East Lothian bowlers continue to keep the garden county in the national limelight with both the ladies and gents team set to parade their exciting range of skills in the respective finals of the national premier leagues.
Read MoreThe ladies under the management of Gordon Pryde scaled the heights to defeat reigning national champions Auchinleck (82-76) at Cumbernauld and will line up in their first ever PL final against Glasgow at Whiteinch a week on Saturday. The rink scores were: Dee Hoggan 27-13; Lauren Baillie 24-15; Emma Logan 20-19; Janette Fairley 11-29.
The Gents under the captaincy of Dougie Berwick reached their Playoff Final in sensational circumstances and the reigning champions will now bid for a record making eighth title triumph when lining up against Blantyre at Blantyre on Saturday March 3. We didnt see that coming and Its a funny old game at times reflected Berwick having urged his team to adopt a last match never say die attitude then see a super-charged 33 shot victory (93-60) over Elgin rewarded by the Section B honours East Lothian had entered the last of the 10-match league programme with wishful thinking as their only inspiration as West Lothian held a lead of 2 points and 30 shots that seemed to be in no real danger in their visit to foot of the table Paisley. However – Shockwaves have since engulfed the Inveralmond Stadium in Livingston with West Lothian making a complete hash of their last match penalty kick opportunity to clinch a place in the Playoff Final.
The star-studded table topping team looked nailed on to defeat relegation doomed opposition but their collapse to a colossal 44 shot defeat (99-55) allowed reigning national champions East Lothian to pip them at the post. We absolutely thought it was all over bar the shouting and that our goose was well and truly cooked Dougie Berwick had said when losing to WL in the penultimate match however I said to the lads that we should get our heads back up and play to the final whistle The EL response at home to Elgin was a tribute to their attitude and mental toughness in the shape of powering to a commanding victory that enabled them to come up on the rails and snatch the Section honours with a plus of 47 shots over West Lothian. Top performers were the rinks skipped by iconic figure Alex Tattie Marshall MBE and his fellow international star Billy Mellors. Marshall skipped Mark Yuill, Dougie Berwick, and Stewart Thomson to a spectacular 26-8 win while Mellors and his front-three of Mark Johnston, Dean Riva, and Scott Kennedy supported with a 29-12 triumph. Derek Oliver was piped at the post to lose 18-17 while likewise Graham Robertson in a 22-21 defeat.
Meanwhile – The tale of woe for WL at Paisley was a total eclipse by an opposition that was only winning for a second time in their 10 match programme yet dropping down to Division 1 clutching the scalp of the pre-match section leaders. The stakes were sky high for WL yet they failed to strike a blow with the rinks skipped by Calum Logan and Mark Allison thumped by 18 and 16 shots respectively while icon figure Neil Speirs lost by 6 and Craig Moss by 4.
Bainfield finished on a high, and in third place, in the A section of the premier league, defeating second placed Midlothian, 74-62 at the Hutchison Crossway Stadium.
A great good news story from the Gents of Balbardie who conjured up a magical escape to survival in Division 1 South by finishing their 10 match schedule with a magnificent hat trick of wins.The final foot of the table placing reading; Balbardie 6 Points (-94); Inverclyde 6 Points (-97); Ayr 6 Points (-206).