Moray Province second division curling league completed with Bill Jaffrey's Fochabers rink claiming the title

Moray Province Division 2 was the first to be completed this week and the winning rink was Bill Jaffrey’s Fochabers team.

Long time front runners Elgin Tennis Club started the night a single point ahead of Jaffrey but came a cropper, losing 9-4 to a fired up Abby Duncan.

Three counts of three gave Duncan his win and allowed his Fochabers clubmate to leapfrog Dave McPherson and win the division by a very short head.

The tennis club’s post-Christmas fortunes took a nosedive as McPherson’s team only managed to collect three points from a potential 10.

Jaffrey knew that only a win over Andrew Allardyce would do, and a 6 -0 lead after three ends settled a few Fochabers nerves.

Allardyce pulled back to 6-4 before counts of three and four in the final two ends gave the Speysiders victory and the division win.

In the other Division 2 game, Eddie Milne’s Darnaway overcame a weakened Alan Durno rink, restricting their opponents to three single count ends in a 7-4 win.

Division 1 saw another close encounter between Buckie’s Alan Campbell and Aberlour’s Andy Cameron.

There has been only a single shot between these two in their previous encounters this season and this time, the coast team came out on top courtesy of multiple shots in their three ends with the hammer, a three at the sixth end being the decisive count.

Willie Cameron’s win over Sunninghill kept alive his hopes of Division 1 status next year. Skip Jim Gault and Paralympian hero Gregor Ewen were instrumental in steering their team to a solid 9-5 victory.

Charlie Watt junior returned to his familiar slot at the top of Division 3 with another big win over Lynn Roberts' Wheels rink whilst last week’s league leader Bob Stewart came unstuck against a trio of Kennedys.

Dad Gordie, mum Ruth and son Ian scored at five of the six ends played, but opponent Stewart can still win the title with a win in his last game against Owen Watson’s juniors and a Charlie Watt jnr loss against his final game adversary Linda Hardie.

Results

Moray Province East League

Division 1

A. Cameron (Aberlour) 6 A. Campbell (Buckie) 7

D. Ross (Sunninghill) 5 W. Cameron (Aberlour) 9

Division 2

A. Durno (Fochabers) 3 E.Milne (Darnaway) 7

A. Duncan (Fochabers) 9 D. McPherson (Elgin Tennis Club) 4

W. Jaffrey (Fochabers) 13 A. Allardyce (Elgin) 4

Division 3

G. Kennedy (Ballindalloch) 6 R. Stewart (Elgin) 4

C. Watt jnr (Forres)14 L. Roberts (Wheels) 0