Bowls: Porty power too much for Teviotdale

“There was much to like about our performance as we delivered wins on three rinks and were a bit unlucky to be pipped at the last end in the fourth plus it was greatly encouraging that we finished strongly on the final phase,” reflected spokesman Robert Wood.

Wins for the rinks skipped by Stuart Betts, Ian Fleming, and George Johnston eventually caused a competent home side to cave in over the last four ends of the match but Teviotdale did make a wining impression at the expense of Andrew  Caldwell.

Portobello found their focus and fighting spirit put to the test by a Teviotdale team that  captured the first seven-end phase 22-17 then edged the second 26-24 however the visitors stormed to victory with a whirlwind finish of 44-14 on the third.

“We had been 13 shots adrift after nine ends but managed to get back on level terms with a 7-0 clean sweep on the 16th then followed that up with counts of 8-4 and 12-0 that swept us into a 16-shot lead with three to play,” explained Wood.

The leader of the Portobello pack was appropriately enough team captain Stuart Betts who trailed 12-8 before skipping Josh Spalding Scott Rogers and Craig McCall on a spectacular run of 1, 1, 1, 1, 5, 1, 5 to inflict 23-12 pain on Euan Lindores. The chief supporting role was played by club champion Ian Fleming who failed to count on the first four ends but compensated with a thundering finishing run of 3, 2, 6, 1, 1 and 1 to skip Wood, Barry Smythe and Kevin Hunter to a 25-14 win over Chris MacDougall.

Meanwhile, playdown action in the Scottish Seniors Fours at West Lothian IBC on Sunday saw Tony McLaren skip Jim McLeod, Jim Laing and Ronnie Douglas into the third round with thrilling extra-end victories over Stirling and East Lothian.

McLaren and his colleagues came from 13-10 down to edge a 17-16 win over Stirling then, helped by a magnificent 7 and an extra-end wonder-bowl from the skip hit back from 10-1 down to beat Jim Smith, Peter Laidlaw, Jim Neilson and Jock Brodie of EL 20-19.

They now play the rival  Edinburgh rink of Les Nicholson, Irvine Kemp, Tony Abernethy and Bill Little of Bainfield who conjured up a magic 5, 2 finish to score a dramatic  18-15 win over second-round opponents East Fife, skipped by Roy White.

Little and Co had cashed in on a flying 13-3 start to beat skip Alex Cox of Midlothian 19-12 in the first round.