Home fixtures are must win games if survival in the highly competitive indoor bowls Premier League is to be achieved so first season Bainfield team manager Gavin Smith is delighted to have kick started their Section B campaign with a comprehensive victory over Ayr at The Hutchison Crossway Stadium.
Bainfield had star figures James Hogg, Alan Brown, and Josh Spalding back in their ranks after missing the opening match defeat away to Aberdeen and a late call-off by Alex Hurry Jnr saw Stuart Douglas make his debut for the Edinburgh club. Ayr lost their debut match in the Premier League at home to East Lothian but having put up a strong show the new boys on the block travelled to the capital city with positive thoughts of an away win.
But Smith’s fire up message calling for a combination of aggression, focus, and team spirit penetrated the depths of a team that responded by delivering wins on the rinks skipped by James Hogg, Craig Paterson, and Smith himself while icon figure Robert Marshall contributed a peel. “Home teams get the chance to send out a positive signal in the early play so I was much encouraged that all four rinks gained a degree of first phase supremacy over their respective oppositions”, reflected Smith.
Bainfield’s positive start across the carpet was reflected by a 33-14 domination of the first seven-end phase and although it was a tougher call on the next two the home side edged the middle phase 23-22 and the third and final one, 34-30. “Yes I would like to have seen a much fiercer killer instinct come forth to further enhance our exciting start but tribute must be paid to an opposition that refused to fold so the fact that we didn’t lose on any rink is a morale booster”.
Hogg made the major contribution to the Bainfield cause as the outdoor cap skipped Mark McIntosh, Brian Stoddart, and John McDermott to a roller coaster type 26-15 win over Stuart England. The home rink made the best start across the carpet to capture their first seven-end phase, 9-2 but then nose-dived in spectacular fashion to be blitzed 0-10 on the second phase, before an amazing 6, 5, start to the third phase sparked a 17-3 revival. Paterson dropped 4 shots on his fourth end but overall dominated the first 11 to skip Jamie Reid, Danny McCourt, and Daniel Gormley into a 14-7 lead that they converted into a 22-14 win over Jim Cuthbertson. Smith picked up strongly from 3-2 down after four ends to skip his reshaped rink of Kerr McKail, Alan Brown, and Stuart Douglas into a 15-5 lead after 13-ends against Alistair Reid then stayed on to register a 22-17 victory. Marshall shaped up very well to skip Josh Spalding, Steven Pilley, and Kevin Tennant into a 15-6 lead after 11-ends but a weak second half saw them settle for a 20-20 share with Stuart Wyllie.