WL mark top flight return with win

Calum Logan was the hero as West Lothian marked their return to the Premier League with a nine-shot victory over Falkirk.

Their opponents represented the toughest of tests, arriving as last season’s Scottish Cup winners and Premier League runners-up.

They entered the match without the services of Thomas Mann while the late call-off from Des Hagart caused a reshuffle that saw Jordan Pearce move from the bench.

With the entire match being played out on a knifeedge, it was wins on the rinks skipped by Logan and James Speirs that carried the day over setbacks suffered by Mark Allison and Neil Speirs.

The match statistics show WL winning all three phases but the margins were small, edging the first seven ends 25-24, the second 28-22 and the third 25-23.

Logan was the early hero as he skipped his rink into leads of 9-0 and 21-5 to keep the master scoreboard reflecting a WL lead, despite the others being under pressure.

They sustained their pace to return a 25- 14 win over internationalist Steven Allan.

West Lothian needed a rink to support the role played by Logan and his team so it was a crucial contribution that came from James Speirs and his team of Jordan Pearce, Scott Logan and Craig Moss.

Speirs was sitting 13- 9 down but set the Inveralmond Stadium alight with a spell that propelled him into a 2115 lead before winning 27-17.

Allison and his rink of Ian Drysdale, Connor McKendrick and Cameron Greer were nip and tuck to stand peels at 9- 9 after 12 ends but shipped four singles and from 13-9 down went on to lose 17-15 but contributed a valuable count of three at the last end.

Neil Speirs is the talisman figure of WL so it is to the team’s credit that they coped with the setback of a 21-11 defeat dished out to the skip and his rink of Bryan Cooper, David McCormick, and Grant Knox by Gary Flynn.

West Lothian are back in home action this weekend when they host Ardrossan.

Balbardie IBC’s demotion from the Premier League to Division 1 South failed to get off to a good start, with the Bathgate team failing to make home environment count in an 87- 67 loss to West of Scotland. That outcome that does not bode well for their prospects away to Abbeyview this weekend.

Balbardie Ladies recovered well from their opening defeat away to West Lothian to score a 90-68 away win over Tweedbank but WL suffered a 90-65 setback at Teviotdale. West Lothian have no fixture this weekend while Balbardie are at home to Headwell.

Week three in the Seniors League saw West Lothian score a 65-43 win over East Lothian while Balbardie lost 67-60 to Bainfield.