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West Lothian bowling round up
WEST Lothian IBC are major contenders to lift the indoor bowls Scottish Cup and the record five times champions kept their challenge alive by marching into the third round with a commanding 97-58 win over Ardrossan at Whiteinch.
Ardrossan have enjoyed spells as a top club in the past but are currently a moderate team of Division 1 status so West Lothian's win was expected, however, the premier league side went into the match without ace skips Neil Speirs and George Sneddon.
Scotland's preparations for the Commonwealth Games robbed WL of Speirs while Sneddon had embarked on foreign travels to take up a personal invitation to play in the Hong Kong Tiger Fours.
Back at Whiteinch the vacancies in the team were filled by the drafting in of two British Isles Fours champions in the shape of Stewart Gibson and Ricky Forrest.
The WL start was sluggish but there were no signs of weakness as the team from Livingston picked up to return wins on all four rinks, skipped by Mark Allison, Forrest, Thomas Mann, and Calum Logan.
Ardrossan proved troublesome over the first 7-end phase of the match but WL did enough to edge it 25-22 then steadily increased the pace and the pressure to win the second phase 33-19 then dominate the third, 39-17.
Allison sprung to life with a mighty 5 at the eighth end to cross 9-6 then included repeats at the 16th and 17th as he skipped Richard Mark, James Greenock and James Speirs to a 28-12 win over D O'Rourke.
Forrest enjoyed a purple patch spell of 2, 2, 3, 2, (1), 3 to stretch into a 21-7 lead after 15-ends and he carried on to skip Cameron Greer Joey Strickland and Stuart Johnston to a 24-13 win over J Carswell.
Mann made heavy weather of it over the first 13-ends to trail R MacConachie 12-8 but the sparks began to fly with a run of 4, 3, 3, 3, 1 to cross 22-12 and he skipped Paul Lynas, Des Hagart and Raymond Logan to a 24-14 win.
Logan made a bright start to lead 8-3 then responded to pressure at 11-10 with a run of 2, 4, 2 and traded on the cushion to skip Stewart Gibson, Blair Mackie and Bryan Cooper to a battling 21-19 win over Henry Pratt.
West Lothian will step up their bid for the Cup against fellow premier league side Coatbridge who defeated defending champions Tweedbank in an 85-84 cliff hanger at Livingston.
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WEST Lothian's dominance at Under 35 level may be on the wane as the former champions of the New Hall Stud Scottish League Cup made a 6-2 exit on points to Edinburgh rivals Bainfield in the semi-final played at Auchinleck last Sunday.
Thomas Mann suffered a 24-9 defeat while Bryan Cooper and James Speirs went down 18-13 and 15-14 respectively.
West Lothian enjoyed one success with Calum Logan skipping Calum Black Dougie Mitchell and Blair Mackie to a 27-17 win.
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THE final of the national qualifying triples championship at WLIBC was a triumph for George Marshall, Brian Holloran and Davie Anderson who stormed to a 21-11 win.
Meanwhile, in earlier play James Speirs produced an eye-catching performance in the singles and progressed at the 21-16 expense of former champion George Sneddon.
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WEST Lothian IBC is double-handed in the British Isles Championships being staged at Perth this Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Angela Uttley and Wendy Purdie represent Scotland in the pairs and linking up with clubmates Irene Taylor and Jennifer Sneddon to target the fours title.
The men's international series launched the Festival of Bowls at the Dewar's Centre with George Sneddon, Neil Speirs and Thomas Mann part of the Scotland team.
The Championship climaxes with the ladies' international series next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Local interest in the Scotland team centres on Uttley and Purdie from West Lothian IBC and Lorraine Malloy and Sharon Leitch of Balbardie.
editorial@journalandgazette.co.uk
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Weather for Linlithgow
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 0 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 4 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South west
