Stirling stunned by WL

West Lothian powered to a 155-84 win over Stirling County East in their third match of The Cities and Counties Championship.

The emphatic win was engineered in style by doublefigure triumphs for rinks skipped by Andy Dennett, Raymond Logan, and Steve Fleming, ably supported by harder fought wins for Thomas Mann and Sandy McDougall.

Grant Logan almost made it a clean sweep, but losing a single at the last forced him to settle for a peel but that didn’t take the shine off a tremendous team display.

WL hit the ground running and led from start to finish, having established an early 28-10 lead after three ends. The completion of end seven saw the master scoreboard signalling a massive 40-shot lead (60-20) for the visitors. A quieter (38-31) outcome of the second phase was followed by the 57-33 supremacy of the third.

Dunnett won 15 of his 21 ends as he skipped Ewan Shearer, Jamie Aitken, and Walter McDougall to a 28-8 win.

Ray Logan celebrated a five at the third end and a magnificent seven at 20th as he skipped Steven Forrest, Connor McKendrick, and Gary Smith to a 32-13 win.

Fleming zipped into a 14-1 lead after eight ends as he skipped Scott Middlemiss, Blair Mackie, and Mark Allison to a 31-13 win over Simon Thomson.

Mann opened up a 14-5 lead as he beat Stuart Hogg, 21-13, while McDougall battled on from 21-21 to score a 29-23 win over Stuart Williamson. Grant Logan was held to a 14-14 peel.

It was a major bonus for WL when the news broke that their first match conquerors,Midlothian, had suffered a shock 46 shot home defeat from Borders.

West Lothian continue their campaign with a massive clash this Saturday at Queensferry against Edinburgh Leith for which John Aiken steps up for the unavailable Thomas Mann at skip while David Lamb comes in at third, and Jordan Pearce of Kirkliston takes over from Jamie Aitken at second.

Elsewhere, the under-25 brigade of the WLBA slipped to a narrow four shot defeat to Dumbartonshire in the Scottish League Cup.

Rink scores: Greg Baldry 23-12; Connor McKendrick 25-20; Scott McMaster 15-15; Calum Black 19-19; Jordan Pearce 20-24; and Jamie Aitken 13-29.

Monday night see the last-16 line-up in the WLBA Junior Open for the Fred Meikle Trophy.

Scheduled fixtures are: Calum Logan v James Aitken; Jamie Deegan v Jordan Pearce; Andrew Semple v Mark McCullagh; Kyle Brodley v Greg Baldry; Connor McKendrick v Calum Black; Jamie Edwards v Steven Fleming; Alan Paterson v Shaun Cairns and Ryan Miller v Blair Mackie.

Friday night’s quarter-finals of the Kelso Cup features Buchan Park v Bathgate at East Calder; Bellsburn v Broxburn at Pumpherston; Kinneil v Newbridge at Buchan Park; and West Calder v Winchburgh at Newbridge.

West Lothian under-25s face Ayrshire at Larkhall this Sunday in the opening round of the Jim Bell Scottish Cup.