Total wipeout for Lothians clubs at women's Scottish Fours

The Bainfield rink of Heather Stoddart. Kate McVey, Anna Anderson and Mandy O’Donnell opened with a 21-18 win over Coatbridge in the prelim round at East Lothian IBC but made a 20-18 exit to East Fife in the first round proper.

Balbardie also featured in a first round exit with their rink of Betty Johnston, Angie Uttley, Helen Wilson and Margo Duff just touched off, 16-14, in a tough battle against Falkirk.

West Lothian started brightly with their rink of Sandra Purdie, Irene Wright, Carole Clarkson and Margaret Russell beating Tweedbank 26-14 then West of Scotland 21-16. However,in the second round they crashed out 24-8 at the hands of East Fife.

Midlothian competed at Blantyre where the weekend was cut short for the rink of Sandra Muir, Norma Shillinglaw, Margaret Porter and Shona Johnstone by a 20-12 defeat from Stirling in the prelim round.

East Lothian were on fire for three rounds with Janet Fairnie skipping Dee Hoggan, Mags Thomson, and Yvonne Veitch to big wins over Cowal (30-12), Alloa (27-10) and Stirling by a whopping 30-3. Defeat in the section final by seven shots (20-13) from Abbeyview was an anti-climax. Headwell, Arbroath and Blantyre joined Abbeyview in the semi final line-up.

Meanwhile, East Lothian have yet to shake off the challenge from Midlothian in the race to finish top of the East B section of the Scottish Seniors League but they continued their fine form at home to West Lothian.

The leaders notched their seventh win from eight games with wins on the rinks skipped by Willie Wood MBE, Alistair Russell and Tommy Young propelling EL to a 73-45 victory – the only setback being a narrow defeat for Peter Laidlaw.

Midlothian edged a 63-57 win over Tweedbank at Galashiels to stay within two points of East Lothian but with one game in hand, albeit the leaders have a handsome shot margin plus of 64.

Bainfield suffered a single-shot defeat (54-53) at home to Balbardie. The Edinburgh team have won just two wins out of eight.