PILRIG have gone two points clear of defending champions Parkside following their 7-2 home win over foot-of-the-table Leith in last night's Division 1 action of the Alpha Trophies Edinburgh Bowling League.
Parkside might have expected better than their 5-4 away win over relegation-zoned Dean while record six-times champions Tanfield continued their frustrating form with a 5-4 home win over fifth-placed Hillside.
Queensberry continue as the shock tro
ops, however, with the promoted Division 2 champions battling to a 5-4 home win that halted the recent progress up the table of Craigentinny.
Pilrig put space between them and joint leaders Parkside with wins for the rinks skipped by Gavin Smith, David Poole and Chris Steven but were denied a clean sweep by Leith's John Ramsay's 16-9 win over Scott Rogers.
Smith took no prisoners in his 26-9 win over Peter McCabe but Poole was harder pressed to beat Robert Wood 21-15 and it was last-end magic from second player George Tregoning that produced a single and a 14-13 win for Steven over Archie Davidson.
The match of the night, however, was at Queensberry where the home challenge might have folded at the sight of Alan Watson on the road to a 26-5 thrashing from Darren Smith, George Clark, Derek McFarlane and Willie McDonald.
McDonald's 19-shot margin earned Craigentinny the single bonus point and the visitors added a further point from a 15-15 peel for Stuart Betts against Brian Pollard.
However, they will count it a point lost having led 13-6 and 15-10 before being caught at the post by a thrilling 3, 2 finish from Mike Boli, JB Stewart, John Kidd and Pollard.
Frank O'Reilly was the man who kept the home support cheerful, adding a 4 to lead 13-8 then skipping Brian Larkin, Stuart Pearson and Colin Jones to a 15-11 win over Andrew Jeffrey.
Queensberry's second win was a tenterhook affair with Gordon Wilson skipping Colin McKenzie, John Dickson and Gibby Davidson into a 15-6 lead then collapsing to 15-15 before carding two singles for a 17-15 success over Kevin Hunter.
"We have leapfrogged Craigentinny back up to third place so it's a result that keeps the clubhouse buzzing," said spokesman Alan Watson.
Hillside missed out on the bonus point but wins for the rinks skipped by Kevin Moncur and Keith Gallacher kept them ahead of third-from-bottom Tanfield, who won on the rinks skipped by Derek McLean and Alex Thompson.
Moncur scored at four of the last five ends to skip Alex Gallacher, Graham Laidlaw and Paul Grant to an 18-12 win over David Snodgrass while Jimmy Headpseath, Peter Brown, Kyle Newall and Gallacher edged an 18-17 nail-biter against Graeme McIntosh.
McLean sustained the pressure from 10-4 to skip Jamie McIntosh, Scott Carr and Alistair Thompson to a 20-13 win over Gary Muir while Thompson skipped Ricky Blackie, Dougie Birrell and Bill McLachlan to an 18-11 success over BJ Smith.
The full article contains 521 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
