MIDLOTHIAN looked to be in a spiral of defeat when they trailed Paisley by 29 shots approaching the halfway stage of their match in the A section of the indoor bowls Premier League.
But an amazing transformation saw the visitors from Dalkeith stage a strong fightback to snatch a four-shot victory (77-73) that moves them clear of the relegation zone occupied by Bainfield (0), Paisley (2), and Lanarkshire (4).
The phase scoring
masks the worst of the downside with Paisley dominating the first 37-19 but Midlothian making 24-19 headway on the second then storming to a 34-17 success on the third.
"The team stuck to their guns and proved they had fire in their bellies despite the cruel blows we suffered earlier in the campaign," said spokesman Frank Gray.
"We lost two games by agonisingly narrow margins (one and three) so our six points could easily have been an undefeated ten and that rankles, however, we have to bury our frustrations and get on with it."
Gray pinpointed two heroic efforts from Billy Peacock as the moments that stopped Midlothian from sinking without trace and stimulating the team's revival.
"Billy faced five shots against him on two occasions at a critical phase of the match and on both occasions he produced an inch-perfect draw to kill the lot in miracle fashion," enthused Gray.
While the older of the Peacock brothers was responsible for steadying the ship, it was British Isles Triples champion Willie Rankin who stole the limelight with a spectacular 11-shot victory from nine shots down.
Rankin added 1, 3, 1, 3, 1, 2, to skip Martin Wyllie, David Munro, and Ian Brown into a 15-13 lead then, from peels at 15, produced a whirlwind run of 6, 2, 5 to triumph 28-17 over D Moffat.
David Peacock was heading for a hammering at 12-0 down after five ends but the Midlothian icon rallied the troops and only dropped a further 3, 1, 1 as he included a run of 2, 1, 5, in skipping Calum Crawford, Kevin McDougall, and Sandy Knight to a 21-17 win over G Wiggins.
Colin Walker promised more as he recovered from 8-13 to skip Steven Currie, Scott Matthews, and Lindsay Plenderleith into a 16-14 lead, however, they failed to sustain that effort and slipped to a 22-16 defeat from John Gilmartin.
Hero figure Billy Peacock and his rink of Ronnie Duncan, David Salkled and Drew Pearson were against the collar at 15-6 down and eventually lost 17-12 to J Ross.
Scott Matthews came off the bench in a late call to replace teenager Danny McDougall.
