Golf: McEwan's side edge crucial win

On a cold evening, the two teams fought out a fantastic team match which, according to Prestonfield team manager Alan McEwan, troubled his abacus as three matches went to the 18th green.

Graham Nisbet, in his first appearance of the campaign, struck first for the home team, beating Kenny Bisset with the aid of a sublime eagle at the 15th. Neilsen Rutherford then chipped in for an eagle at the 17th to clinch Prestonfield's first point of the night.

As Scott Johnston and Arran McHardy sealed two more wins for the visitors on the 18th, the attention switched to the match between John Ross and Kyle McHardy. Ross got back into it by winning the 15th, 16th and 17th but McHardy secured a crucial point with a steely par at the last.

Grant Dalton Jnr rounded off a great night for the visitors with another sub-par round that proved his strength in match play.

"All credit to Prestonfield because, after two defeats, they came up here with nothing to lose and played a blinder," said a gracious Lothianburn team captain, Chris Hughes.

In a match played next door, Royal Burgess maintained their 100 per cent record by turning in what team boss Richard Hughes hailed as "another superb performance on the road" to beat Swanston New.

In a tight match, the top three games all ended in deadlock but Gordon Archibald, on his Summer League debut for the Barnton men, gave the visitors their first win and further victories from Doug Ross, John Yuille and Brian Tait secured the points.

Craig Watson, who was three-under-par for the holes played in beating Fraser McCluskey, won the anchor match for Swanston, who had two rookie brothers, Ross and Scott Fergus, in their side. Scott, the younger of the two, played well to earn a half point in his first team match.

"It was a close match and could have gone either way," said Swanston New's Stewart Snedden.

In Group 2, West Linton chalked up a second successive whitewash, this time making the most of home advantage to crush the Merchants, while Bruntsfield Links came out on top in what was always going to be a tasty encounter against Kingsknowe.

The visitors were up in five of the games for a good part of the match but, according to Kingsknowe team manager Bill Buchan, the Bruntsfield boys seemed to adapt a little better in awful weather conditions.

New Lothians champion Allyn Dick was four up after five and birdied the 17th to get back in front against Zander Culverwell but, in the end, had to settle for a half point in the top match.

The second match between Charlie Simpson, who played despite suffering from a shoulder injury, and Steve McCulloch, who was two up in the early stages but paid the price for four three putts, also ended all square before Mike Foley and Gary Malone won the next two matches in the order for Kingsknowe.

But victories from Kevin Cattanach, David Wallace, Ally Ritchie and Keith MacKenzie, who set the tone for his success with four straight birdies from the third, swung the result in favour of the home side.

"A fantastic win in a match played in driving rain and cold," said Bruntsfield Links team manager John Cropper. "This is obviously going to be a tight group with victories on the road the key to success."

In the other Group 2 game, Craigmillar Park and Broomieknowe shared the spoils in a match that saw 15-year-old Willem Kerr win his first team match for the home side. Unfortunately for Craigmillar Park team captain Keith Thorburn, the club's rising star is unavailable for the next match due to exams.

Turnhouse and Glencorse were the two winners in Group 1, beating Newbattle and Dalmahoy respectively in what could easily have been banana skins.

Keith Young produced sub-par figures to get Glencorse off to the perfect start and was joined in the winners' circle by Iain Melville, Neil Shillinglaw, Andrew Wight, Justin Lamb and Alastair Shanks, the latter helped by a run of four holes in a row, including a chip in for birdie at the 12.

Lamb beat Sandy Phillips despite his opponent holing his second shot at the fourth with a 6-iron from approximately 160 yards, then, using the same club on the 13th, sticking it to a foot.

At Turnhouse, Olly McCrone made a fantastic up and down at the last to earn an important half point for the home side, for whom veterans Doug Imrie and Dave Black rolled back the years to chalk up victories.

Performance of the night, however, came from Newbattle's Graeme Reid, who recovered from four down at the turn to halve with Steven Armstrong.

In Group 3, Murrayfield suffered what team captain Stevie Stuart described as "a disappointing draw" at home to Ratho Park. "We now have a massive game this week away to Silverknowes," he added.

Duddingston's stuttering start continued in the same group as they lost at Liberton and Steve Gilhooley's side really need to become more consistent if they want to become the force they once were in the league.