DAZ’SGLOSSFINISH
Stirling curler John Davie begins his bid for world championship glory today (Friday)as part of the Scottish rink at the Seniors event in Geneva, Switzerland.
John has played the roaring game for around 35 years and will join skip Keith Prentice, John Dowell, Michael Ferguson and alternate Robert Anderson in their opening matches against Canada and Germany as the tournament takes place for the first time since 2019.
The six-times British Open winner was scheduled to represent Scotland at the World Seniors in Canada in 2022 but the event was cancelled .
He’ll be supported back home by the Davie family’s other curling star – daughter Lisa.
She started playing aged eight with Stirling Young Curlers. At 15 she was offered a place with the Scottish Curling
Academy. Last year Lisa was accepted into the British Curling programme at The PEAK and is now a funded athlete.
She plays as part of a junior team made up of curlers from across Scotland and they have been successful in Scotland and European competitions.
On the European Curling tour she won events in Switzerland and Czech Republic while at home she won the Under 21s in Murrayfield and Greenacres, gold at the Scottish Juniors in Aberdeen. Now Lisa will represent Scotland at the World Junior Championships in Jonkoping, Sweden from May 15.
In February Lisa won silver at the Scottish Ladies Curling Championships as a junior team, gold at the Scottish Mixed in Edinburgh and will represent Scotland at the World Mixed Championships in Aberdeen on in October.
Stirling boss Darren Young is calling on his players to end a disappointing season on a high.
Young’s men sit 11 points adrift of the play-offs in seventh place with just two games to go.
And that alarming stat sees them resigned to another season in the bottom tier of Scottish football.
But Young is demanding more from his players against Albion Rovers at Coatbridge tomorrow in their last away game of the season.
He wants his flops to prove they are worthy of staying on as he plans a more successul campaign next term.
The former Aberdeen and Dunfermline Athletic midfielder came in midway through the season after a string of bad results saw Kevin Rutkiewicz resign as gaffer.
And he’ll be aiming to use the summer transfer window to bolster his struggling squad.
Young saw a three-game unbeaten run end last Saturday with a 2-0 home defeat to Elgin City.
The Binos boss (right) was deflated by a poor performance.
And he admitted: “We weren’t ruthless enough in either penalty area against Elgin. “That cost us. “The goals we conceded were very poor and we need to be doing much better.
“It was very disappointing because we had done well in the three games before that and the aim had been to keep that unbeaten run going until the end of the season.” Young will be boosted by the fact that Stirling have picked up more points on their travels this season – 21 away and 17 at Forthbank.
And improving the home form will be a high priority next season as he tries to lift them in to cinch League One. For now he will be trying to focus his players by gaining maximum points from Coatbridge and the home clash with
Edinburgh City in the last game of the season next Saturday.
Young conceded: “We have to be more aggressive against Albion Rovers on Saturday and be better at picking up second balls.”
Binos are unbeaten in their last three away matches, beating Forfar Athletic 1-0 at Station Park last month then drawing with bottom club Cowdenbeath and champions Kelty Hearts earlier in April.
And they are three points and two places ahead of their hosts tomorrow.
Brian Reid’s side have shipped nine goals in their last two outings – going down 5-0 at home to Stranraer a fortnight ago then losing 4-1 to Stenhousemuir at Ochilview.
Before that, Rovers had strung together a five-match unbeaten run, which included a 1-0 success at Forthbank on March 22 when defender Sean Fagan scored a lastminute winner.
Stirling were also beaten 1-0 at Cliftonhill back in November on an afternoon when Kyle Doherty scored the only goal, Dale Carrick shanked a penalty wide of the post and Adam Cummins was sent off late on. The floodlights partially failed in the second half but not enough to cause an abandonment and save Stirling from defeat.
Numbers drawn on Wednesday in the Stirling Albion Supporters Trust lottery were 1, 4, 9 and 13. There were no jackpot winners on Wednesday, April 27 it rises to £2800. Three lucky dip winners each receive £20.