Trophy holders in semis

A rampant West Lothian team marched into this Saturday’s semi-final stage of The Hamilton Trophy with the defending champions producing a brilliant performance to beat Dumfriesshire by 37 shots (150-113) at East Lothian venue Castlepark.

Exchanges were tight over the first nine ends with only four shots in it (54-50) before a change of gear accelerated WL to a peak of 44 shots in a match that saw them lead from start to finish.

Victory on five rinks and a narrow loss on the other reflected a strong team performance with the winning contributions coming from the rinks skipped by Andy Dunnett, Thomas Mann, Neil Speirs, Steven Fleming, and team captain Raymond Logan while Grant Logan went down by four.

The charge to victory was led and inspired by Ray Logan who kicked on from 9-8 down after 10 ends to skip Darren Pearce, Barry Sword, and Mark Allison to a 28-14 win.

Dunnett played the chief supporting role having increased the pace from 8-7 to skip Cameron Greer, Davy Lamb, and Calum Logan to a 29-16 victory.

Mann added 3, 1, 2, 1 to lead 15-6 then skipped Jamie Aitken, Robbie Cuthill, and Ewan Shearer to a 20-13 win while Speirs carded a magnificent seven to lead 27-12 then suffered a wobble before skipping Steven Forrest, Jamie Edwards, and James Speirs to a 28-24 triumph.

Fleming battled from 18-18 to skip Drew Paterson, Paul Sweeney, and Sandy McDougall to a 27-24 win but it was a 22-18 loss for Grant Logan and his front-three of Calum Black, Blair Mackie, and Gary Orr.

This Saturday’s semi-final of is a re-run of last year’s final with West Lothian doing battle against Bon Accord at Midlothian venue Newbattle.

Team manager John Black makes two enforced changes with Gary Smith coming in at third Grant Logan in place of Gary Orr while Jim Speirs, the two-in-row County Singles champion, plays lead to Raymond Logan in place of Darren Pearce.

The other semi-final features Lanarkshire South against Glasgow West at The Rock BC in Dumbarton.

Elsewhere, the quarter-final results of the Johnston Oils sponsored Rosebery Cup were as follows:

Kirkliston 68-49 Whitburn, Newbridge 74-66 Winchburgh, Linlithgow 77-38 Middleton Hall 38, and Broxburn 77-55 Bathgate.