Bowls: Garden County look to dump Dons in Scottish Cup final

THE final of the indoor bowls Scottish Cup takes place at Prestwick tomorrow with the high noon confrontation featuring three-times champions East Lothian against Aberdeen opponents who are seeking to etch their name on the coveted silverware for the first time.

East Lothian were the inaugural champions in 1989 then enjoyed back-to-back successes in 2006/2007 but the Garden County were beaten in the 1994, 1995, and 2004 finals

Aberdeen are competing in their first final of the Cup and will be the underdogs but will compete without fear or trepidation as the bold Dons have shown from time to time that they can inflict defeat on East Lothian when clashing in the Premier League.

East Lothian will enter the fray without the services of two major players in the shape of regular skips Willie Wood and Paul Foster who missed the semi-final action and remain on Test Series duty for Scotland in New Delhi.

The Garden County welcome back another of their international skips in the shape of Graham Robertson, though, and that is a major plus for team morale although it brings disappointment for teenager Ross Thomson, who drops to the reserve bench.

"It's a cup final so both teams will be brim full of desire and commitment but if we produce our best form then our experience can tip the scales in our favour," said team captain James Hogg.

The draw has been made and East Lothian will look to their star man Alex Marshall for inspiration and hope that he and his strong rink of Mal Higgenbotham, Steven A Thomson and Andrew Jeffrey will keep opposite number S Thomson at bay.

Thomson and his rink were rampant in the semi-final where they crushed G Semple of Galleon 37-6.

Robertson takes over from Hogg at the helm and skips Mark Johnston, David Oliver and Brian Wyllie against D McNicol who is nursing wounds from a 24-10 defeat in the semi-final.

Derek Oliver skips Colin Cook, Dougie Berwick and Jamie Higgins against the experienced Kevin Pirie who will be buoyed up by a 23-19 win in the semi-final.

Scott Kennedy completes the line up of skips for East Lothian and he is at the helm for Les Middler, John Stevenson and James Hogg against M Stephen whose rink enjoyed a commanding 25-13 triumph in the semi.