Leaders tied at top of Moray curling leagues
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As we approach the sharp end of the season it could not be any tighter at the top of Divisions 3 and 4 in the Moray Province East Curling League.
Owen Watson’s Moray Juniors and Alan Douglas’s Darnaway teams are locked at ten points each with one game left to play.
The fixture list has set up a winner-takes-all match next week as the two clash to decide who will be champion of Division 3.
While Watson was winning fairly easily against Linda Hardie, Douglas was involved in a real nail-biter with Helen Downey.
Seemingly safe with a 7-2 lead after five ends, the Darnaway rink lost a single and then a steal of four to enter the last end peeled at 7-7. With last stone advantage,Douglas’s nerve held to pick up the single he needed for the win and keep him level on points with the high flying juniors.
It is a similar state of affairs in Division 4 with Katie Gordon and Janice Rankin also tied on ten points apiece.
Rankin’s surprise loss to newcomer Jim Walls still leaves her tied at the top but with one game in hand over the completed campaign of Gordon’s Juniors.
Katie and co. led Jodie Best 5-1 after three ends and a steal of five in the last end gave the juniors a very comfortable 11-3 win.
In the West, Ardclach’s Ali Fraser, fresh from a superb weekend in Forfar where he reached the final of the Scottish Rinks Championship is in pole position atop Division 1 after a comprehensive victory over Mark Fraser.
The Ardclach team have a 100 per cent record and are four points ahead of the second placed teams with a game in hand.
That second place is held by Nairn’s Ali Asher who easily defeated clubmate Jamie Cattell. Counts of five in the third and seventh end gave the pieman a convincing 15-2 win.
Ardclach’s Ruaridh Greenwood is tied with Asher in second place after a good 11-3 win and the two teams meet each other in the season’s final round of fixtures.
Larry Kerr’s 100 per cent record virtually assures him of becoming Division 2 champion and a regulation 9-2 win over Ian Thomson just about rubber-stamped his credentials .
Fiona Steel’s Nairn Ladies registered their first points of the season with a tight 9-8 win over Mike McInnes.
The ladies seemed to be on easy street with a 7-3 lead after four ends but McInnes had other ideas and a big count of five in the fifth end nudged the Nairn gentlemen into a one-shot lead.
Steel, however, lived up to her name in more senses than one as she held firm to take a single and then stole another to sneak home in the narrowest of finishes.
Results
Moray Province League East
Division 3
H. Downey (Elgin) 7 A. Douglas (Darnaway) 8
L. Hardie (Forres) 2 O. Watson (Moray Juniors) 11
Division 4
J. Rankin (Moray Firth Ladies) 3 J. Walls (Buckie) 6
J. Best (Buckie) 3 K. Gordon (Moray Juniors) 11
Moray Province League West
Division 1
A. Fraser(Ardclach)11 M. Fraser (Dalcross) 3
A. Asher (Nairn)15 J. Cattell (Nairn) 2
R. Greenwood (Ardclach) 11 A. Forbes (Nairn) 3
Division 2
I. Thomson (Dalcross) 2 L. Kerr (Nairn) 9
F. Steel (Nairn Ladies) 9 M. McInnes (Nairn) 8
