Maitland maintain their lead in EBL title tussle
With three games to play, they hold a two-and-a-half-point lead over record seven-times winners Craigentinny.
Maitland (66½ points) and Craigentinny (64) returned from visits to Pilrig and Northern respectively with impressive 7-2 wins.
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Hide AdAlan Trotter emerged a hero for Maitland at Pilrig as, toiling at 15-6 down after ten ends to Darren McKenny, he went on a run of 2, 1, 1, to 10 then conceded a single before galloping to a 18-16 win by skipping George Trotter, Gary Clark and Jim Robertson to a 2, 5, 1 finish.
Graeme McIntosh and his front three of Andi Kellacher, Graham Duff and Mark McIntosh came close to their own great escape but his 1, 1, 1, 3, 1 dash to the finishing line just fell short in a 13-12 defeat from Andrew Tregonning.
Gary Stout skipped Brian Taylor, Stuart Clark and Andy McKay from 5-6 to a 21-11 win over Euan Craig while Falconer Mitchell, Steven Ritchie, Alan Sharp and Brian Higgins blazed a 16-6 trail and beat Darren McCardle 17-12.
Craigentinny did live dangerously at Northern with Iain Paterson trailing 18-9 before escaping with the help of mighty counts of 5 at ends 14 and 17 as he skipped Darren Smith, Malky Milne and Gary Nisbet to a 20-19 win over Jamie Reid.
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Hide AdAnd it took a 3,2 finish for Andy Caldwell to skip Josh Spalding, Liam Betts and Scott Rogers to a 20-15 win over James Barr.
Northern v Craigentinny other rink scores: Andy Reid 13, Daniel Gormley 27; Gordon Wilson Jnr 17, Andrew Jeffrey 13.
Defending champions Parkside crashed to a 7-2 defeat at fourth-placed Tanfield and, although in third spot, are now 11 points adrift of the leaders.
Tanfield v Parkside: Robert White 16, Paul Veitch 21; David Snodgrass 18, Neil Watson 16; Stuart Campbell 21, Robert Donaldson 8; Liam McKay 17, Kevin Boyd 12.
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Hide AdHillside’s 6-3 home win over Queensberry keeps them clear of the relegation zone with 51 points to the 42½ of Northern, 41½ of Queensberry and 21 of Pilrig.
Hillside v Queensberry: Dougie Robinson 15, Jordan Davidson 15; BJ Smith 19, John Kidd 10; Kevin Moncur 1,6 Brian Pollard 17; Colin Bell 17, Frank O’Reilly 12.