West Lothian has made a strong start to their Scottish Cities and Counties campaign with impressive opening wins against Border and Midlothian building optimism of completing a hat trick when they entertain Fife at Kirkliston on Saturday (2pm).
Read MoreFife arrive winless having lost heavily away to Edinburgh & Leith (-50) and at home to West Fife (-39) so the odds are massively in favour of a WL team that has seen of two much stronger oppositions. Momentum builds confidence and that generates a team spirit that inspires performances to reach the commanding heights it takes to stand a chance of capturing The Hamilton Trophy – last won by West Lothian in 2009.
Team manager Gordon Logan is alive to the dangers of complacency so having given his vote of confidence to an unchanged line up will preach the gospel of focus, mental toughness, and killer instinct to see off a fired up opposition seeking redemption.
Midlothian provided fierce opposition in last weekends match at sun drenched Linlithgow and the outcome was very much in the melting pot as late as entering the third last ends with the master scoreboard flashing 91-89 in favour of the home side.
The results of End 19 across the six rinks proved to be a spectacular game-changing moment with WL landing a stunning 17-1 blow that was highlighted by a super count of 6 for Ray Logan and mighty count of 5 for Neil Speirs.
Thomas Mann weighed in with a magic count of 3 while a double for Andrew Dunnett and a single for Grant Logan far outweighed the single lost by Steven Fleming.
WL added to the Midlothian collapse with a 5-3 supremacy on end 20 then a 5-4 edge on the final end clinched a 21 shot triumph (118-97) for a jubilant West Lothian.
Wins on the rinks skipped by Thomas Mann, Andrew Dunnett, Grant Logan, and Neil Speirs was a pleasing aspect of a team asked to show a strong resolve when brought under pressure while Steven Fleming finished peels and Ray Logan lost by 5.
Mann showed tremendous acceleration with a run of 4, 2, 2 (1), 3, 2 from 13-13 to 26-14 and skipped Calum Black, Gary Orr, and Gary Smith to a 26-15 win over Danny McDougall. Dunnett kicked on from 14-11 to 21-11 with counts of 2, 1, 2, 2 then skipped Ewan Shearer, Scott Logan, and Calum Logan to a 23-12 win over David McGlynn.
Logan (Grant) recovered from 12-5 down to skip Jamie Edwards, Blair Mackie, and James Speirs to a 17-14 win over Scott Briggs. Speirs (Neil) crossed to 18-16 with his 5 at the 19th end then skipped Steven Forrest, Mark Allison, and Bryan Cooper to a 19-18 win over Colin Bonner. Fleming and his front-three of Frazer Muirhead, Andi Gray, and Greg Logan shaped up well to lead 17-10 but slipped to an 18-18 peel with Graeme Archer.
Logan (Ray) and his rink of Darren Pearce, Barry Sword, and Sandy McDougall crashed to a 20-15 defeat at the hands of opposition icon figure David Peacock; but tipped the match scales with their 6, (2), 2 finish.
Edinburgh & Leith defeated East Lothian 125-105 and share the 4 point mark with WL at the top of the East section table but lead by 70 shots to 40. E&L face a tough test against Border at Melrose this weekend.
West Lothian’s Under 25 brigade suffered a 127-104 defeat from Renfrewshire at Harrysmuir in the Scottish League Cup. They entertain Dumbartonshire at Bankton Mains this Sunday.
It is a unique situation that all four quarterfinals of The Scottish Inter County Top Ten Tournament sponsored by West Lothian firm Purdie Worldwide take place North of The Forth this Sunday. Westhill of Bon Accord v Dalgetty Bay of West Fife; Tarves of Aberdeen & Kincardine v Arbroath of Angus; New Deer of Buchan County v Castle Douglas of Stewartry; Stanley of Perthshire v Northfield of Ayrshire.