Top flight hopes intact for battling Balbardie
Balbardie Gents continued their bold, last-gasp bid to retain Premier League status with an exciting team display that secured two points with an 87-69 victory over far-travelled Aberdeen in their B Division clash at Bathgate.
The dark cloud of automatic relegation remains, with just two more fixtures to fulfil but by defeating Aberdeen the glimpse of a silver lining remains with Balbardie now sharing the bottom rung with their most recent victims and Paisley.
A visit to table-toppers East Lothian doesn’t bode well for a hat-trick of fightback wins being achieved by Balbardie – although it did start with a shock away win over then leaders Ardrossan.
The final match comes against fellow strugglers Paisley at Bathgate and that may shape up to be the do-or-die clash for the club to at least avoid the foot-of-the table automatic relegation place.
A spur-of-the moment pre-match pep talk from Sandy McDougall worked wonders for team morale and inspired all four skips – McDougall, his brother Walter, Ewan Shearer, and Gary Orr – to turn in winning performances.
The winning margin of each was a single figure affair, reflecting hard-fought battles across the carpet and also a strong will-to-win ethic that was both admirable and encouraging, given the pressures being faced.
The phase scoring saw Balbardie make a strong start that powered them to the 34-20 capture of the first seven-end segment then they supported that with a 28-22 supremacy on the second, before nipped 27-25 by the visitors on the third.
McDougall (Walter) carded a mighty five on end six to peel at 7-7 then made space to 16-11 before skipping Tam Whitfield, Andy Forrest, and John Ellis to a 26-16 win over G Forbes.
Shearer skipped Calum Black, Lindsay Forrest, and Davie Ross into a 17-8 lead then stayed on to clip the wings of K Pirie, 22-17.
Orr dropped a six on his final end but skipped Graham Keery, Scott McMaster, and Brian Craig to a 23-20 win over M Stephen while Duncan Smith, Andy Jenkins, Mark Bonar, and Sandy McDougall beat E Gallen, 19-16.
Meanwhile, West Lothian Gents continued their high-flying efforts in Division 1 North with a 52-shot victory (107-55) over Headwell at Livingston that made it eight wins out of eight.
Thomas Mann whipped up a whirlwind finishing run of 3, 1, 1, 7, 3 to skip Scott Logan, Ian Drysdale, and Craig Moss to a storming 31-16 victory over Graeme Martin after establishing a 12-3 supremacy.
James Speirs dominated his first 12 ends to skip Bryan Cooper, Grant Knox, and Stuart Johnston into a 15-3 lead which he converted into a 24-10 win over Craig Watson.
Calum Logan started like a house on fire to blaze a 21-4 trail after 13 ends against K Delaney then traded in the comfort zone to skip Paul Lynas, Blair Mackie, and Des Hagart to a 26-12 win.
Mark Allison included a super six in an opening blitz to skip Richard Mark, Raymond Logan and Cameron Greer to a 20-6 lead then went on to deliver a 26-17 win over C Martin.