THE epic three-way battle for the Division 1 title in the Alpha Trophies Edinburgh Bowling League is over and, after a night of drama with an exciting climax, the crown is back with Pilrig for the first time since their inaugural triumph in 1998.
The crowning glory might well have gone to defending champions Parkside or the strong-finishing Craigentinny but Pilrig's last-gasp 5-4 win at Queensberry was enough to see them finish two and 2½ points clear of the former and latter respectively.
Parkside will reflect that last night's 5-4 defeat at Hillside was a costly upset, while Craigentinny's poor start to the campaign left them with just too much to do.
Even so, Craigentinny's final 7-2 home win over Leith was close to a 9-0 that would have delivered them a third title but for last-end events at Queensberry that saw Pilrig avoid what would have been a disastrous 7-2 defeat.
David Poole was a central figure in the turnaround as he faced four shots against before converting into a five with a spectacular last-bowl trail that secured the single bonus point for Pilrig.
And almost simultaneously, the rink skipped by Darren McKenny was carding a single that gave them a 15-14 victory.
"Memories and club folklore are made of these kind of happenings especially when you consider that we had two rivals for the title breathing down our necks," said former junior cap Gavin Smith.
The relegation zone was also a crowded place going into the last of the league's 14-match programme and it was misery for Dean and Leith as Hillside and Queensberry did enough to escape the drop.
Queensberry's last-ditch effort to avoid dropping straight back into Division 2 was greatly helped by Gordon Wilson, who made a strong recovery from 12-6 down to skip John Dickson, Colin McKenzie and Gibby Davidson to a 21-16 win over Chris Steven.
And their fighting spirit was again evident when Alan Watson edged back from 8-11 to 12-12 then carded a 6 that helped him skip Scott Walker, Charlie Conway and Colin Jones to an 18-16 win over Keith Taylor.
The downside came when McKenny of Pilrig skipped Willie Scott, Darren McCardle and Gavin Smith to that last-gasp win over Frank O'Reilly then, with the visitors shooting for the title, David Poole skipped Walter Day, Graeme Hislop and John Geddes to a 22-10 win over Brian Pollard.
Meanwhile, Parkside were in the process of blowing it at Hillside where the normally rock-solid Alex Hurry suffered a crushing 28-5 defeat from Jimmy Headspeath, Jamie Headspeath, Peter Brown and Keith Gallacher. And more pain for the holders saw Robert Donaldson lose 18-11 to Jimmy Nisbet, Jimmy Gaylor, Kyle Newall and Gary Muir.
Paul Veitch made the best mark for the visitors, skipping Neil Watson, Willie Hilson and Brian Salvona to a 19-15 win over Kevin Moncur while Ian Kay, Robert Ramsay, Darren Grant and Willie Watson edged a 20-18 win over BJ Smith.
Craigentinny were kept in the hunt by wins for Gary Nisbet, Willie McDonald and Kevin Hunter but Andrew Jeffrey lost to Archie Davidson of Leith.
• BATHGATE beat Bankton Mains 6-2 in the semi-final of the John Smith's Extra Smooth WLBA Top Ten at Armadale last night.
