Summerside belie status to make final

“This is a great result for us and our clubhouse is buzzing,” said spokesman Martin Watt.

“We are pushing hard for promotion in our league so our form is strong at the moment and, in terms of experience, we have in our ranks former Division 1 stars like David Poole, Keith Taylor, Mark Robertson and Tait Trophy champion  Peter Miller.”

Watt himself played a  valuable part in Summerside’s progress into what will be the 15th final of the Edinburgh Cup having skipped his rink to a win at home that was supported by a success for Miller, formerly of Dudley.

Poole suffered a last-end defeat on the other Summerside rink playing the home leg while the away visit to Willowbrae produced telling wins for  Robertson and Mark Wilson.

Miller – who won the Tait in 2009 – showed he still has a magical touch by skipping Grant Abercrombie, Stuart Ramsay and Tam Abercrombie into a 15-1 lead and, having demoralised the opposition with counts of 2, (1), 2, 1, 2, 4, 1, 3, went on to clinch a 25-16 win over George Wood.

Watt led 9-2 but was crossed 13-11 before powering to a  21-13 victory having skipped Neil Nisbet, Jed Keegan and Jim Currie to a finishing run of 4, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1 against Willowbrae veteran Ian Paterson.

Willowbrae did manage an away strike and it was delivered by John Blyth who tipped the scales with a double at the last to skip Gavin Pinkerston, Ray Graham and Pat Dall to a 20-18 win over Norrie Chalmers, Sean Burrell, Kerr McKail, and Poole.

Mark Wilson was the hero at Willowbrae where he answered pressure at 10-9 down to skip Tommy Drummond, Ian Brown and Alan Ewart to a 2, 1, 1, 1 finish for a crucial 14-11 win over Scott Whigham.

Mark Robertson completed the downfall of Willowbrae by skipping Stuart Christie, John Mullen and Mark Fyfe to a battling 17-14 success over Craig Duffus, however the other away rink of Alfie King, Davy Hill, Lee Lough and Paul Jeromson lost 19-12 to Ian Pryde.

The final of The Edinburgh Cup will be played at Maitland BC on Saturday, August 18 and the opposition to Summerside comes from Pilrig who constructed an 8-4 win over fellow Division 1 club, Northern.

Given that the 1998 and 2006 winners entered their semi-final without two star players in Gavin Smith and Scott Noble, it was a sound achievement to beat a Northern.