Lady Luck continues to be perched on the shoulders of a West Lothian IBC gents team bidding this weekend to reach the final of the Scottish Cup and surely confident of doing so at the expense of lowly Division 2 opposition in the shape of Kilmarnock club Galleon.
Read MoreWest Lothian’s high status as a Premier League Club comes to a sadder than sad end at the closing of this season but the fallen stars of the Inverlamond Stadium could yet salvage a degree of redemption by retaining the coveted Scottish Cup title. Their passage through to Saturdays semi final match at Falkirk isn’t an encouraging one with hard fought wins over Dumbarton (bottom club in Division 1 South), Fraserburgh (Division 2 North), and Elgin (Division 2 North) less than inspiring; but enough to suggest that beating Galleon is also within their scope. It is par for the course this season, and perhaps a sign of the troubled times and massive loss of form from the stars and personalities who populate the team, that no line up has been announced with the statement released saying – probably not until Friday night.
The prize for a place in the final is a head to head with East Lothian or Midlothian at which time there will be no hiding place if West Lothian make it however if they do the time would be ripe for them to explode back to top form against giants of the premier league.
West Lothian IBC contributed five of their relegated team to the Scotland effort in last weeks Home International Series played at Llanelli in Wales and it was runners up experience for Neil Speirs, Thomas Mann, Calum Logan, Bryan Cooper, and Mark Allison. Speirs skipped a rink that included Cooper and Mann and they finished sixth of six in the final Scottish ranking with an opening win over Wales followed by defeat from Ireland, and England. Allison played third to Darren Burnet and wins over Wales, and Ireland, was followed by defeat from England, a record that saw them finish second in the skips table to Alex Marshall MBE who won all three of his games. Logan played second to Stewart Anderson and enjoyed wins over Wales and Ireland before losing to England. Paul Foster won two out of three and Derek Oliver one out of three.
Wins over Wales (141-97) and Ireland (128-105) gave Scotland every chance going into the winner takes the title clash with England but the Scots were always against the collar in a 122-100 defeat. The series at Llanelli played host to a historic occasion with the retirement from the international scene of 78 year old Bowls Legend, Willie Wood MBE.
WWW – The middle initial standing for Walker after the legendary Hearts football from Livingston Station – signed off with a record holding number of 93 caps and part of his gift from the national body was a Hospitality Gift Package for Tynecastle. A spokesman said “Willie is a true Scottish Sporting Legend and to recognise that status we are introducing a Trophy in his name and to be awarded from next season to The Scottish Player of The Series.