West Lothian gents put on top show to sink leaders Midlothian
West Lothian gents ended their campaign in the A Division of the Premier League with an 18-shot victory (90-72) over a table-topping Midlothian team that were bidding to complete their play-off qualifying campaign with the fantastic record of 10 wins out of 10.
Midlothian were the away team and three of their regular stars were absentees and of course they had already booked their place in the play-off final against B Division counterparts Blantyre, so that incentive was missing — however they were still strong.
So West Lothian could be rightly pleased that winning on all four rinks reflected not only an accomplished team performance but one that clinched second place, four points adrift of the division champions and two points ahead of third placed Falkirk.
Pre-match drama saw the call-off of team captain Craig Moss covered by the switching of Jamie Aitken from lead to third and the introduction of reserve Nathan McKendrick in the rink skipped by Calum Logan.
Logan and his rink — with Scott McMaster at second — turned out to be the home team’s high-flyers and an inspirational start saw them soar to 17-5 up after 10 ends having included a super count of six against Ronnie Duncan.
Logan and Co. did concede two counts of five on the long run in but otherwise did remain resolute to triumph 29-18.
Mark Allison had a battle on his hands at 15-13 down after 11 ends but fought well to skip Connor McKendrick, Raymond Logan, and Cameron Greer to a 24-21 win over Kevin McDougall.
Neil Speirs and his rink of Bryan Cooper, Gary Orr, and James Speirs shaped up as the stars of the whole show when leading 16-5 with just five ends to play but ended up with sweat on their brows before getting over the line with a 16-14 win over David Peacock.
Thomas Mann looked destined for defeat at 19-15 down and just two ends to play but conjured up a magic 3, 3 finish to skip Richard Mark, Ian Drysdale, and George Sneddon to a 21-19 win over Colin Walker.
Balbardie gents were already doomed to relegation from Division 1B so their hard earned 73-72 win at home to Paisley came too late to save them.
Wins for the rinks skipped by Sandy McDougall (20-12), Ewan Shearer (18-16), and John Ellis (17-16) just managed to cover the 28-18 defeat of Walter McDougall.
West Lothian star Richard Mark was on target with a winning double to reach the semi-finals stage of the National Seniors Singles; defeating Graeme McIntosh of Bainfield, 21-19, then Tommy Mann of Tweedbank, 21-12, and will now meet Willie Menzies of Buchan at Abbeyview on Saturday, February 29.
The West Lothian banner will be doubly represented on the final day of play with the trio of George Marshall, Alistair Stenhouse, and George Sneddon defeating Bainfield, 17-8, then Tweedbank, 15-9.
Their opposition in the semi-final come in the shape of Coatbridge triple John Tierney, Robert Provan, and Jim Fraser.
High hopes that the strongly fancied Pairs partnership of David Wilson and Duncan Lawson would also make to the finals showdown were raised by a 20-15 win over Abbeyview but then dashed by an 18-10 defeat from the home venue partnership of Midlothian’s Ian McKenzie and Willie Burnett.