Glasgow 2014: Scots fail in bowls bronze bid

Scotland's Margaret Letham tells lead Claire Johnstone how short her last bowl was. Picture: Lorraine Hill

SCOTLAND women’s fours suffered a bitter end to their quest for a medal, slumping to defeat in the final end of their bronze match against New Zealand.

Margaret Letham’s side had clawed their way back from a seven-shot deficit to go into the final end all square at 15-15.

New Zealand skip Mandy Boyd produced a match-changing shot to drive two Scotland bowls on to the jack, and send that into the ditch. It was a courageous and superbly executed shot that broke Scottish hearts for a 21-15 victory.

Letham, who carries enormous goodwill from the Scottish public in being, at 58, the oldest member of Team Scotland, has now only one final opportunity to claim a medal at her home games...16 years after her gold in Kuala Lumpur. She will skip the Scotland women’s triples, and maintains the disappointment of the early days will not cloud her ambitions.

South Africa prevailed over Malaysia in the final 15-9, taking their medal tally to two from a possible two after their win in the visually impaired mixed pairs against Scotland yesterday.

Meanwhile, the start of the men’s fours brought a straightforward success for Scotland in their opening group game, with Niue the opposition vanquished 22-9 by Alex Marshall, Paul Foster, Neil Spiers and David Peacock.