WL face Trophy battle
West Lothian face a testing Hamilton Trophy away fixture against Borders at this Saturday and it’s a winner takes all clash as the result will determine who will clinch a top two place in the East section of The Cities and Counties Championship.
Section leaders East Lothian are already assured a place that qualifies them for the quarter-final knockout stage, but second placed West Lothian go into the final match defending a single point lead over their opponents, who sit in third.
Midlothian share third place with Borders but have such an inferior shot margin that they don’t have a realistic chance of stealing the second place spot, while the expected challenge from Edinburgh & Leith failed to materialise.
West Lothian will arrive in the village of Gordon fired up for the battle ahead as last weekend’s raid across the River Forth saw them score a stunning 146-91 victory at Crossgates.
Wins on all six rinks – skipped by Andy Dunnett, Sandy McDougall, Raymond Logan, Thomas Mann, Steven Fleming, and Grant Logan – reflected a strong team performance in a match that saw West Lothian lead from start to finish.
The phase scoring highlights the overall supremacy of the visitors with the margins of 14 (44-30), 10 (46-36), and 31 (56-25) combining to make the win comfortable.
End 10 was a significant one as the visitors hammered their opposition 15-4 across the green and reaped the reward of entering the comfort zone of 35 shots up (78-43) then a 14-2 on end 19 to reaffirm their superiority at 54 up sealed the fate of the home team.
Dunnett and his rink of Ewan Shearer, Jordan Pearce, and Walter McDougall included the spectacular full house count of eight shots in a 32-14 win, while John Black, Alec Allan, James Speirs and Sandy McDougall finished strongly from sitting five shots down at 7-12 to win 23-13.
Raymond Logan skipped Steven Forrest, Connor McKendrick, and Gary Smith into a 10-4 lead then onwards to a 25-17 win as Andy Semple, Greg Baldry, John Aitken, and Mann triumphed 28-20.
Fleming zipped from 6-4 down to lead 18-9 as he skipped Jamie Aitken, Blair Mackie, and Calum Logan to a 20-13 win, while Drew Paterson, David Lamb, Mark Allison, and Grant Logan finished with an 8-1 run to score an 18-14 victory and seal a momentous win for West Lothian that keeps them firmly in the hunt for a last eight berth.
West Lothian are set to parade an unchanged team at Gordon this weekend for the crucial showdown.
Meanwhile, Kirkliston star Calum Logan has earned the chance to emulate his title triumphs of 2010 and 2014 by reaching the 2016 final of the Jack High Insurance sponsored WLBA Junior Open for The Fred Meikle Trophy.
Logan held most of the aces as he turned up trumps in Monday night’s semi-final at East Calder.
He never looked likely to slump to defeat, as he beat Middleton Hall’s Connor McKendrick, 21-9.
The other semi-final saw Shaun Cairns of Harrysmuir score an impressive 21-10 win over Steven Fleming of Buchan Park.
The final of The Meikle Trophy for The Junior Open Title takes place as part of the climax to the County Championships being staged at Linlithgow Bowling Club next Thursday night.