Bowls: Tanfield put disappointment to side and savage Sighthill

Published on Wednesday 5 August 2009 11:27

TANFIELD showed real resilience in last night's terrific 8-0 points victory over former champions Sighthill in the quarter-finals of the Edinburgh Top Ten Bowls Championship.

The club bounced back remarkably well after the disappointment of Sunday's loss in the national pairs at Ayr and the defeat of club champion Mal Higgenbotham in the preliminary round of the Tait Trophy.

"I never slept a wink on Sunday night but life has to go on and thankfully our appetite was back last night," said pairs skip Graeme McIntosh.

McIntosh again partnered his Scottish Championships lead Alec Thompson for last night's match against Sighthill and they were in excellent form at home to inflict an 18-10 defeat on Gary Connolly and Alan Trotter.

It wasn't instant, as they had to recover from a 6-2 deficit but they hit the front with a run of 2, 2, 1, 3 to lead 10-6 then from 13-10 they produced a 1, 1, 1, 2 finish.

Tanfield's home leg also produced a tremendous 24-10 win in the triples with Derek McLean skipping Jamie McIntosh and Willie Paul to an astonishing finishing run of 3, 1, 3, 1, 1, 2, 6 against Adam Melrose, John McDermott and Paul Noble.

The news from the away leg at Sighthill was another major boost with Higgenbotham rampaging to a phenomenal 21-2 win over former City of Edinburgh Balgreen champion Jamie Gracie.

Tanfield completed their whitewash of the opposition with Graham Munro skipping Neil Buchanan, Stuart McKean and Stuart Campbell to an away win over Allan Scott in the fours. West End were the giantkillers in the previous round but it was their turn to be axed last night with the form book running true with a 6-2 defeat inflicted by Slateford.

But the underdogs did put up a good fight and especially so in the singles where Slateford kingpin Robert Marshall was taken close to the wire on his home patch before clinching a 21-19 win over Donnie Gilbertson.

Gilbertson led 17-10 before Marshall closed to 16 then the visitor lay for the game at 19-18 but the 16-times Slateford champion converted for a double then added the winning single on the 25th end.

West End scored a home success with Murray Baillie and Moray Tait cashing in on a 10-0 lead to beat Bill Herd and Rab Stewart 20-6, but Slateford took the triples with Jimmy Gordon, Ronnie Ramsay and Andrew Ramsay beating Duncan McLaren 19-7.

Northern continued their good run of form with a 5-3 win over Edinburgh Bowls League Division One club Dudley, and Queensberry reached the semi-finals at the 6-2 expense of Wardie.