Midlothian clinch top spot after win over Edinburgh & Leith

Published on Monday 23 June 2008 11:22

MIDLOTHIAN thumped Edinburgh & Leith by 36 shots at Sighthill in their crunch match of the Cities & Counties bowls championship and the 136-100 result saw them finish top of the East section, writes .

Team manager Alec McIntosh had to cope with the absence of influential skip Billy Peacock and tinkered with his line-up but the 72-year-old was rewarded by one of the finest results in Midlothian history.

E&L did produce three wins on the rinks skipped by Mal Higgenbotham, James Hogg and Colin Mitchell, however, double-figure losses were sustained by Robert Donaldson, Robert Marshall and Andrew Ramsay.

Midlothian were rampant and punished E&L on the rinks skipped by Colin Walker, David Peacock and Craig Hodge.

Peacock was playing tremendously well as he inspired the visitors to a runaway 52-25 domination of the final phase.

Hodge counted at 16 of the 21 ends and skipped Calum Crawford, Aaron Clinkscales and Jim Gibson to a 33-12 win over Craig McCall, Scott Roger, Paul O'Donnell and Ramsay.

Peacock won 15 of his 21 ends and include three 5s as he skipped Tom Moffat, Jamie Mitchell and Scott Briggs to a 32-12 success over Jamie Gracie, Willie Watson, Alec Ross and Marshall. Walker led 11-2 and carded shots at 13 of the 21 ends to skip Eddie Adams, Lindsay Plenderleith and George Yuill to a 30-13 triumph over Colin Hutchison, David Fisher, David Poole and Donaldson. Small compensation for E&L saw Higgenbotham skip John McDermott, John Priestley and John Storrier to a 26-16 win over Colin McFarlane, while Hogg beat Henry Aitchison 19-11 and Mitchell beat Ian Brown 19-14.