Porty put run of defeats to bed with League Cup victory

Portobello SENIORS were nursing the pain of three opening league defeats on the trot in the East B section of the 
national League Cup, but are back in the swim of things with a resounding 90-38 home win over Teviotdale.

Wins on the three rinks skipped by Ronnie Douglas, Ian Paterson and Tony McLaren paints the picture of a strong team performance, especially as the other rink skipped by BJ Smith only lost by a single shot.

McLaren had additional reasons for portraying a positive mood as, following recent disappointments, the former club champion experienced a change in fortune to skip his rink to a double-figure victory.

Having made a promising start to skip Jim Glasgow, John McLeod and George Gray into a 9-6 lead over Hugh Fisher after 11 ends, McLaren hit the heights with a super count of 6 at the 12th and went on to celebrate a commanding 22-7 victory.

Douglas, though, was the leader of the hungry Porty pack, and he was in no mood to hang around, skipping John Moodie, Adam Davidson and Alex Walker to a 27-6 blitz of Bob McDonald having powered into a 12-1 lead over the first five ends.

Paterson led 11-9 after ten ends then produced a spectacular run of 4, 4, 3, 3, 1, 2 en route to skipping Eddie Tomany, Ronnie Andrews and John Fraser to a 28-11 win over Bill Jeffray.

The odds looked good for Smith, making it a clean-sweep for the home side with him skipping Jimmy Marshall, George McCathie and Keith Young into a 13-11 lead with three ends to play but he was pipped 
14-13 by a 1, 1, 1, finish from Gus McPherson.

Meanwhile, a disappointing away day for Border teams saw Tweedbank crash to an 82-52 defeat by West Lothian at the Inveralmond stadium in Livingston. Wins on the three rinks skipped by George Marshall, John Craig and Jim Davidson more than compensated for the defeat of Bob Mackay and kept West Lothian up with the three other joint leaders.

Marshall included major counts of 6 and 5 early on to skip Davie Anderson, George Rarity and Brian Holloran into a 17-6 lead after nine ends and then added a later run of 4, 3, 4, 1, 2 to complete the 31-12 demolition of a luckless Paul Butterfield.

Craig cashed in on a 10-0 lead to skip Alistair Lindsay, Charlie Sturrock and Jim Traynor to a 25-9 win over Rob Fulton while George Clark, Ian Weymss, Raymond McMahon and Davidson added a 17-10 victory over David Weir. Tweedbank managed to retaliate with a 21-9 win for 
C Chambers over Mackay.

Edinburgh club Bainfield beat Balbardie 59-54, while East Lothian demolished Midlothian 76-46.