West Lothian 13/2 – Scotlawn Bowls

West Lothian gents delivered a formbook result to march into the second round of the Henselite Scottish Cup with a commanding 8-2 points win over Buchan at neutral venue Dundee.

Buchan represented a potential banana skin opposition, as they are the Division 2A champions having won nine of their 10 fixtures and no doubt well psyched up to have a real go at their premier league giants. Double figure wins on three of the four rinks and a substantial 100-66 aggregate majority of 34 shots does reflect a safe passage enjoyed by the elite of the Inverlamond Stadium.

Thomas Mann and his rink of Richard Mark, Craig Moss, and George Sneddon were the top contributors having dominated their opposition to score a handsome 36-13 victory over A Eldrick. The chief support came from Mark Allison and his front-three of Connor McKendrick, Raymond Logan, and Cameron Greer whose combined talents produced a 26-10 supremacy over R Davidson.

Win number three was served up by Neil Speirs skipping Bryan Cooper, Gary Orr, and James Speirs to a 24-11 success over M Paterson. Harder times for the rink of Nathan McKendrick, Scott McMaster, Jamie Aitken, and Calum Logan saw the WL rink suffer a 32-14 defeat at the hands of R Marshall.

The draw for the second round to be played this Saturday produced a corker ‘match of the day’ confrontation between West Lothian and defending champions Blantyre in what will be a re-run of last seasons final. Falkirk is the venue and the WL team will line up as follows; Rink 1. Jamie Aitken, Nathan McKendrick, Craig Moss, and Calum Logan. Rink 2. Connor McKendrick, Raymond Logan, Cameron Greer, and Mark Allison. Rink 3. Bryan Cooper, Gary Orr, James Speirs, and Neil Speirs. Rink 4. Richard Mark, Scott McMaster, George Sneddon, and Thomas Mann. Reserves: Ian Drysdale and David Wilson.

Balbardie – champions in 1993/94 and 2006/7 – continue to make good progress in the Scottish Team Championship event having survived a nail-biting 6-2 points win over Alloa at Headwell to reach this Sunday’s quarterfinals action.

Spearhead figure Lorraine Craig scored an inspiring 21-19 win in the Singles while the sister and brother partnership of Morven and Ewan Shearer bagged two more points with a 24-15 success in the Pairs. Alloa inflicted 25-11 pain on the Triple of Betty Johnston Sean McBride and Andy Forrest swinging the final spotlight on the Four of Kim Ross, Sharon Leitch, Davie Ross, and Walter McDougall.

Last end tension and shots against pressures saw McDougall and Co defending a 17-14 lead and a match aggregate standing at 73-73 so there were jubilant celebrations triggered when they contained their losses to 2 shots that clinched a 17-16 victory. The star 10 from the Park of Peace Stadium in Bathgate are back in action this Sunday with a quarter-final match against Headwell at East Fife.

Headwell come into the battle having captured the notable scalp of West Lothian having survived on a tie-break result – no details – after sharing the points 4-4 and the match aggregate 75-75.

The Ladies are in Scottish Cup first round action this weekend with West Lothian facing West of Scotland at Falkirk and Balbardie tackling Midlothian at Bainfield.