Bainfield made to pay for slow start against Falkirk

Bainfield gents were forced onto the back foot in the early stages of their away match against Falkirk in the indoor bowls Premier League A Division and were always struggling in a 83-63 defeat.

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The visitors from the Capital suffered defeat on the rinks skipped by Paul O’Donnell, James Hogg and Robert Marshall although two of the three were hard-fought battles.

The O’Donnell rink was the one that lost by a double-figure margin in a game that saw them produce a stronger third and final phase but too late to influence matters and sadly that was blighted by the last-end loss of five shots.

The only positive outcome for Bainfield was a single-shot victory posted by the rink skipped by Gavin Smith.

Bainfield – with ace skip Colin Hutchison an absentee – hoped for a strong start but sluggish openings from the O’Donnell and Hogg rinks saw joint-leaders Falkirk establish a significant 30-17 supremacy on the first seven-end phase.

The phase two outcome was little better for the Edinburgh elite with difficult times continuing for O’Donnell and now joined in that uncomfortable experience by the Marshall-skipped rink – resulting in a 31-19 domination by Falkirk.

Given the quality of the opposition, it will be encouraging for Bainfield that their team showed good fighting spirit by edging the third and final phase 27-22.

Smith and his rink of Euan Craig, Alan Brown and John McDermott looked set for a miserable outcome when trailing Gary Flynn 13-7 after ten ends but, galvanised by carding a super six on end 11, they went on to lead 19-16 and held on to edge a 21-20 nail-biter.

Marshall skipped Mark McIntosh, Danny McCourt and Daniel Gormley into a 6-0 lead over Jim McHutchison but suffered a dramatic collapse to 8-14 that included the hefty loss of a 5 and ended up nursing the wounds of a 17-14 defeat.

Hogg and his front three of Tam Ebbs, Brian Stoddart and Alex Hurry rallied from 8-2 down to 11-9 but conceding a 3 at the next set them on course for an 18-14 defeat from ex-East Lothian bowler Steven Glen.

O’Donnell, stepping up and into the shoes of Hutchison, was restricted to counting at just three of the first 12 ends by which time, in the company of Willie McIntosh, Chris Gilchrist and Craig Paterson, he was trailing Steven Allan 16-2.

Even darker clouds at 23-6 sparked a spirited response of 2, 4, 2 but that fightback was undone by the loss of a 5 in a 28-14 defeat.

Bainfield’s current record of three wins from six pitches them four points adrift of leaders Blantyre and Falkirk but four points ahead of relegation-zoned Ayr and Alloa.