Edinburgh champions Carrick Knowe powered into the second round of The Dechmont Forklift Trucks (Broxburn) sponsored Inter County Top Ten Championship with 6-2 win at home to their Dunbartonshire counterparts, Vale of Leven.
Read MoreWinning performances delivered in the Singes, Pairs, and Fours were mostly achieved on the front foot with the only setback being a narrow margin defeat in the Triples. Spearhead figure James Hogg in the Singles made a great start to lead 8-1 but came under pressure at 8-7 before making telling space to 17 with a six end purple patch run of 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1 against Alan Bruce. Hogg advanced to 19-9 but landing the killer punch evaded him for three ends and the loss of 3, 2, 2, brought sweat to his brow before carding a double on end 23 to clinch a 21-16 victory.
High expectations on the home banking for the Pairs partnership of Kevin Tennant and former Scotland captain Colin Mitchell to deliver a banker win was suitably answered in the shape of a resounding 19-11 victory. Mitchell a legend five times Tait Trophy champion skipped Tennant into an 11-3 lead then from 15-8 produced a 2, (3), 2 finish to bag the two win points. Vale of Leven did spill some home blood from a 13-10 wound inflicted on the home triple of Craig Aitken, Graham Pringle, and Paul ODonnell who trailed 8-1 after three ends and continued to struggle against the collar.
Hush was being kept quiet at 12-10 down in the Fours but was always in with a shout and served up the stronger finish to skip Stephen Pringle, John Priestley, and John Ramsay to a an 18-14 win.
East Linton, at home, carried the East Lothian Banner to a handsome 6-2 victory over their West Lothian counterparts, Linlithgow, with their supremacy in the Singles, Pairs, and Fours more than compensating defeat in the Triples. Graham Bell sounded the first warning to the visitors with the East Linton spearhead figure producing a grandstand finish of 3, 4, 1 that swept him to a commanding 21-12 win over Gary Orr in the Singles.
The Pairs partnership of Colin Murdoch and George Cowan made an explosive start to lead 17-5 and were great value for their 21-9 blitz of Andrew Cruickshank and Scott Mushet. The home trio of Calvin Blair, Keith Fender, and Grant Fender seldom struck any blows in the Triples having being forced onto the back foot from 4-2 up to 16-4 down and losing 21-7 to Mark Graham, Ewan Shearer, and Steven Fleming.
The battle for supremacy in the Fours was deadlocked at 9-9 before Stevie Kerr skipped George Cowan Jnr, Terry Sawangsuk and Mike Newlands to a 15-13 win over Andrew Grimshaw Jnr, Tommy Hamilton, Derek Logie, and Gary Smith.