Bowls: Shock win a big boost for Midlothian

Midlothian finished second bottom in the A section of the Premier League and their team manager, Frank Gray, said: “It will be written off in some quarters as a nothing game but we were playing against quality  opposition.

“To beat a strong Falkirk team raises the morale of our squad ahead of our do-or-die match against Garioch, and our Scottish Cup campaign.”

Gray was stunned to see his team of strugglers find an exciting brand of skill and enthusiasm that accelerated them into a remarkable 37-7 lead after five ends.

Their commanding margin was rapidly eroded by a sterling fightback from Falkirk however that brought the familiar sight of sweat on the Midlothian brows as the score closed to  53-49 after 11 ends.

However, Midlothian weathered the storm and found a fresh impetus to reach a peak of 27 up at 96-69.

Wins on three rinks – skipped by David Peacock, AJ Knight and Colin Walker – more than compensated for the defeat of team captain Billy Peacock.

David Peacock zipped into a 10-1 lead after six ends and, with the help of Robert Campbell,  Lindsay Plenderleith and Mark Wyllie, proceeded to stitch up Joey Strickland, 30-12.

Knight almost lifted the Dalkeith roof with an explosive start of 6, 3, 2, 2, 4, 1 to lead 18-0, then traded on his lead to skip David Salkeld, Mark Yuill and David Munro to a 30-16 win over Jim McHutcheson.

Walker was finding it tough going at 22-16 down after 15 ends but he upped the tempo with a run of 4, 1, 7 to inspire Jamie Macnab, Drew Pearson and Ronnie Duncan to a 29-25 win over Simon Thomson.

Billy Peacock and his rink of Ian Forbes, Scott Matthews and Ian Brown were given a torrid time of it by former East  Lothian star Steven Glen and in the end had to accept a 29-15 defeat.

Midlothian wound up their campaign on eight points to the zero of relegated Coatbridge but finished behind West  Lothian (18), Falkirk (12), Bainfield (12), and East Lothian (10).