Top two divisions get under way in Moray Province Curling new season at Moray Leisure Centre
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
The top two Divisions in Moray Province East kicked off this week with a loss for defending Division 1 champions Andy Cameron’s Aberlour rink.
Cameron's team went down in straight sets to Elgin Tennis Club. In the absence of skip Andy, son Gavin was in command but the Speysiders could only count three single shots as the tennis lads started strongly with a count of three in the opening end to ease away to a 7-3 win.
Alan Campbell eventually overcame stand-in skip Greg Stephen in the Buckie versus Forres clash with a neat-looking scorecard which showed five counts of two.
It was six apiece after six ends and 8-6 for Campbell as they went into the final end with Forres holding the hammer. A clutch of short stones gave skip Campbell the chance to play a perfect, in-turn draw round the cover to lie shot, leaving Stephen nothing but a Hail Mary.
The Forres skip nearly pulled off an angled wick off his own outside stone but just slid across the top of his opponent’s counter to lose a wonderful match 10-6.
Serial divisional promotion man Charlie Watt jnr was always ahead against Wilson Burnett’s Fochabers’ rink. A well-thought-out last-stone double takeout and lie in the third end gave the Forres team a count of five and another count of three in the sixth end put the polish on an 11-5 victory.
It was sweet sixteen for Sunninghill as Angus Gunn skipped the Donald Ross rink to a big win over Bob Stewart’s Elgin team. Stewart was another skip absentee and a loss of six in the fifth end and three counts of three against, made up the bulk of his Elgin team’s 16-5 defeat.
It was good to see Abby Duncan back on the ice after missing all of last season and the vastly-experienced Fochabers curler ensured his team picked up counts at six of the eight ends played as the village rink opened their league campaign with a 7-2 win over Darnaway’s Alan Douglas.
Results:
Moray East Province League
Division 1
D. McPherson (Elgin Tennis Club) 7 A. Cameron (Aberlour) 3
A. Campbell (Buckie) 10 M. McDonald (Forres) 6
C. Watt jnr (Forres) 11 W. Burnett (Fochabers) 5
Division 2
D. Ross (Sunninghill) 16 R. Stewart (Elgin) 5
A. Duncan (Fochabers) 7 A. Douglas (Darnaway) 2
