Forres Bowling Club stalwart reaches national semi-finals
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Forres bowler John Matthews is through to the Bowls Scotland District 2 gents' over-55 singles semi-finals after defeating Hopeman's Finlay McPherson at The Elgin Club.
Matthews had a solid start to the game, and led 11-2 after eight ends, only for McPherson to score two maximums in three ends to edge 13-12 ahead.
Back came the Forres man to lead 19-14 but the next four shots went the way of McPherson to set up a tense finish where two shots at the 21st end secured Matthews a 21-18 victory.
He now plays St Andrew's and Urquhart at Portsoy for a place in the final.
The men's championship saw a thrilling tie between 1997 and 2006 champion Sandy Burgess and newcomer Skibo McKenzie.
The less-experienced bowler made the best start with McKenzie racing 9-0 ahead after three ends, helped by a maximum four.
Burgess used his experience to chip away at the deficit and pull things back to 11-10 down, with McKenzie then taking the next four shots. Back came Burgess and at 15-14 down he was lying a couple of shots at the 17th end when McKenzie played his final bowl under pressure. Had he trailed the jack to the left he would have gained another maximum, however the jack went right to leave Burgess still holding one shot.
Burgess then appeared to be in control at 18-15 up, two ends later, before McKenzie pulled two shots back.
In the 21st end, Burgess had the pressure of the last bowl with McKenzie lying three shots when the former champ trailed the jack for go 19-17 in front.
To his credit, McKenzie kept his chin up and was rewarded a couple of ends later with a three to progress 21-19. He will play fellow newcomer, Robbie Fraser in the second round.
Derek Sobey started the defence of his trophy badly, trailing newcomer Robert McRitchie 6-0 after four ends. Sobey was still playing catch-up until hitting a treble at the 13th end to level the score at 12-12.
A brace at the next put McRitchie ahead again, but Sobey finished the tie by winning half-a-dozen ends on the spin. He faces a tough second round game against either Paul Rogan or Harry Sutherland.
The 2021 champion, Dean Dobbs, is safely through to the second round of this year's competition. After an initial setback, Dobbs hit three maximums in the first seven ends in a comfortable victory over Brian Caldwell. He will play beginner, Adam Nicolson in the second round.
There was an exciting ladies' championship tie played between Marjory McCarthy and Morag Ritchie.
Ritchie won the first four ends, then dashed into a 12-5 lead after McCarthy threatened to pull level.
A maximum at the 19th end helped McCarthy edge 16-14 ahead and the contest ebbed and flowed as the players were tied at 20-20 after 25 ends. Ritchie grabbed the winning shot, and will play Carol McRitchie or 2016 champion, Sheena Murdoch in the quarter-finals.
Brian Riddell staged a great comeback performance to knock John Ross out of the President's Handicap.
Ross won the initial handful of ends before Caldwell squared things at 7-7 four ends later. When Ross hit a maximum at the 14th end to go 15-7 up things looked bleak for Caldwell. However he won seven of the next eight ends to level things again at 16-16.
Once again Ross pushed ahead, and led 22-17 as he strived to reach his target of 24. Caldwell won the next two ends to reach his target of 21 first. He will play Sandy Burgess or Brian Caldwell in the second round.
Henry Davidson stormed clear of Charlie Watt in their handicap tie. With ten ends played, Davidson led 16-3. Watt wasn't for giving up though, and won all but one of the following seven ends (13-17). Both players were now winning ends, but Davidson reached the joint target of 20 first. He now has the difficult task of attempting to defeat the teenager, Alana Coutts in the second round.
Mary Sobey will play Harry Sutherland in the second round of the President's Handicap after winning fairly comfortably against Alex Porter.
Sobey was given a jolt when she lost a maximum at the second end. This spurred her on to win six of the next seven ends, and take a 13-5 advantage. Porter started to fight back, getting the score back to 11-14 before his opponent pressed on again. Requiring just a single shot for victory, Sobey lost another maximum. This proved to be just a minor blip though, she won 21-16.
Sutherland and John Matthews had reasonably straightforward wins over Skibo McKenzie and Peggy Locke respectively. McKenzie did take Sutherland to 21 ends, and Matthews will now face Roy Anderson or Gary Mackie.
A maximum at the seventh end earned Derek Crosby a 9-4 lead over Marjory McCarthy, who replied to win a few ends, but Crosby held his nerve to progress to a second round tie against Robert McRitchie.
The experience of Paul Rogan told against beginner, Robbie Fraser. Rogan got a maximum at the first end, and, although Fraser managed to keep the counts down, went on to win comfortably and now meets Carol McRitchie or Charley Dustan.
Charlie Watt and Paul Coutts are into the semi-finals of the Men's Pairs. They won five of their initial seven ends to go 9-2 up against Brian Riddell and Stuart Robertson. With four ends remaining, the score stood at 10-7. At this stage, the tie could have gone either way. Coutts twice saved ends whilst down and a five at the 14th end settled the contest.
In a fantastic comeback performance, Mary Sobey ended Henry Davidson's hopes in the John Raffan.
Davidson led 7-2 after a handful of ends, but Sobey fought back and led 12-10 after a dozen ends had been played. A maximum for Davidson at the next end set him off on a four-end winning run and get within a single shot of victory. Amazingly, Sobey then won five ends in a row, and finished Davidson off with a maximum of her own to book a match against Brian Caldwell for a place in the quarter-finals.
Charley Dustan got off to a great start in her tie against Carol McRitchie, going 5-0 up after two ends. The score was tied at 8-8 with eight ends played. McRitchie then pushed on to earn a comfortable victory. She will play Derek Crosby in the second round.
Crosby took control of his tie early on against Morag Ritchie, who was winning some ends, but when Crosby won them he was getting threes.
Lesley Mackintosh is into the quarter-finals after defeating Hazel Caldwell in their second round tie, having led for most of this game. She will play Ed Harris or Peggy Locke next.
The Moray Ladies League got off to a great start with Forres winning both legs of their tie against Cooper Park.
Peggy Locke, Alana Coutts and Lesley Coutts travelled through to Elgin and won their first nine ends to go 13-0 up on Vivien Welsh's triple. Although Coutts' team dropped a couple of ends thereafter, they finished with a fantastic 17-3 victory.
Mary Williamson, Sheena Murdoch and Mary Sobey had to come from behind to beat Audrey Milne's triple in the home leg. Trailing 5-0 after the initial three ends, they eventually got going. A five at the seventh end put Forres in front for the first time (9-6). With three ends to play, the score was tied at 11-11. Forres got over the line at 14-11.
A fantastic turnout of 40 members took part in the latest round of the Scott Cup. Gary Mackie is just one point off of the summit of the table after skipping his rink to overall victory on the night. Mackie remains unbeaten over the four rounds of the competition which he has played.
Mackie's team, which included Robbie Fraser, Ed Harris and Charlie Watt, scored a seven at their second end against Sandy Burgess. The game was really over after seven ends, but Burgess started to pick up some shots from then on.
John Matthews is joint leader of the overall competition. He won all but two of his initial ten ends against Brian Riddell, who started a comeback, but a four for Matthews at the 14th killed him off.
John Ross turned the tables on Paul Coutts, who led 8-4 after half a dozen ends. Ross only lost one of the remaining ten.
Paul Rogan led Stuart Robertson 8-2 after seven ends, but three ends later the score was tied at 8-8 before Rogan won four of the next five ends to seal the victory.
Alex Porter was just starting to pull away from Dean Dobbs until Dean scored a five at the ninth end to go 10-9 up. Another three shots at the following end left Porter playing catch-up.
Malcolm Swinswood claimed a single-shot victory over Derek Sobey in his final outing before heading for Shetland. Swinswood led 10-4 after ten ends. Four ends later Sobey had taken the lead. All square going into the last, Swinswood got that all important shot.
Scores: G Mackie 23, A Burgess 6; J Matthews 18, B Riddell 9; J Ross 15, P Coutts 10; P Rogan 14, S Robertson 10; D Dobbs 16, A Porter 15; M Swinswood 12, D Sobey 11.
In Alana Coutts' absence, there was some strange arithmetic on the Wednesday afternoon hat scorecards.
Once they had been corrected, with a few skips missing out on decent grades, Ann MacPherson, Mary Grier and Robert McRitchie emerged as the victors. They kept on the move but were held in their final set.
Skibo McKenzie recovered from losing his initial set to win all the others.
After a first set trouncing, Ed Harris managed to have success throughout.
Despite a great start, Brian Caldwell's middle two sets let him down,
Ian Stewart should have quit whilst well ahead after his first set.
Peggy Locke managed to be second best in all four of her sets, but came close in both second half ones.
Scores: R McRitchie 14 up; A McKenzie 12 up; E Harris 5 up; B Caldwell 7 down; I Stewart 9 down; P Locke 15 down.
It is extremely rare for a team to lose two sets, but still be the overall winners of a Thursday Moving Hat-Night. Mary Williamson, Derek Crosby and Derek Sobey did just that! The reason? Scoring a seven on their way to a 15-0 first set victory might have had something to do with it.
Brian Caldwell hit a six at the penultimate end, however losing the middle two sets cost him.
Alex Porter had a mixed evening. Despite scoring a five, he lost his third set.
Mary Sobey trailed 8-2 after seven ends. She turned things around, with a three at the last ensuring she had a positive scorecard.
Despite earning a five at the fourth end, little separated Dean Dobbs from his opposition throughout.
Hazel Caldwell won the majority of the ends she played, but was just pipped at the post.
Losing 10-1 after five ends, Brian Riddell did well to get back on level terms a handful of ends later. He let things slip slightly thereafter.
John Ross played some wonderful shots, but losing nine shots in two ends towards the death killed his card.
Harry Sutherland had a disappointing finish to the evening, losing eight shots in three ends.
A horrendous initial set left Stuart Robertson with a mountain to climb.
Scores: D Sobey 17 up; B Caldwell 7 up; A Porter 5 up; M Sobey 4 up; D Dobbs peels; H Caldwell 1 down; B Riddell 4 down; J Ross 6 down; H Sutherland 9 down; S Robertson 13 down.
Forres earned a home victory over Moray 2 in the over-55s league.
Peggy Locke was playing particularly well as she assisted Marjory McCarthy to win. They scored a couple of fours in their 18-13 victory.
Although they lost a six, Derek Crosby was also on form to help Derek Sobey to a 12-9 win over Steve Blackhall.
Ed Harris and Elma McInnes lost eight ends in a row as they went down 16-6 in their game.
