Quarter-finalists revealed in Moray curling knockout competition as east and west get ready to clash on ice
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The preliminary matches of the Province Open Knockout were contested this week in Moray Province East with the four winners progressing to quarter final ties against the four teams from the West of Moray Province.
Helen Downey was insistent that her game against Andy Cameron was much closer than the score suggested, but the numbers told a different story as stand-in skip Gavin Cameron and his rink of juniors achieved a shutout with a 12-0 win.
In the continued absence of Alan Durno, Mike Watt and co couldn’t quite handle namesake Charlie Watt. Despite losing the opening two ends to single shots, the Forres-based team rallied strongly to score two counts of three, a deuce and a single shot in their 9-5 victory.
Wilson Burnett and Andrew Allardyce contested a real ding-dong battle on keen ice with the former’s team always that little bit ahead. Trailing 6-2 in the last end, Allardyce’s fourth player Mike Kemp played the shot of the night, chipping out a Burnett counter to lie two, but it was too little, too late and handshakes were exchanged on a 6-4 Burnett win.
Alan Campbell’s rink carried their league form into the knockout format with a straightforward 9-2 win over Alan Douglas . A count of three against the hammer in the second end put Campbell in control with a 4-0 lead and with front end duo Rutzler and Best in fine fettle, their advantage was never really threatened as they ran out clear winners.
The four East v West quarter finals will take place at Moray Leisure Centre in mid-January.
Meanwhile in East League Division 4, Aberlour’s Jim Gault kept his 100 per cent record intact, but only by the skin of his teeth after a nail biting 10-9 squeak over Janice Rankin’s Moray Firth Ladies.
An opening end four got the Ladies off to a fast start. Trades of three shots in the next two ends and then two single scores for Rankin saw Gault well behind at 3-9 after the fifth end. A count of three and then a pick up of four against the hammer gave the Aberlour team the tightest of wins.
At the other end of the league table, Linda Hardie picked up her first points of the season in another hard-fought contest with the difference between the teams just a single Forres steal at end six.
Andrew Allardyce made amends for his previous night’s Open Knockout loss with a close win over Katie Gordon. The juniors could only count single shots at each of their three winning ends as the experienced Allardyce stole a single at the second end and counted two at the fourth for his 5-3 victory.
In Division 4, Buckie’s Jodi Best hit the table top with a one-sided win over previous leader Steve Field. Counts of three in end one and four in the fifth end were enough to put the boot into the Gateway Club’s team of league debutants.
Gwen Forgie’s juniors fairly dismantled the Buckie Walls, consecutive mid-match multiple counts sandwiched between Jim Walls’ opening end deuce and single shots in the last three ends giving the youngsters a very fine 9-5 win.
Results.
Moray Province Open Knockout
Preliminary Round East.
A. Cameron 12 H. Downey 0
C. Watt jnr 9 A. Durno 5
W. Burnett 6 A. Allardyce 4
A. Campbell 9 A. Douglas 2
Moray Province League East
Division 3
J. Gault ((Aberlour)10 J. Rankin (Moray Firth Ladies) 9
H. Downey (Elgin) 4 L. Hardie (Forres) 5
A. Allardyce (Elgin) 5 K. Gordon (Moray Juniors) 3
Division 4
G. Forgie (Moray Juniors) 9 J. Walls (Buckie) 5
J. Best (Buckie) 11 S. Field (Gateway Club) 1
