Bowls: Midlothian successful in Cup opener

Midlothian's bid to add the indoor bowls Scottish Cup title to their recent Premier League success remains alive and kicking following an impressive 83-48 victory over Paisley in the first round proper at East Kilbride.

Paisley, runners-up in their qualifying section, edged the first end 5-3 but then trailed all the way.

Midlothian were inspired by Billy Peacock who took over the captaincy from the injured Willie Rankin, with junior cap Calum Crawford coming in at lead and Ronnie Duncan switching to play third for David Peacock.

"Our game plan was to treat Paisley with loads of respect and use Billy's natural enthusiasm to ensure urgency in our play," said team manager Frank Gray.

Peacock turned in a fine winning performance at skip and triumphs for his younger brother David, Graeme Archer and the day's highest flyer, Colin Walker, contributed to a magnificent team effort.

Midlothian made a positive start to the match and included a 7-0 clean sweep on end six to capture the first seven-end phase 29-18, then tightened their grip on Paisley with a 27-19 success on the second.

Any fears of complacency or showboating were put to bed by an even stronger 27-11 performance on phase three.

Walker emerged the hottest of the Midlothian skips although he had to come from 2-7 behind to guide Steven Currie, David Salkeld and Graham Walker to a 23-9 success over new cap Jonathon Ross, having enjoyed a sizzling 16-0 spell over the Irishman.

Billy Peacock then skipped Calum Crawford, Andrew Kelly and Lindsay Plenderleith into a 9-1 lead over Derek Stobo before recovering from a five-end barren spell to kick on from 9-5 to triumph, 20-10.

David Peacock matched his brother's non-scoring run of five ends but came out of it still leading 12-10 and he battled on to skip Robert Campbell, Robert Trench and Ronnie Duncan to a 20-12 win over John Gilmartin. Archer stood 12-12 with David Fisher after 14 ends but showed typical true grit in a battling finish to skip Martin Wyllie, Rob Crawford and AJ Knight to a 20-17 win.