PORTOBELLO kept themselves firmly in the swim to win the race for promotion from Section B of Division 2 with the seasiders making it four wins in a row at the weekend – but they have still to shake off the challenge of Cumbernauld.
Teviotdale are the latest team to collect zero points from their clash with the strongly performing Porty team yet, despite their lowly position of joint bottom, the visitors only finished nine shots off the pace.
Porty triumphed 75-66 having enjo
yed success on the rinks skipped by John McDermott, Stuart Betts and Andrew Caldwell. However, there was a setback for David Brown.
"We are holding a two-point lead over our nearest rivals Cumbernauld but that isn't much of a cushion as we only have a shot difference of two so we are alive to the danger they represent," summed up Andrew Caldwell for Porty.
That danger presents itself head on in Porty's next match in a fortnight's time as they are due to visit that particular lion's den and all the tough questions will then be asked.
Cumbernauld kept their challenge going with a 95-69 away win over Fintry while the other section result saw Headwell score a 106-66 away win over Allander.
The two opening phases were the most productive for the home side with Porty winning the first seven ends 26-18 and stepping up the pace to capture the second 33-19. However, there will be concern that they lost the third 29-16 in a faltering finish.
McDermott made an encouraging 2, 1, 2 start then got over a few early hiccups to skip Robert Wood (captain) BJ Smith and Ewen Murray into an 11-6 lead after ten ends.
The loss of a single at the 11th was answered with a purple patch spell of 1, 2, 1, (1), 2 and that provided sufficient cushion for the home rink to triumph 19-12 over W Anderson.
Betts returned to the fold to skip Ian Fleming, Kerr McKail and Willie Hogg to a 22-17 win over C MacDougall and their highlights included a mighty 5 at the 7th end to double their score to 10 and a later run of 1, 3, (1), 1, 2, 1 (1), 2 to lead 17-8.
Caldwell mostly held a slight edge in a hard-fought battle with Stuart Bebbington and helped by a valuable 3 at the last he skipped Jamie Reid, Donald Forsyth and Craig McCall to a 19-14 win.
Brown and his rink of Daniel Gormley, Andrew Davie and Darren McKenny suffered lean spells against S Douglas and their 14-7 loss of the end count was reflected by a 23-15 defeat, although they had been in touch at 15-18 with three to play.
• PORTOBELLO Seniors were in fine form for yesterday's continuation of the national fours championship with the rink of Eddie Tomany, Ronnie Andrews, Ronnie Douglas and Tony McLaren reaching the glamour semi-final stage to be played at Prestwick in March.
McLaren and Co created a comfortable cushion before conceding late ground but winning their first game 15-13 against Alloa at Lanarkshire IBC. They then kept their title dreams alive with a good 19-14 win over Headwell.
Headwell had earlier put paid to the challenge of Bainfield, defeating Bill Little and Co 21-11. Auchinleck, Coatbridge, and Aberdeen are the other qualifiers.
