Shock! Horror! -– Bainfield are out of the gents indoor bowls Scottish Cup with the Edinburgh Elite from the premier league bowing out to an 84-81 defeat from lowly Division 2 side Cumbernauld in their second round clash at neutral Livingston
The climax to Bainfield’s shock exit was a dramatic one with the final margin down to an agonising 3 shot margin and five ends falling victim to the time clock as the match favourites fought back despairingly from a one time deficit of 23. “This result is a real heart-breaker for us”, reflected team manager Alan Brown who went on to say “we failed to stamp our authority or unsettle the opposition on the first two phases and paid the price”.
“We came with a fair rattle on the third phase and if the time clock hadn’t intervened it looked likely that we would get up at the post but that is our fantasy and the reality is that our cup dreams are over and well done to Cumbernauld”. All four rinks ended up being hard fought affairs with Gavin Smith edging a single shot victory but James Hogg and Colin Hutchison lost by the same single shot margin and Barry Hill by two. End 12 was shocker for Bainfield and a real body blow for them with Cumbernauld registering a 9-0 clean-sweep across the carpe that boosted their spirits and increased their match lead from 14 to 23. The phase scoring shows Cumbernauld belying the big gap in status by capturing the first two, 34-29 and 31-24, then Bainfield sparking into life to dominate the third, 28-19, but too late to spare the blushes of the premier league outfit. Smith – so often the saviour in the past -–promised a good result was shaping up for him when skipping Jamie Reid, Mark McIntosh, and John McDermott into a 12-9 lead after nine ends against Jim Byron. The abrupt loss of 2, 1, 5 was a tragic affair however Smith and Co produced a bold 4, 1, 5 reply that enabled them to battle to a 23-22 victory; but vitally three ends were left unplayed. Hogg and his front-three of Cameron Tennant, Alan Brown, and Daniel Gormley led 5-0 before collapsing to 16-6 down and it is much to their credit that they bounced back to lose 18-17 with two end ends unplayed against G Wilson. Hutchison and his rink of Adam Brock, Steven Pilley, and Kevin Tennant failed to do themselves justice over the first 15-ends and trailed A Barrie 16-7 before finally finding the fire in their belly’s to lose a 19-18 battle. Hill lost a catastrophic 7 on his second end but got it all back on the fourth then having kept Graeme McIntosh, Stephen Pringle, and Brian Stoddart in contention at 17-18 slipped to 25-17 down against Frank Hillis. It was part of the tension filled climax that Hill and Co closed to a 25-23 defeat with a 2, 1, 1, 1, 1 finish.