Edinburgh & Leiths prospects, and expectations, of putting up a decent show in the East section of The Hamilton Trophy has come under early pressure with an opening defeat away to Midlothian followed at the weekend by a shock setback at home to Stirling County East.
Read MoreThe visitors do have several above average stars in their midst but in terms of depth are generally seen as also rans in a tough section so a visit to Edinburgh is seldom rewarded by a victory.
It was a close call at Colinton with E&L left nursing the wounds of a 4 shot defeat (111-107) but although the margin is low the cost is high in terms of being morale sapping and damaging to the image and present state of bowls in the capital city. Conditions are accepted as being a great levelle,r if on the poor side, and there were pre-match concerns voiced by the E&L management that a rain-swept Colinton surface was unplayable however the opposition didnt agree and the Umpire ruled in favour of Game On
It didnt help team manager Graham Pringles frustration at committing his thoroughbreds to displaying their skills in lottery like conditions that the opening seven-end phase saw his team outscored 44-31. It is probably no coincidence that a spell of sunshine perked up the E&L team to such an extent that a strong united effort across the six rinks saw them power to a 48-24 supremacy on the second phase.
Entering the final straight holding an 11 shot lead (79-68) and the momentum in their favour suggested E&L would go and win in a canter; but the heavens opened up once again and the return to heavy conditions caused the home team to falter – in dramatic style. It was Stirlingshire East that picked up the stronger stride and it swept them to a match winning 43-28 capture of the third phase and in thrilling grandstand style crossed the winning line with a 9-2 count on the final end(s).
E&Ls Paul Veitch dropping a single, Paul ODonnell a double, Darren Hush a four, and John McDermott a double- all four skips faced with heads that had built up against them.
The league table after two fixtures doesnt make good reading for us and there are still big challenges ahead of plus I have availability concerns for our next match but the squad still have ambition and we all want to deliver for E&L said Pringle. Defeat on four of the six rinks is not a statistic that will go down with the E&L support but the most worrying blot was the 26-13 punishment suffered by the Four of Graham Eddington, Steven Pilley, Craig Paterson, and Paul ODonnell.
ODonnell and Co were in touch at 12-11 down after 13-ends but a 14-2 collapse saw them suffer at the hands of Stuart Williamson (skip). Richard Tough and his front-three of Daniel Gormley, John Priestley, and Jamie Gracie faced a drubbing at 14-3 down after nine ends but recovered well in a 19-15 defeat from D Couper. Darren Hush and his rink of Liam McKay, Tam Ebbs, and Darren McKenny had their noses in font at 18-17; but lost 21-18 to Stuart Hogg while John Ramsay, Gordon Wilson, Neil Watson, and James Hogg were edged out 16-14 by Martin McCauley. On the upside, Paul Veitch led 20-9 and skipped Stephen Pringle, Gordon Bold, and Alan Brown to a 22-12 win over Craig Ross while Kevin Tennant, David Fisher, Robert Donaldson, and John McDermott beat Simon Thomson, 25-17.