Midlothian head to the champions with tails up

East Lothian's Dee Hoggan won bronze at the World Champion of Champions event at St Johns Park in Australia. Photo by East Lothian Camera Shop

Having dropped three out of four points on two away trips this season, Blantyre will be bidding to put the brakes on Midlothian’s  hat-trick of wins.

The visitors have four big gun skips in the shape of Graeme Archer, Colin Walker, Ronnie Duncan, and Billy Peacock that can inspire under pressure. Daniel McDougall returns in place of Scott Briggs.

Midlothian:

Rink 1: Jamie Macnab, Liam McKay, Kevin McDougall, Billy Peacock (skip).

Rink 2: Jack Macnab, AJ Knight, Jim Cullen, Ronnie Duncan (skip).

Rink 3: Ian Forbes, John Stevenson, Dougie Russell, Colin Walker (skip).

Rink 4: Craig Hodge, Andy Caldwell, Daniel McDougall, Graeme Archer.

Bainfield sit two points adrift of the leaders in second place and one ahead of Blantyre and today’s hosts East Lothian.

Manager Paul O’Donnell covers the absence of Craig Mackintosh with the recall of Graham Angus.

Bainfield:

Rink 1: Mark McIntosh, John Kidd, Danny Gormley, Robert Marshall (skip).

Rink 2: Robert Sloan, Tam Ebbs, Craig Paterson, Paul O’donnell.

Rink 3: Stephen Pringle, Graeme McIntosh, Alan Brown, John McDermott.

Rink 4: Graham Angus, David McNair, Steven Pilley, James Hogg.

East Lothian have yet to settle into a high tempo rhythm and bid to do so without the services of iconic figure Alex Marshall while other absentees are Calum Darling and Ewan Fallen.

A reconfigured line-up welcomes back Scott Kennedy, Mark Johnston, and Mark Yuill.

East Lothian:

Rink 1: Aaron Betts, Alex Cormack, Jamie Higgins, Scott Kennedy (skip).

Rink 2: Andy Jeffrey, Lewis Betts, Stuart Thomson, Joe Mower (skip).

Rink 3: Mark Johnston, David Sked, Dean Riva, Billy Mellors (skip).

Rink 4: Mark Yuill, Chris Brock, Steven Morgan, Derek Oliver.

West Lothian’s return to PL action today is a visit to Lanarkshire in the A Division and, having got off the mark at the third time of asking up at Aberdeen, the players are suitably fired up and inspired to build a winning momentum.

Lanarkshire will certainly be no pushover at home but not invincible as they have already lost to West of Scotland so could be vulnerable if pressured by a strong West Lothian team performance.

West Lothain selectors Neil Speirs and Bryan Cooper make three changes in personnel with the recall of Mark Allison and seasonal debuts being made by Darren Pearce and Alan McCormick.

The absentees are Des Hagart, George Sneddon, and Nathan McKendrick.

West Lothian:

Rink 1: Bryan Cooper, Ian Drysdale (cpt) Mark Allison, Neil Speirs (skip).

Rink 2: Darren Pearce, Raymond Logan, Cameron Greer, Calum Logan (skip).

Rink 3: Connor McKendrick, Dougie Mitchell, Jamie Aitken, Craig Moss (skip).

Rink 4: Richard Mark, Alan McCormick, Gary Orr, James Speirs.

n Women’s National Singles champion Dee Hoggan has done East Lothian proud, returning from the World Champion of Champions event at St Johns Park in Australia with a bronze medal.

Dee’s impressive record of nine wins from 12 games included a 2-0 section triumph over eventual Champion of Champions Jo Edwards of New Zealand.

n The SIBA Ladies selections for the Under-25 trial at Headwell (10-30am) on Sunday, November 25 include Megan Kivlin and Melissa Penman of East Lothian; Ellie Borthwick and Megan Grantham of Midlothian; also Chloe Thomson of Bainfield. Meanwhile, the gents selections includes Liam McKay and Jack Macnab of Midlothian; Joe Mower, Danny Stevenson, Dean Riva, Lewis and Aaron Betts of East Lothian.