Bainfield gents blew their chance of easing the relegation zone blues with a damaging 76-72 defeat away to foot of the table Abbeyview and now face an even more challenging situation with just two fixtures to fulfil in the B Division of the indoor bowls Premier League.
It is always a blow when Robert Marshall is missing from the Bainfield line up and the inspirational talents of the 48 times capped icon figure is an absentee against Falkirk. Smith remains confident that his Bainfield team can deliver an escape from jail performance that would reflect the true potential of a line up that is populated by players of proven skill and personality – but yet to live up to their reputations. Rink 1. Tam Erbbs, Danny McCourt, Daniel Gormley, and Craig Paterson. Rink 2. Graeme Mcintosh, Alan Brown, Kevin Tennant, and Colin Hutchison. Rink 3. Josh Spalding, Steven Rennie, John McDermott, and Gavin Smith. Rink 4. Mark Mcintosh, Steven Pilley, Jamie Reid, and James Hogg.
Meanwhile East Lothian have joined Bainfield in the relegation zone but can help themselves and Bainfield by delivering a killer blow to the survival prospect of Abbeyview – but crossing The Bridge into Fife will be no picnic. Team captain Scott Kennedy joins Alex Marshall as a top line absentee however there is compensation with the return of stalwart stars Mark Johnston and Andy Jeffrey. Aberdeen are at home to Ayr.
Midlothian ladies put up a bold show under challenging circumstances against Galleon at Kilmarnock but suffered a nine shot defeat (77-68) that killed off any chance of the Dalkeith based stars capturing the top honours in the B Section of the indoor bowls Premier League. It needed a win in the penultimate match of the campaign for Midlothian to stay close on the heels of leaders Auchinleck but tackling a Galleon side in the same joint second position was a tall order with top line stars Gaynor Duncan, Sandra McLeish, and Jeanette Conlan missing the action.
“We gave it our best shot and competed on strong terms against an equally fired up home team but just fell short in what was a very hard fought battle”, reflected team captain Shona Johnstone. “It was a near miss and the sense of drama surrounding these matches was heightened when we learned that Auchinleck had come close to suffering a shock defeat having escaped from jail with a single shot win (76-75) over foot of the table Falkirk”, she added.
Midlothian made an encouraging start to edge a three shot lead (27-24) over the first seven-end phase but came under pressure with the nine shot loss of the second (18-27) then battled all the way to the line in the third but lost it by three shots (23-26). Winning performances on the rinks skipped by Annie Rutherford and Stacey McDougall kept the Midlothian spirits high but Galleon tipped the scales with having the measure of Margaret Porter and Johnstone. Rutherford made good space to lead 18-12 but conceded three single son the run in to settle for an 18-15 win while McDougall added a five and a two to shape up well at 22-14 but late losses so her win 23-21. Porter stood at 20-7 down before losing 21-15 while Johnstone slipped from 8-6 up to 15-8 down and lost 20-12. The league table now reads, Auchinleck 14 (+138), Coatbridge 12 (+11), Galleon 12 (-29), Midlothian 10 (+111), East Fife 4 (-113), Falkirk 2 (-118).