West Lothian have built a strong foundation for success in their campaign for glory in the Scottish Cities and Counties Championship for The Hamilton Trophy having completed a morale boosting hat trick of opening wins– the latest being at the 123-93 expense of Fife at Kirkliston.
Read MoreThe result keeps WL well in the picture to finish in the top two qualifying places from the East section as they share top spot with Edinburgh & Leith and sit two points clear of West Fife. However the race to qualify for the knockout stage of The Championship is a marathon and not sprint and although off to a flying start the four matches that loom up in the final straight are frought with danger. These are against Stirling East at Bonnybridge, E&L at Deans, East Lothian at Buchan Park, and West Fife at Kelty.
The league table picture would have been even brighter but for E&L escaping to a 9 shot victory over Border at Melrose with team captain Paul Veitch their hero figure having finished 3, 6, 2, 4, 2 (17-0) against Stuart White. The defeat of East Lothian at home to Stirling East and Midlothian away to West Fife were coupon busting outcomes that leaves both formidable contenders for honours a daunting four points each off the pace.
Fife County arrived at Kirkliston as potential whipping boys having lost their two opening games by 50 and 39 shots but they put up a strong fight against a WL team that were kept on their toes to gain a phase supremacy of 13, 9, and 8– and win by a comfortable looking 30.
Winning performances on the rinks skipped by Andy Dunnett, Raymond Logan, Grant Logan, and Neil Speirs drove the WL effort while setbacks for Thomas Mann and Steven Fleming were single digit in nature.
Dunnett produced the best of the match fireworks having lit the fuse with an explosive run from 7-4 to 21-5 then skipping Ewan Shearer, Scott Logan, and Calum Logan to a spectacular 31-9 win over Bruce Doig.
Logan (Ray) kicked on from 4-5 to 12-7 then remained on top to skip Darren Pearce, Barry Sword, and Sandy McDougall to a 20-13 win over D Creevy.
Logan (Grant) zipped from 2-3 to 17-8 and skipped Jamie Edwards, Blair Mackie, and James Speirs to a 21-15 win over Alan Pearson.
Speirs came under pressure from 9-1 up to 13-12 but found the answers to skip Steven Forrest. Mark Allison, and Bryan Cooper to a 23-18 win over D Comrie.
Mann and his rink of Calum Black, Gary Orr, and Gary Smith conceded at 12 of their 21 ends and that was reflected by an 18-15 defeat from J Fernie.
Fleming and his front-three of Frazer Muirhead, Andi Gray, and Greg Logan were always against the collar from 2-2 onwards and lost 20-13 to Raymond White.
Team manager Gordon Logan has announced an unchanged line up for Saturdays match against a Stirling County East opposition that will have been inspired by their capture of the East Lothian scalp.
The WL Under 25 challenge in the Scottish League Cup is over having lost for the third game out of three when having led at one stage by 27 shots they were narrowly defeated 121-119 by Dumbartonshire at Bankton Mains.
Gary Smith and Sods Law. The holder of both the Linlithgow club championship – and subsequently the WLBA Champion of Champions- made a first round exit at LBC – crashing out to a 21-10 defeat from football legend Colin Stein.
Two nights earlier Smith – the celebrated CEO of World Bowls Ltd – had crushed Stein 21-4 in the Presidents Cup.
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