Bowls: Marshall and Mitchell go head to head for place in semis

Robert MARSHALL of Slateford and Colin Mitchell of Carrick Knowe provide the pick of tonight’s Tait Trophy quarter-final ties at West End BC.

Marshall, 48, is the defending champion of the Tait and is chasing a fifth title success, while Mitchell, 39, has already etched his name on the Blue Riband Trophy of the capital city’s lawn bowling scene on five occasions. Both players have achieved international status while on the club scene Marshall is 18-times champion at Slateford and Mitchell 15-times champion of Carrick Knowe, so expectations of a thriller tonight are understandably high.

David McGill etched his name on the championship board five times in is hey-day at Sighthill and has added 11 more at his current club Braid, and the 1976 national champion gets the chance to make his experience count when he tackles his first-time Dean counterpart, George McNab.

Queensberry champion Tam Ebbs faces the talented Craig Paterson of Bainfield, while Kevin Jamieson of Gorgie Mills meets Keith Rutherford of Beechwood in the other tie.

Meanwhile, West Lothian will contest the final of the Matt Purdie Trophy against West Fife at Strathmiglo in Fife on Monday September 3 having finished on top of their qualifying section in the annual Seniors Inter County event.

Their final qualifying confrontation against East Lothian at Buchan Park was a top of the table clash that saw West Lothian score a 51-45 victory.

The final league table reads:

Section 1: West Fife 10, Fife 6, E&L 4, Stirling 2.

Section 2: West Lothian 10, East Lothian 7 Border 4, Midlothian 3.