Moray Curling Province East leagues reach Christmas break with Andy Cameron and Steve ranking battling out top-of-the-table classic

As the Moray Province curling league reaches the Christmas halfway break, it is Aberlour’s Andy Cameron that leads the Division 1 pack by a single point.

In his table top showdown with Steve Rankin, the Aberlour rink’s 100 per cent record was gently dented in a pulsating 4-4 peel.

In what was probably the season’s most tactically astute contest, Cameron chose to blank the first end to retain his hammer. In the second, he was forced to take his single before Rankin answered with a deuce of his own to edge ahead.

An exchange of singles in the next two ends was followed by another Cameron blank but a single Buckie steal saw the Aberlour lads 4-2 down going into the last end. A canny Cameron pick-up of two shots saw handshakes exchanged on a truly terrific and high quality drawn game.

At the other end of the table, Gordon Fraser pocketed his first point of the season against Charlie Watt, coincidentally in another four shots apiece draw. The Fochabers team could only count singles at their four scoring ends but a Watt double at the fifth allowed the Forresians to finish at 4-4.

Division 2 front runners Dave McPherson’s rink kept their title hopes on track with a fighting 7-5 win over Mike McDonald.

McDonald’s Forres team picked up a second end four to lead 4-1. Their opponents edged back with a couple of single shot counts, but were still 5-3 behind at the start of the sixth end before a triple and a single steal catapulted McPherson to an important win and a Division 2 Christmas lead.

Ben Rankin’s Moray juniors are right on McPherson’s tail after another comprehensive win, this time over Elgin’s Andrew Allardyce. The Elgin quartet could only add two single shots to the scoreboard as Rankin racked up a triple and a deuce amongst the juniors’ six scoring ends.

Competition resumes in January with the start of the Province Open Knockout.