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Sandy's sublime
Sandy Bryant captured the club championship at Kinneil for a record 10th time.
Sandy Bryant captured the club championship at Kinneil for a record 10th time.
That earned him the chance to repeat an earlier title success in the Matt Purdie & Sons WLBA Champion of Champions when competing in the 2007 event at Blackburn.
Bryant launched his campaign with a commanding 21-7 win over Willie Smith of Harrysmuir having raced into a 7-0 lead then stretching to 14-3 before wrapping up victory in 15-ends.
Signs of a strong challenge being made by the Kinneil champion developed at the 21-19 expense of his Broxburn counterpart Stuart Dean having impressed with a battling 1,1,1 finish to win in 25 ends.
However a quarter-final battle against 1998 national singles champion Raymond Logan of Kirkliston was Bryant's toughest yet and the old adversaries went toe to toe up to 13-12 in favour of Logan after 12-ends.
Logan then stole a march with a hat-trick of singles to 16 then answered the loss of a single with powerful 1,1,3 finish to end Bryant's challenge after 19 ends.
The Kirkliston champion shouldn't have lost his semi- final clash with Fraser Muirhead but did in the sleep-losing fashion previously reported.
The early round play saw Logan beat Charlie Sturrock of Polbeth 21-9 then Dave Russell of Stoneyburn, 21-14.
Bellsburn champion Sammy Gray came flying off a 6-11 pace to beat Robert McIvor of Glenmavis in the first round but came a cropper in the next round with a 21-6 defeat from John Black of Buchan Park.
Black had earlier been the 21-4 conqueror of Philpstoun champion Ronald Meikle while a first round exit was also the fate for Gordon Linton of Bridge-ness who crashed to a 21-10 defeat from Kenny McFadzean of Whitburn.
Linlithgow held out high hopes for their two in a row champion Gary Smith and the England legend looked set to deliver a first round win when lead 80-year Peter Ball of Blackburn 13-5.
However Ball, twice winner of the C of C title, was always a danger on his home patch and proved the point by battling back to stand 20-16 up after 22-ends.
The image of Smith and his bulldog spirit was typified by a 2,2 fightback that put the outcome into the melting pot however it was Ball who served up the last end sizzler to win 21-20.
However Bo'ness champion Ewan Shearer bagged his third title at the expense of Frazer Muirhead in the final.
******
Broxburn have been set a stiff opening challenge when they carry the West Lothian banner into the 2008 renewal of the Roofline Scotland sponsored Scottish Inte- County Top Ten tournament.
The 2007 John Smith Extra Smooth champions of West Lothian were last out of the hat when the draw was made at Gorgie Mills recently and that translated into an away match against the champions of Ayrshire.
It is understood the Ayrshire champions are Ayr Portland, which happens to be the cub of world stage star Paul Foster so the Broxurn task is set to be a daunting one.
Broxburn did manage to bypass the preliminary round action but a tough section of the draw means a success in the first round is likely to be rewarded by a visit to East Lothian against West Barns in the second round.
The diary dates are May 18 for the first round, May 25 for the second round with the final stageS at Colinton on June 8.
Broxburn captured the West Lothian title for a fourth time when they defeated Kirkliston.
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Weather for Linlithgow
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North east
