BAINFIELD'S attempt to get their bowls promotion challenge back on the rails gained momentum with a battling victory over Division 1B title rivals Balbardie when the teams clashed at the Hutchison Crossway stadium.
Balbardie stood 12 shots up after nine ends but Bainfield, unchanged from the team that had enjoyed a home win over Whiteinch, turned the tables to edge an 85-81 victory.
Balbardie dished out stiff punishment to Paul O'Donnell and his rink with
Ewan Shearer particularly outstanding but the Bainfield cause was saved by victories for Robert Marshall, Gavin Smith and Stevie McLeod.
Balbardie won the first phase 26-18 but Bainfield took the second 39-28 and nicked the third 28-27.
The match was a frustrating one for O'Donnell and his rink of Craig Paterson, Gary Purdie and team captain Craig Moss who played well enough yet were heavily outgunned 31-14 by Shearer.
Shearer included a purple patch spell of 4 (2), 1, 6, 2, (1), 1, 2, 3 to skip Gary Orr, Kenny Martin and Andy Forrest into a commanding 25-10 lead after 17 ends.
Marshall steadied the ship for Bainfield though and included an uplifting run of 3, 3, 5, 3 as he skipped Graeme McIntosh, Brian Stoddart and Jamie Gracie to a 28-14 win over Mark Bonnar, Alistair Wilson, Gerry Duggan and Walter McDougall.
Smith registered seven blanks over the first eight ends and then trailed 11-2 and 13-4 but did exceptionally well to fight back and win skipping Chris Downie, Jamie Aitken and Colin Hutchison on a 1, 4, 3, 3, 1, 1 revival then onto a 21-15 triumph over Colin Fraser, Davy Ross, Jim Speirs and Graeme Byrne.
McLeod made a big impression with successive counts of 5 and 4 to skip Derek Smith, Willie McDonald and Alan Brown into a 17-6 lead after 11 ends.
However, they were then hard pressed to hang on and edge a 22-21 win over Lawson Trotter, David Lawrie, Diz Drysdale and Sandy McDougall.
Alloa beat Tweedbank 96-64 and Whiteinch beat Stirling 80-65. Alloa top the table by a single point from Bainfield and Tweedbank.
