Bowls: Shock defeat ends Midlothian title hopes

Midlothian gents saw their dreams of indoor bowls Premier League glory crushed by a 15-shot defeat by relegation-zoned visitors Lanarkshire.
David Peacock won his match for Midlothian but it proved in vainDavid Peacock won his match for Midlothian but it proved in vain
David Peacock won his match for Midlothian but it proved in vain

The penultimate fixture in the ten-match programme saw the Dalkeith Stadium outfit suffer their first defeat on home carpet in Division A.

The pain of their shock 97-82 setback was magnified by news that joint leaders Blantyre had scored an away win over defending champions Paisley.

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Blantyre entered their game with a massive shot-margin plus of 167 so the sequence of results mean that Midlothian can now do no better than finish second and will miss out on a place in the final.

Lanarkshire arrived at Dalkeith fighting to retain their Premier League status but things were looking good for Midlothian early on as a whirlwind start saw them lead 15-0.

But defeat for the rinks skipped by Sandy Knight, Colin Macfarlane and Billy Peacock came as a great disappointment with Commonweath Games hero David Peacock the only home skip to make a winning impression.

Midlothian peaked at 17 shots up (26-9) after four ends but the value of that exciting start had been greatly reduced to eight with a first phase seven-end score of 34-26.

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The Lanarkshire fightback continued with the visitors dictating the second-phase pace to win it 33-27 but leaving Midlothian still showing ahead by a short neck so it was a shock when the title contenders bombed 21-38 when the going became tough.

Billy Peacock saw his impressive eight-wins-in-a-row record ended by a 23-14 defeat from Robert Grant despite making a great start to lead 8-0 but suffering a collapse from 12-12.

Other scores: D Peacock 22, J Simpson 17; C Macfarlane 25, R Gordon 34; S Knight 21, S Hume 23.