Portobello promotion bid suffers setback after defeat

Published on Wednesday 26 November 2008 09:09

PORTOBELLO lost 84-78 in their Division 2B clash with Abbeyview in the indoor bowls national leagues but the narrow home defeat still makes their promotion task an uphill one.

The top-of-the-table match was always on a knife-edge but Abbeyview held a marginal balance of superiority with phase scores of 25-24, 29-25 and 30-29 tipping the scales in their favour. "This defeat does serious damage to our aspirations to achieve Division 1 status although there is belief we can win our remaining three fixtures but Abbeyview would have to drop points," said Porto spokesman Andrew Caldwell.

Caldwell did his bit for the Porto cause, making a strong start to open up leads of 10-3 and 17-8 before going on to skip Jamie Reid, Daniel Gormley and Robert Wood to a 24-16 win over Alan Bernard. And there was a second success for the home team albeit narrow with Stuart Betts conjuring up a magic 3, 2 finish to skip Kerr McKail, Andrew Davie and David Brown to a 23-22 win over Duncan Lawson.

The downside came with a 25-15 defeat for David McLeod, BJ Smith, Ewan Murray and Darren McKenny, who conceded 2, 2, 3 on the run-in to Stuart Pagan.

While Bill Ramsay, Willie Paul, Gary Nisbet and John McDermott opened with a super six at the first end but were unable to live up to that and gave 21-16 best to Paul Brown.

&#149 BALBARDIE distance themselves from the Division 1B relegation zone with a 90-62 away victory over foot-of-the-table Alloa.

Gerry Duggan skipped Gary Orr, John Ellis, and Iain Grant to a 29-15 win while Graeme Byrne triumphed 21-14 and Ewan Shearer, 20-14. Sandy McDougall finished all square at 20-20.