Midlothian off to a flyer

MIDLOTHIAN got off to a flying start in the East Division Inter-County women's matches at Dunfermline (Pitfirrane) with a 7-2 win over Stirling & Clackmananshire.

They won the morning foursomes 2-1, the experienced duo of Wendy Nicholson and Karen Marshall leading the way with a thumping 7 and 5 win over Louise MacGregor and Laura Bisset.

Claire Hargan and Louise Fraser also won, beating Linda Allan and Claire Capocci 3 and 2.

Rachael Watton led the way for Midlothian in the singles with a 6 and 5 win over MacGregor, with Jane Turner adding a 5 and 3 success over Mhairi Hall in the match behind.

Both Watton and Turner had been left out of the morning session to give them time to recover from having just travelled back from Dublin, where they were playing in the Irish Women's Open Stroke-play Championship.

Hargan, Nicholson and Marshall also won their afternoon matches for Midlothian, who were set for a crunch clash today with Fife.

In yesterday's other match, Fife won 6-3 against East Lothian, who are missing some of their leading players, notably County champion Clara Young due to her having been picked for GB & Ireland Under-16 for a match in Wales later this week.