Alana Coutts does Forres Bowling Club proud in national youth finals while town clubs clash in Millenium Trophy derby

Forres Bowling Club's Alana Coutts did well in the National Youth Finals at Ayr. She earned victories on Friday over Abronhill and Gifford before inflicting a 19-10 defeat on Aaron Miller from Inverkeithing. Aaron won the competition, winning every other game he played. Alana finished fourth in her seven-team group.

Forres narrowly defeated neighbours Grant Park in the Millennium Trophy at Grant Park.

John Matthews led the team in the singles, but faced a tough challenge from Neil Mathers. With nine ends played, Neil led 8-6. John then hit a purple patch, winning a handful of ends to earn a strong 17-8 advantage. Neil fought back, and won four of the next five ends to get to within two shots of John at 16-18. John finished the game with a brace at the twenty-first end to win 21-16.

Sandy Burgess and John Ross were caught cold in the pairs by Alan Paull and Bill Neil. The hosts led 6-1 after four ends. Sandy and John gradually got going, and stormed clear with a seven at the sixth end. At the halfway stage they were 15-6 to the good. Alan and Bill won a couple of ends before Sandy and John won four ends from five to gain a healthy 23-11 lead going into the final end where they lost a three.

Charlie Watt, Brian Caldwell and Paul Coutts were playing catch-up after losing a handful to Bob Cutts, Terry Crane and George Fairclough at the second end. George's side went on to lead 16-4 before Paul's side started playing. It was 19-6 with three ends to play. Forres won all three to narrow the deficit to 19-11.

Forres started the rinks fairly well. Skibo McKenzie, Harry Sutherland, Brian Riddell and Stuart led Abby Fairclough, Lesley Cutts, Finlay Mathers and Ian Johnston 8-4 with half of the ends played. However Ian's side won five of the next six ends as they went 14-10 in front. Forres fell just short despite winning the last pair of ends.

The Men's Championship final will be between Gary Mackie and John Ross. Gary caught Dean Dobbs cold in their semi-final, scoring seven shots over the first pair of ends. Dean fought back from that initial heavy setback, and won eight of the next dozen ends to trail by just a single shot at 11-12. This shook Gary into action. He won a handful of ends to earn a strong 19-11 advantage. Although Dean started another comeback, Gary sealed the victory in 23 ends.

The 2014 Champion, John had a more straightforward semi-final victory over Derek Crosby. John won all-but-one of the initial six ends to lead 13-1. Derek was successful over the next three ends, but John was soon back on form. The tie was finished in thirteen ends.

Eleven years after he last won the competition for the second time, Harry Sutherland will compete in the final of the President's Handicap. He had to come from behind against one of the surprise successes of the season, Ed Harris. Ed scored a maximum at the fifth end on his way to taking an 11-6 advantage in nine ends. Harry won the following four ends to go 12-11 in front. From then on, Harry was just a step ahead, however after 21 ends, both players required just a single shot to reach their target. Harry has the formidable task of trying to beat either Paul Rogan or Dean Dobbs in the final.

John Matthews' attempt to go one better than his runner-up spot in last year's W D MacPherson competition is still alive after a comprehensive victory over Roy Anderson. Brian Riddell or the holder, Derek Sobey, will provide his opposition in the final.

Mary Sobey and Paul Coutts have both reached their second pairs final of the season after securing a victory in the semi-finals of the Porter Cup over Marjory McCarthy and Henry Davidson. Mary and Paul won six of the opening seven ends, and the game was over as a contest when they hit a four a couple of ends later.

Man on a mission in his first season back at the club, Paul Rogan steamrollered Brian Caldwell to reach the final of the John Raffan. He will play either Roy Anderson or Ed Harris for the trophy.

In the Scott Cup, a fantastic final seven ends whilst 8-6 down saw Paul Coutts close the gap held over him by Charlie Watt to just two points, just as Charlie had thought that he'd collect another five points. Paul was joined by Ray Boyd, just back from injury, and Ed Harris. They scored 16 shots over those seven ends without reply.

After they had gone nap twice during the game, Gary Mackie (and Charlie) was left to rue losing a three to Hazel Caldwell at the final end.

Brian Riddell also scored a handful twice as he defeated Harry Sutherland comfortably.

Dean Dobbs recovered from a bad start to win eleven of his 16 ends against Alex Porter.

John Matthews led John Ross from the off, but, as usual, his game was a low-scoring one.

A four at the 12th end finally put some daylight between Stuart Robertson and Brian Caldwell. It proved to be the difference between the two sides.

Scores: P Coutts 22, D Sobey 8; G Mackie 24, H Caldwell 11; B Riddell 23, H Sutherland 11; D Dobbs 18, A Porter 12; J Matthews 15, J Ross 9; S Robertson 19, B Caldwell 15.

Save for a toss of the coin, Ann MacPherson and Robert McRitchie were unbeaten as they won the Wednesday afternoon hat.

Skibo McKenzie was also unbeaten, but he drew two of his four sets.

Larry Gill put in a guest appearance, and led 15-6 with half a dozen ends to play. He only won one of those ends.

Ed Harris had a decent third set and might've finished on level terms, but he slipped cup at the last end.

13-3 down after the initial half dozen ends, Peggy Locke did well to more than match her opponents thereafter.

Charlie Watt finally got to grips with Rink 2 in the final set. He had spent the whole afternoon there.

Scores: R McRitchie 12 up; A McKenzie 4 up; L Gill 2 up; E Harris 2 down; P Locke 6 down; C Watt 10 down.

Mary Sobey and Sandy Burgess romped to victory at Thursday's Moving Hat. They twice hit seven as the won every set, losing just four ends all night.

Skibo McKenzie was putting on an impressive show, keeping on the move until he drew his final set.

Although he kept on the move, Brian Riddell drew both second half sets.

Dean Dobbs had a stormer of a victory in the first set. His second half wasn't so good.

There were only twenty shots scored over Harry Sutherland's sixteen ends. He finished on level terms.

7-0 down after the opening pair of ends, John Ross managed to turn his game around to lead 11-8 at the halfway stage. He let things slip towards the end of the evening.

Charlie Watt won the majority of the ends that he played. Unfortunately he lost a seven early on and he spent the whole evening on Rink 1.

Alex Porter won half of the sixteen ends and two sets. Somehow he was still heavily beaten, as losing a seven didn't help.

Derek Sobey finally managed to master Rink 6 in his last set.

Winning the toss after the third set was the highlight of Robert McRitchie's night.

Scores: A Burgess 26 up; A McKenzie 16 up; B Riddell 10 up; D Dobbs 5 up; H Sutherland peels; J Ross 4 down; C Watt 10 down; A Porter 14 down; D Sobey 14 down; R McRitchie.15 down.

Forres were beaten 4-2 on their away trip to Buckie in the Over-55s League.

After a tight match, Skibo McKenzie and Brian Caldwell went nap at the final end of their game with Ian Murray to earn a 13-8 victory.

Marjory McCarthy and Roy Anderson won their final four ends after trailing 16-4. They finished with a more respectable five shot defeat.

Mary and Derek Sobey lost a handful at the ninth end and never recovered. They went down 16-8.