Summer trips prove so fruitful for league duo

Published on Monday 12 May 2008 10:43

SWANSTON and Craigmillar Park both picked up valuable points on their travels in the Applecross Edinburgh Summer League.

In an event where home advantage is normally made to count, Swanston won at Liberton while Craigmillar Park also notched a victory as they made the short journey over to the Merchants.

Following up a 7-1 success over Broomieknowe in their opening match, Swanston scraped a 4-3 win in their Division 1 fixture.

James Muir was one of the Swanston stars, fighting back from two down with two to play to earn a vital half, while Graham Burnett (2&1), Malcolm Campbell (2&1), Mike Armstrong (7&6) and Mark Dickson (7&5) provided the other four points.

Repairing some of the damage from a 4-4 draw at home to Bruntsfield Links in their opening outing, Craigmillar Park cruised to a 6-2 win against a Merchants side that is clearly in a transitional period.

Ross McDonald, Stephen Neilson, Jamie Neilson, Richard Gill, Paul Logan and Innes Chrisite were winners on the night for the visitors, who entertain Kingsknowe this week.

On their first trip of the new campaign, Duddingston discovered that Glencorse, as always, are tough nuts to crack round their home track. The home side won that one 6-2, Sean McGarvey leading the way for Justin Lamb's men as he chalked up a fine 2 and 1 win over David Miller in the top match. Andrew Wight, who is off up to Elgin soon to play in the Scottish Seniors, proved too hot to handle for Gus Santana, while Neil Shillinglaw birdied four of the last five holes as he beat John Shepherd by one hole.

"It was a very good result against probably the best team in the Lothians," admitted a delighted Lamb, a winner himself against Robbie Anderson.

West Linton, Bruntsfield Links and Turnhouse also made the most of home advantage. West Linton beat a strong-looking Royal Burgess side 5-3; Bruntsfield Links were 6-2 winners against Lothianburn and Turnhouse thumped Torphin Hill 7-.

Defending champions Dalmahoy, who were held to a 4-4 draw at Torphin Hill in their opening match, made no mistake second time out as they won 5-2 at Mortonhall.

Despite an excellent win for Derek Miller in the top match – he beat young gun David Murray 5 and 4 – Murrayfield went down 6-2 at Newbattle.