Parkside crush Pilrig in defence of Edinburgh Bowling League title

Parkside made a great start to their defence of the Alpha Trophies Edinburgh Bowling League Division 1 title by crushing Pilrig 9-0.

Wins on all four rinks skipped by Paul Veitch, Neil Watson, Kevin Boyd and Robert Donaldson augurs well for the campaign ahead but sounds an early warning bell for the challenge facing newly promoted Pilrig.

Parkside entered their opening fixture with some apprehension as stalwart figures Derek Smith, Danny Jackson, Bob Ramsay, Ian Fleming and Alex Hurry Jnr were all absent for one reason or another.

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“Given the circumstance and challenge of blending in a number of new faces the achievement of a clean-sweep in the opening fixture is a tremendous result for us. However, we were at home and there is a long way to go in what is a fiercely competitive battle ground,” said spokesman Robert Donaldson.

Donaldson himself had questions being asked of him at 9-1 down after six ends but delivered the answer in the shape of a 2, 3, 4, (1), 2, 2 fight back that thrust him into a 14-10 lead which inspired him to skip Danny McCourt, Dave Sherriffs and Davie Anderson to a 19-12 win over Mike Wilson.

Paul Veitch had no such problems and played a starring role in skipping Craig Bryce, Gareth Edwards and Willie Watson into a 17-5 lead then on to a 22-12 win over Darren McKenny.

Neil Watson stepped up to the plate from 5-6 to deliver counts of 3, 1, (2), 2, 3, (1), 4 to cross 18-9 and skip Steven Rennie, Davie Moran and Andy Hargan to a 1n 18-11 win over Graeme Gow.

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Kevin Boyd made telling space from 9-7 to 13-7 then stayed on top to skip John Bell, Euan Diven and Brian Salvona to a 16-10 win over Andrew Tregoning.

Record seven times champions Craigentinny surprisingly flopped last season so the traditionally slow starters will be relatively pleased with their opening 7-2 win at home to Hillside.

Questions will be asked however of Darren Smith, Davy Brown, Ian Paterson and Andy Caldwell who recovered strongly from 3-13 to 13-13 but then conceded a 4 and 3 as they collapsed to a 20-7 defeat from Phil Harper, Kyle Newall, John Simpson and Colin Bell.

Willie McDonald beat BJ Smith, 19-12; Andy Jeffrey beat Colin Hairs, 20-14, and Daniel Gormley beat Brian Irving, 21-16.

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Maitland secured the bonus point with a 55-52 aggregate over Northern to win 5-4 the rink scores being: Gary Stout 20, George Prentice 9; Graeme McIntosh 13, Jamie Reid 10; Brian Higgins 13, Ian Miller 17; Alan Trotter 9, Gordon Wilson Jnr 16.

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