O'Donnell the Bainfield star in semi-final

BAINFIELD and West Lothian made the journey to Prestwick for the semi-finals of the under-35 Scottish Bowls League Cup and, after the contest finished all-square, the Edinburgh club went through on shot margin.

The clash between two strong teams produced a match of epic proportions and wins on two rinks each produced a 4-4 draw on points but Bainfield's plus-12 shot margin took them to the final.

Wins for the rinks skipped by Paul O'Donnell and Stevie McLeod amassed a plus of 29 shots and that was ample to cover the defeat of Chris Steven and Gavin Smith at the hands of Bryan Cooper and Thomas Mann respectively.

However, the major talking point of the Bainfield success was the hammering Junior Scotland captain O'Donnell inflicted on West Lothian No.1 Neil Speirs.

O'Donnell lined up with his young sister Mandy, Craig Paterson and Colin Hutchison and they raced into a 17-0 lead over Grant Ramsay, Stuart Affleck, Calum Logan and Speirs to finish with a 33-10 win.

McLeod led his rink of Darren Grant, Euan Craig and Stuart Patterson to a 22-16 win over James Speirs' rink of Ewan Wilson, Liam Fairley and Blair Mackie. Steven lost 24-14 to Cooper while Smith went down 20-13 to Mann.