Marshall and Gourlay come through in battles of Scots

Two brilliant second-round matches yesterday involving four top Scots saw Alex Marshall and Scotland’s former head coach David Gourlay through to today’s Co-operative Funeralcare WBT International Open quarter-finals in Blackpool.

East Fife ace Wayne Hogg, who was looking to break into the top 16, played well, but was foiled by Gourlay, who seemed to have the answer to every problem the Fifer posed and showed his vast experience as he recorded a 7-6 8-4 victory.

Leading 6-5 in the first set, Hogg dropped two shots on the last end, and Gourlay took advantage, scoring six shots on the first three ends of the second set.

Hogg dug in his heels, string- ing four ends together, but the wily Gourlay restricted him to a single on every one of them.

Hogg, trailing 4-6, held a count of two on the eighth end when Gourlay once again came up with a game-changer with his final delivery, turning two down into two up to win the set.

Earlier, in a scrappy game that produced some scintillating bowls, East Lothian’s sixtime world champion Marshall edged home by a single shot, 6-6 7-6 against the 2010 world champion Stewart Anderson, who these days plays for Blantyre.

Arbroath’s Commonwealth Games gold medallist Darren Burnett faces Blackpool’s own Mark Dawes this morning for a place in the quarter-finals.