The WESLO Open Singles is the major event on the Senior’s calendar of the West Lothian Bowling Association and the 2018 champion will be crowned today with the final countdown taking place at Glenmavis BC in Bathgate.
Read MoreFive rounds of thrills and spills has produced an 11am Semi Finals line up of Alister Wilson (Linlithgow) v Mike Forde (Kinneil) and Gordon Scott (Armadale) v Stuart Smith (Ratho). The eye-catching clash for a place in the 2pm final features two past holders of the coveted title in Scott (2012) and Smith (2015) however neither are a shoe in for the title as both Wilson and Forde are prominent players on the highly competitive Seniors scene.
Tuesday’s quarterfinals action at Winchburgh saw Smith produce a headline performance with a strong display to beat 2014 champion Gordon Logan of Kirkliston while the whirlwind form of Scott saw him storm to a 21-7 win over Stan Gardiner of Mid Calder.
Wilson served up a powerful performance to capture the scalp of football legend Colin Stein defeating his club mate, 21-15, while Forde showed strong nerve in his battling 21-18 win over Robert Jones of Watson Memorial.
Linlithgow have strong claims to being hailed the West Lothian “Club of the Season” with their capture of the Top Five Singles title at the expense of intense rivals Kirkliston adding to their earlier triunph in The Top Ten.
The final played at Armadale was an epic confrontation although not reflected as such by the 4-1 scoreline.
‘The Cheesetown Boys’ were first off the mark with Darren Pearce racing into leads of 8-0 then 15-7 and going on to clinch an impressive 21-12 victory over Graeme Byrne.
But ‘The Black Bitches’ were soon off the leash and snapping back to 1-1 with Ewan Shearer bolting into a 15-5 lead over Scott Logan then confirming his supremacy with 21-13 victory.
Gary Orr was well placed to put Linlithgow 2-1 up as he dominated his match to lead 11-6 then 18-11 but there was sweat forming on his brow at 18-16 before putting Robbie Cuthill to the sword with a 2, 1 finish.
Steven Forrest raised Kirkliston hopes of making it 2-2 when adding 1, 2, 1 to cross Steven Fleming, 14-13 then responding boldly to intense pressure at 18-14 down to have victory in his grasp at 19-17 up.
An awesome climax to a melting pot situation saw Fleming escape from the jaws of defeat with a sizzling count of 4 to snatch a 21-19 victory that was a title-winning clincher.
Had he lost then the 18-18 situation in the final game featuring two WL Masters legends in the shape of Andy Dunnett and Grant Logan would have guaranteed a spectacular nail biting finale.
As it was with the heat off, Dunnett edged three singles to win 21-18.
You must be logged in to post a comment.