Midlothian boost their hopes of beating the drop

It was their third victory in six games and puts them level with Bainfield, four points ahead of Ayr and Alloa.

Ace skips David Peacock and Graeme Archer returned to a line-up that was missing star figure Ronnie Duncan who is part of the Scotland outdoor team challenging for World Championship titles in New Zealand.

Peacock captained the team and produced a spectacular contribution, supported by a narrow win by his older brother Billy. Those victories combined to produce a shot margin of 28 that dwarfed the narrow losses suffered by Archer and Colin Walker.

Playing in the compact Ayr stadium was a first-time experience for most of the Midlothian team but after the first seven-end phase they were just 22-21 behind. They won the second 28-16 and firmly secured the third 31-19.

“We led most of the way but never reached a comfort zone and there was only 10 shots in it after 17 of the 21 ends played so this was a hard-earned victory that represents a good away performance,” reflected team manager Frank Gray.

David Peacock skipped Jamie Macnab, Craig Hodge, and Scott Briggs into an inspiring 16-2 lead after nine ends against Jim Cuthbertson then whipped up a whirlwind finish of 4, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1 to storm to a 32-8 victory.

Billy Peacock skipped Scott Runcian, David Salkeld, and John Stevenson into a 16-9 lead, then came under testing pressure at 16-16, but finished 1, 3 to beat Jim Seaton, 20-16. Archer and his rink of Andy Caldwell, Keith Stables and Sandy Knight were 12-7 up but a poor run-in cost them a 14-12 defeat from Stuart Wyllie.

Walker and his front-three of Jack Macnab, Ian Fleming and Lindsay Plenderleith looked set for a drubbing at 19-6 down to Colin Smith after 17 ends, however a run of 3, 2, 1, 4 to lose 19-16 was a vital contribution to the match result.