are the current pacesetters while Ormiston lead the way in Division 3.

Tranent face a challenging away visit to Cockenzie & Port Seton in tonight’s (Friday) Division 1 matches. The leaders enter the confrontation without the services of regular star Alan Young which leads to a recall for Alex Cormack while the home side will be missing regulars in the shape of Steven Morgan and Steven Thomson. Chief rivals Haddington also face a stern test as they play host to a bang in form Castlepark side. The other fixtures tonight are; Castlepark A v East Linton; Gifford v West Barns; EL-Coop v Dunbar.

Just a reminder that all club secretaries are requested to ensure that all league and cup results, including shots aggregate score, are phoned into ELBA Match Secretary Keith Fender on 01620 860217 or via text message 07786 110416 immediately after each match.

A youth side from East Lothian were in action at Willowbrae BC in Edinburgh last Saturday competing in the district playdown action for the prestigious Andy Houston Trophy. The garden county brigade suffered narrow defeats against Edinburgh East (-9) and Edinburgh West (-1) but bounced back in fine style in their final qualifying match to register a tremendous 22 shot win over local rivals Midlothian. East Lothian finished as the only side with a positive shot difference but unfortunately still went out as Edinburgh East claimed top spot and booked their place at the national finals in September. Youth convenors Scott Buchanan and Stuart Thomson would like to pass on a massive thank you to Macmerry based company Had-Fab Ltd for their very kind generosity in sponsoring the team polo shirts.

Meanwhile Cockenzie & Port Seton Bowling Club are also staging an Open Pairs tournament on Saturday 15th August with a high class field expected to challenge for the lucrative £400+ prize fund on offer in the Belhaven Brewery sponsored event. The tournament is a round robin event and entries are now being accepted and can be obtained by contacting club match secretary Steven Morgan on 01875 810481.

Draw for Gifford Bowling & Sports Club Open Pairs, sponsored by Corecut & A M Dagg, tomorrow (Saturday) is as follows:- 10am J.White, M.Grindlay, Dirleton 1, C.Lynn, A.Hurry, Dirleton 2, J.Lothian, F.Clark, M.Hamilton, S.Dodds, S.Plenderleith, T.Kerr 11am E.Denholm, A.Riva, P.Laidlaw, Dirleton 3, Sue Glen, B.Galloway, J.P.Hamilton, W.W.Wood MBE