Author: Peter Barrett

Nine appeared to be the magic number on Friday night with the winners of all four games scoring 9 shots.

Craig Reid 3 – 9 Peter Barrett

The curse of the double subs hit second placed Craig this week as Peter and his rink all but secured safety from relegation. In the first end, with Craig laying 2, big Jim Young raised a plant for a double take out. This set Peter up for a steal of 2. The teams then swapped singles for the next four ends despite each having the chance of a bigger score. Further steals of 2 for Peter in the 6th and 9th ends sealed the win.

Jim Kirkwood 3 – 9 David Reid

David started the game with a triple and followed with two deuces and a single when with hammer. In contrast, Jim slowly built up his game with a single, a deuce and a triple. The one blip was giving up a steal of 1 to David in the sixth. With only two games remaining, Jim will finish in the relegation places.

Douglas Reid 9 – 5 Robert Wilson

Having lost a triple in the first end, Rabbie came back with a deuce before stealing a single and another deuce to lead 5-3 after four ends. Rabbie’s rinks heads then dropped as Dougie scored a 4 in the fifth, then stole singles in the next two ends. Rabbie remains firmly at the foot of the league and is also relegated.

David Mundell 9 – 4 Gavin Reid

With Simon Grant sitting in the bar watching (having arrived back from Dublin looking a little worse for wear), the wheels came off Gavin’s juggernaut in this game. In a close game it was tied at 4 each after five ends before David stretched his big legs to take 5 shots in the final three ends.

Round Up

With both the top two rinks losing, it sets up a really close finish to the season. Three rinks are now tied on 12 points and separated by only 8 shots. Hugh Reid is only two points back with a game in hand and with a better shots difference. Also on 10 points is Dougie Reid and these two play each other on Sunday night.

At the bottom, Rabbie Wilson and Jim Kirkwood are already relegated. Tom Reid must win his remaining three games by a big margin and hope other results go his way to avoid joining them.

In mid table, David Reid and James Whiteford have an outside chance of promotion while Peter Barrett is all but safe from relegation.

Jim Kirkwood 1 – 10 Gavin Reid

In the battle of the truckers, Gavin’s juggernaut came out to win by a mile. Missing his talisman Vice, Jim’s rink lacked the sweeping power that is the engine of Gavin’s rink. A single in the second end was the only score for Jim as Gavin stole ends four through eight.

Hugh Reid 9 – 2 Robert Wilson

A steal of 3 to Hugh in the fourth end gave him a 5-1 lead. Scoring a single in the fifth was Rabbie’s only further score before giving up further steals in the seventh and eighth. Rabbie remains at the foot of the league having lost all seven games.

James Whiteford 10 – 5 Peter Barrett

Despite stealing a 4 in the first end, Peter struggled to adjust to having his usual front end missing. Unable to keep Jimuk from scoring 2’s and 3’s, Peter conceded after losing the third consecutive steal in the seventh end.

Craig Reid 11 – 5 Tom Reid

Craig opened with a 5 in the first end and the rinks swapped 2’s and 3’s until Craig stole a single in the sixth to lead 11-4. In the seventh, facing 7, Tom tried unsuccessfully to draw through a tight port with his first shot. With Craig failing to fill the hole, Tom succeeded at the second attempt with the draw to keep the score respectable.

With all teams now having played six games, there is a three way tie at the top. At the bottom, a 4 point gap has opened between the bottom three and safety.

David Mundell 6 – 5 Robert Wilson

David took the advantage early on in this game with a steal of 3 in the third to lead 4-1. Rabbie scored a deuce and stole a single to level the scores after 5 ends. Blanking the sixth, David scored a single and stole another, then restricted Rabbie to a single in the ninth.

Douglas Reid 6 – 10 David Reid

Having swapped singles in the first two ends, David took control of this game with a 4 in the third end. Keeping Dougie to a single in the fourth, David then scored a deuce and then stole another to lead 9-6 after six. Dougie pulled a 4 of his own out of the bag in the seventh but it was too late and David finished with a single on the eighth.

Tom Reid 4 – 8 Gavin Reid

Tom failed to build on the good foundations he had produced in the first three ends. Gavin took control with a triple in the fourth and followed this with three single steals to lead 7-3 after seven ends. Having swapped singles in the eighth and ninth ends, Gavin’s win sees his team top the league on shots.

Jim Kirkwood 9 – 10 Peter Barrett

Drawing for a 4 in the first, Peter left Jim drawing against 5 in the second. Having wrecked on the guards Jim was 9-0 down after two ends. With Peter lying three in the third (see main picture), Jim salvaged the end with a hit and roll to the button.  Stealing singles in the next three ends, Jim was building a bigger head in the seventh. A poor shot choice by Peter with his first stone, left him drawing against 4 and playing tight. Another steal for Jim in the eighth completed the comeback and tied the game at 9-9. Already lying two, Jim’s final draw was heavy, leaving Peter to draw the shot for the game with the last stone.

The midway point of the league saw a change at the top with, Craig Reid taking a 2 point advantage. The next four teams are all on 8 points, with Gavin having a game in hand.

Douglas Reid 2 – 10 Craig Reid

Having reached the semi-finals of the Scottish Seniors, Dougie returned early to suffer his second league defeat this week.

Craig took the game by the horns with a deuce in the second and a triple in the fourth. Following up with steals in the fifth, sixth and seventh prompted Dougie to call an early end to the game.

Tom Reid 5 – 11 Peter Barrett

This game was decided by the relative performance of the two front ends. With Tom’s rink struggling to find their weight, Peter’s rink were setting up the ends nicely. Tom got to play his first draw of the night in the fifth, while Peter was able to draw every shot.

Opening with a deuce Peter then stole a 2. In the third, Tom hit and rolled in for a single, before Peter drew for another 3 in the fourth. Laying shot Tom could only try a draw for two in the fifth, but the stone hung wide. Peter drew for another 4 in the sixth before Tom played raised takeout for 2. Tom conceded after stealing a single in the eighth.

David Mundell 3 – 11 Hugh Reid

Hugh took full advantage of David being absent, with Billy Smith playing as skip. Hugh opened with a deuce then stole another 2 before Billy scored a single.

Hugh then repeated the score 2, steal 2 pattern before Billy got a deuce himself. When Hugh scored a 3 in the seventh, Billy shook hands and adjourned to the bar.

David Reid 3 – 8 Gavin Reid

Going up against Gavin’s rink with two substitutes, David had his work cut out from the start. The first four ends went Gavin’s way, opening up a 4 shot lead, before David scored a deuce in the fifth.

After swapping singles in the next two ends, Gavin scored a 3 in the eighth to round out the game.

James Whiteford 9 – 3 Robert Wilson

Rabbie’s wait for a win continues as Jimuk edges closer to safety from relegation. After swapping singles, Jimuk stole singles in the third and fourth ends before Rabbie got another in the fifth.

The game changer came in the sixth as Jimuk took a 5 to lead by 6. The game then fizzled out, swapping singles again in the last two ends.

Eight rinks battled through the first real bad weather of the winter for Tuesday’s games. Each of the rinks played their nearest rivals in the league.

Tom Reid 7 – 4 Robert Wilson

In this battle of the bottom two, Tom took full advantage with the hammer in the first and third ends. A steal in the fourth gave Tom a 6-1 lead at the half way mark. In the second half, Rabbie was unable to claw back the deficit and now sits alone at the bottom.

Craig Reid 8 – 6 Hugh Reid

Like the game next door, these two started the night tied on points in fourth and fifth place. As with a lot of games this season, Craig again demonstrated his ability to outscore his opponent with hammer. Hugh was restricted to only one end where he scored more than a single and, needing a 3 in the ninth for the peel, was unable to score more than a single. The win moves Craig on to 8 points.

Jim Kirkwood 6 – 9 James Whiteford

This was again a game between two teams tied on points at the start of the evening. Opening with a single, Jim then failed to prevent Jimuk from taking a 4 at the second. Pulling the game back to 4 each after four, Jim again allowed Jimuk to take another 4 in the fifth. Jim could only take a single in the sixth and a steal of 1 in the seventh, before Jimuk closed out the game.

Douglas Reid 5 – 7 David Mundell

While the bottom two battled on sheet A, the top two teams met on sheet D. David started the better, opening a 4 shot lead before Dougie halved the deficit in the fourth. In the second half the teams cancelled each other out, both scoring a single and a deuce. Despite losing his first game of the league, Dougie remains ahead of David by 3 shots, both having 8 points.

With all but the bottom two teams having played four games, the league is starting to take shape. Despite not playing this round of matches, Dougie Reid’s rink still sits 2 points clear of the chasing pack of four rinks on 6 points. At the bottom, three rinks have 2 points from four games and two rinks have 0 points from three games.

Jim Kirkwood 5 – 7 Craig Reid

Having been a close contest throughout, this game came down to a battle of the eighth.

Blanking the the sixth, Craig was forced to take the single in the seventh to tie the game at 5-5. In the eighth, it was a case of who could play the best hit and roll would win the game. Both Robert Whiteford and Craig Kirkwood had good attempts at the in turn, but each left enough of their stone open and vulnerable.

Craig Reid’s first stone removed the shot but rolled too far across the house.  Although it was a tighter port through which Jim had to play on the out turn, he also removed the shot but lay in the open. Having seen the way through, Craig removed Jim’s stone and rolled a quarter covered behind the guards to lay 2. A tap back would win the game for Jim, but second attempt over curled and wrecked on the guards.

James Whiteford 4 – 10 Gavin Reid

With his rink restored to full strength, Gavin returned to winning ways against James who was missing his third. Stealing a 2 in the fourth gave Gavin a comfortable 5-1 lead which James was unable to claw back.

David Mundell 8 – 4 Peter Barrett

After a tight first four ends, this game changed when David scored a 3 in the fifth. With Peter then chasing the game, David stole the next two ends to lead 8-2 after seven. The eighth end was not looking very healthy for Peter at one point, with David laying 2. But as a port opened up Peter managed to draw two shots to keep the score respectable.

Hugh Reid 8 – 5 David Reid

Hugh did a good job of restricting David to singles, while taking two’s and a three when with hammer. A steal of 1 in the seventh left David with too much to to do in the eighth, where he scored his only deuce of the game.