Bowls: E and L show their strength to beat Ayr and reach final

Published on Monday 8 June 2009 11:42

EDINBURGH & LEITH will contest the final of the Scottish Under-25 Bowls League Cup at Kilsyth BC next Sunday, having produced a strong performance to beat Ayrshire by 13 shots in a tough semi-final battle at Coatbridge Victoria.

Wins on the rinks skipped by Paul O'Donnell, Jamie Gracie and team captain Colin Hutchison, plus a peel for George Kirk, were positive components of a 131-118 victory that contained minor setbacks for John McDermott and Chris Steven.

E&L hit the ground running and powered into a 22-shot lead (50-28) on the first seven-end phase then stepped up the pressure on Ayrshire by adding a further 14 shots (54-40) on the second phase. Ayrshire showed their class with a determined fightback to capture the third phase (50-27) and so claw back 23 shots but they never came close enough to put sweat on the E&L brows.

Hutchison was captain marvel as he skipped Neil Watson, Euan Craig and Derek Smith to the best result of the match – a ten-shot win over James Gibson – having caused an early sensation with a fine count of 7 at the fifth end.

Hutchison and Co also counted a mighty 5 at the 14th end and were the early inspiration for E&L as they clocked up a 23-11 lead entering the final phase.

O'Donnell put on 16 shots from 5-9 to 21-9 over a purple patch spell of nine ends and, although conceding 4, 1, 2 on the run-in, he cashed in to skip Kerr McKail, Craig Aitken and Scott Noble to a 21-16 win over Alan Campbell.

Gracie started like an express train to skip Dean Thomson, Neal Rooney and Chris Southwell into a 12-2 lead over Scott McNellie and he pushed on to 18-3 before coming under second-half pressure and being forced to settle for a 22-21 win. Kirk was ding dong with Chris Duffy for all 21-ends of the match and conceding a single at the last resulted in him skipping Craig McArthur, Kyle Newall and Russell Wilson to a 23-23 peel.

McDermott was absolutely flying to skip Mark Hogg, Neil Mackintosh and Andrew Caldwell into a 22-12 lead over full Scotland cap Craig England after 14 ends but the rink ran out of steam and that cost them a 23-22 defeat.

Chris Steven skipped Stephen Stewart, Robert Mitchell and Nicky Brown into a 15-13 lead playing the last against Kevin Boyd but the opposition counted a 4 to snatch a 17-13 win.

Meanwhile, the other semi-final being played at Kirkliston saw Stirling County inflict a 140-90 defeat on Grampian.

&#149 WATER of Leith First Sixteens title-holders, Carrick Knowe, have increased their lead over Sighthill at the top of the table to a massive nine points.

Carrick Knowe powered to a 5-0 home win over Colinton and have amassed 35.5 points from their eight games played.

Sighthill were good 4-1 away winners at Currie.

&#149 CROSSED wires saw Queensberry dubbed losers in the E&L David Kyle Triples at Craigentinny. We are happy to point out that, in fact, Brian Larkin, Scott Walker and Alan Watson did enough to edge a 15-14 win over Duncan Davidson, Drew Dodds and Adam Davidson of Leith.