Bowls: Midlothian on the march in the indoors Scottish Cup

Headwell’s status as a  Division 1 club ensured they were the underdogs against Premier League opposition and Midlothian upheld the indications of the formbook with wins on all four rinks.

“It was a strong team performance although we were slow into our stride and Headwell were holding us at 22-22 after six ends,” said Midlothian team manager Frank Gray.

Wins on the rinks skipped by Ronnie Duncan, David Peacock, Sandy (AJ) Knight and Colin Walker were mostly decisive with Walker the only one hard pressed by the opposition.

Midlothian took all three phases having won the seventh end 6-2 to capture the first sector of the match 28-24, the second 39-16 and the third 26-16.

“Having struggled in our league campaign it is great that we are showing improved form in the cup and the boost that gives to our morale is extremely valuable ahead of our Premier League survival play-off against Division 1A champions Garioch,” added Gray.

David Peacock missed most of the PL action and the return to the fold of the Midlothian icon figure plus the decision of star figure Willie Rankin to come out of exile and make himself available for the cup lifted the Dalkeith dressing-room.

Duncan was the chief architect of Midlothian’s victory having made a powerful start to skip Ian Forbes, Lindsay Plenderleith and Willie Rankin into an 11-3 lead after seven ends against JJ Watson.

Further highlights included counts of 5 at ends nine and 14 as Duncan and Co won 33-16.

Peacock was 8-6 down after eight ends but crossed to 11 with a run of 2, 1, 1, 1 then skipped Robert Campbell, Ian Brown and Martin Wylie to a 21-11 win over G Martin.

Knight trailed 9-2 after seven ends but exploded into action with an exciting nine-end run that thrust him into an 18-9 lead, skipping David Salkeld, Martin Yuill and David Munro to a  21-14 win over C Martin.

Walker had Headwell icon Jim Roxburgh to contend with and was ahead 8-2 after four ends then skipped Jamie Macnab, Drew Pearson and captain Bill Peacock into a 14-8 lead after 13. Roxburgh was 17-15 down playing the last and conceded a single for an 18-15 defeat.