Bowling: Portobello put up a fight on their carpet

PORTOBELLO IBC kept themselves from being cast adrift at the bottom of the B section of the Seniors indoor bowls League with a shock 73-58 victory over West Lothian.

It was only Portobello’s second win in eight games and they remain on the bottom rung but share it with Tweedbank and Teviotdale.

The home side went 11-7 down after two ends but levelled with a 5-1 count on the third and by tenth had made steady progress to lead 40-31 after which their victory was never in doubt.

Wins on the rinks skipped by Davie McLeod and Ronnie Douglas put 19 shots in the Portobello bank and that was more than enough to cover the four-shot deficit shared equally between George Gray and BJ Smith. McLeod skipped John Moodie, Keith Young and John Fraser to a handsome 23-13 win over Bob McKay. Douglas looked set for a dire time of it at 7-1 down after five ends but recovered strongly to skip Rab Stewart, Jack McLeod and Tony McLaren to a 20-11 win over Jim Davidson.

Gray like setting the heather on fire when skipping Eddie Tomany, George McBain and Ian Paterson into a 15-6 but George Marshall came storming back to inflict a 17-15 defeat.

Smith and his rink of Jimmy Marshall, George McCathie and Alex Walker were sinking fast at 15-4 down with five ends to play against Jim Craig but restricted their defeat to 17-15 with a spirited 6, 1, 1, (2), 3 finish.

“Perhaps a revival is just around the corner, but if so it will come too late for us to make an impression on the leaders,” said Porty spokesman Tony McLaren.

Leaders East Lothian made it seven wins out of eight with a spectacular 89-37 home win over Balbardie that avenged their only defeat that came in the opening match of the campaign. Bainfield failed to stay joint top after suffering a damaging 72-53 defeat against Teviotdale at Hawick.

Meanwhile, Bainfield Ladies served up a major shock when beating Division 1C leaders East Lothian 79-77 for only their second win in five games.

Former cap Ann Watson was the heroine for the home side as she converted her last bowl to card a single that clinched the win. Watson played a further major role by skipping Julie Fairgreave, Kate Beveridge and Isa Wilson to a 26-17 win over Rose McAinsh.

Kathryn O’Donnell skipped Aimee Robertson, Anne Matthews and Susan Allanto a 21-17 win over Yvonne Veitch.

Anna Anderson and her rink of Heather Stoddart, Betty Eaton and Kathleen Barr lost 23-16 to Emma Brown while Jeanette Crawford, Cathy Falconer, Theresa Blair and Marion Dickson lost 20-16 to Janet Fairnie.