TANFIELD'S bleak campaign in Division 1 of the Alpha Trophies Edinburgh Bowling League took on a brighter outlook with a 7-2 home win over Pilrig last night that has moved the record six-times champions clear of the bottom three.
"We now have Leith, Dean, and Hillside below us in the table and, with two being relegated, the situation is looking healthier for us in the climax to the league," said a Tanfield spokesman.
The reason for optimism in their camp is the strong for
m line from defeating the league leaders but, despite their heavy defeat, Pilrig remain in pole position with four fixtures remaining.
The match at Tanfield was a thrilling affair with the home side surviving by a single shot on the rinks skipped by Mal Higgenbotham and Graham Munro while Alex Thompson's win also came late.
Higgenbotham trailed 7-0 after three ends but recovered to cross 13-11 then led 17-13 before skipping Jamie McIntosh, Scott Carr and Alister Thompson to a 17-16 win over Gavin Smith.
Munro was 15-11 adrift with three ends to play against David Poole but skipped Stuart McKean, Neil Buchanan and Derek McLean to 15-15 with counts of one and three before a dramatic last-bowl winner.
Thompson still had it to do at 12-12 with Scott Rogers but a 1, 2, 1, finish saw him skip Ricky Blackie, Dougie Birrell and David Snodgrass to a 16-12 win.
Chris Steven captured the two points that kept Pilrig top of the table, skipping Mike Wilson, George Tregoning and Ewan Craig to a 14-12 win over Graeme McIntosh.
Craigentinny have probably left it too late to press the leaders for the title, but last night's 7-2 home win over Hillside moves them into third place.
The victory was driven by wins for the rinks skipped by Andy Jeffrey, Willie McDonald, and Stuart Betts while Keith Gallacher provided what turned out to be no more than consolation for the visitors.
Jeffrey skipped Craig McCall Scott Duncan and Kevin Hunter to a spectacular 1, 1, 3, 1, 3, 7, 2 finish for a 27-10 success over Kevin Moncur while Alex Duncan, Tony McLaren, Darren Smith and McDonald added 1, 2, 1, 3, to beat Gary Muir 18-11.
Betts was much harder pressed to skip Ian Duncan, John Shields and David Brown to a 13-12 win over BJ Smith but Hillside's Jim Headspeath, Peter Brown, Kyle Newall and Gallacher were good 21-12 winners against Gary Nisbet.
Parkside had the chance to benefit from Pilrig's setback but the defending champions were shocked by a 7-2 away defeat from foot-of-the-table Leith.
"It shows just how competitive this league is but we are only two points off the pace so our campaign to retain the title is still very much alive and kicking," said a spokesman for Parkside.
Dean improved their prospects of escaping the drop with a superb 9-0 home win over a Queensberry team that got off to a tremendous start to the league but the promoted Division 2 champions are now in the relegation zone.
The full article contains 534 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
