Bowls: Kirkliston clinch Top Five title for 12th time

Kirkliston justified their tag as favourites and etched their name on the BARBQ sponsored WLBA Top Five Singles Trophy for a record extending 12th time but had their work cut out to beat Armadale 3-2 in last night’s final played at Broxburn BC.

Wins for Grant Logan and Steven Forrest set the scene for 1988 national singles champion John Aitken to play the hero role as the match score stood at 2-2 before he tipped the scales with his win over former club colleague Gordon Scott.

Logan, 36, was the first to deliver for Kirkliston with the experienced international star making a flying start to lead 10-3 then, having progressed to 14-7, he stormed to 21 with a whirlwind finish of 1, 3, 2, 1 to beat Armadale champion Stuart Sneddon 21-7 in 14 ends.

The second game to finish became of major significance to the final match result with Forrest putting Kirkliston 2-0 up after staging a strong finish to beat Derek Kerr in a 21-19 thriller.

Forrest – an international trial player – led 10-5 and 14-9 before finding himself on the back foot at 16-14 down then he crossed to 17-16 with a 3 before Kerr hit the front once again with a 3 to 19-17.

It was a confrontation that Armadale might well have won however, in a tense and dramatic climax, it was Forrest who was on fire to hit 21 with a 3, 1 finish.

Kerr’s brother John did deliver for Armadale and the District Singles finalist got them off the mark by landing a late 1, 2 to clinch a 21-16 win over Mark Allison having led most of the way with scores of 13-6 and 17-11.

Bob McKay is a good value for money singles player and the former Armadale champ wasn’t about to let himself be dominated by the vast reputation of international star Neil Speirs who includes the national junior singles title and West Lothian Masters on his CV.

McKay competed fiercely and matched Speirs at 8-8 and 
14-14 before coming under the cosh at 19-16 down, but he escalated the temperature of the final with a sizzling 2, 2, 1 
finish to beat his illustrious challenger 21-19.

Suddenly it was 2-2 in the match and all to play for but the Kirkliston support remained confident with their oft times super-hero figure Aitken holding a 16-7 lead then progressing to 20-9 against Scott.

Scott did create a flutter around the watching banking with a 1, 3, 1 revival to 14 then he held shot at the next but Big John did what he does best by producing a ‘yard on’ check out conversion to win game, match, and title.