West Lothian storm past West Fife

WEST LOTHIAN have yet to add to their nine title successes in the Scottish Cities & Counties Bowls Championship since changing their name from Linlithgowshire in 1999 but hope springs eternal and they have launched their 2008 campaign in great style.

The 52-shot victory over West Fife at Rosyth was an exciting performance given the rain-sodden underfoot conditions and the thunder and lightning overhead.

"The conditions made the outcome a bit of a lottery so it was a day for digging in and churning out a victory and in achieving both I thought the team played with tremendous concentration and determination," said team manager Colin Stein.

West Lothian settled quickly and dominated the first seven-end phase 48-26. They then increased their 22-shot advantage to 39 by capturing the second phase 51-34 then pressed on to register a 145-93 triumph with a 46-33 score on the run in.

The rinks skipped by Thomas Mann, John Aitken, Graeme Archer and Grant Logan contributed wins for West Lothian while West Fife made their mark at the expense of Neil Speirs and Raymond Logan.

Mann emerged the highest flyer for West Lothian and won 14 of the 21 ends as he skipped Frazer Muirhead, Ian Robertson and George Sneddon to a 39-11 win over Robert McFarlane.

Aitken was called upon to turn a few early heads that resulted in a 9-0 advantage to him after six ends then having plugged away he conjured up a 1, 6, 3, finish to skip Ewan Shearer, Walter McDougall and Gary Smith to a 26-11 win over Stuart Pagan.

Archer skipped Stewart McMaster, Ricky Forrest and Alec Allan to a 28-16 success over fellow cap Jim Gilruth.

Grant Logan lit the fuse early for West Lothian and having skipped Mark Allison, Gary Orr and Steven Fleming into an inspiring 13-0 lead after seven ends and went on to win 27-16 over Alan Bernard.

Paul Brown finished the stronger from 11-11 to inflict a 20-14 defeat on Neil Speirs while Jim Roxburgh opened with a 5 and went on to score a 19-11 win over Raymond Logan.