Midlothian gents move into second round of the cup

Wins on the rinks skipped by Ronnie Duncan and Billy Peacock were hard-fought battles but the shot-margin bank of plus 33 was the reward of a strong performance from Colin Walker.

Walker and his rink raced out of the starting blocks to achieve a 14-shot lead after 11 ends then sustained the pressure on their opposition to win by 23.

Whilst the aggregate score (91-58) only captures two of the ten points up for grabs, that particular bonus always looked destined for Midlothian with the bowlers from The Dalkeith Stadium racing into a 30-15 lead on the first seven-end phase.

On the middle phase, Midlothian were pushed hard before edging it by three shots (27-24). However, normal service was soon resumed in the shape of a 34-19 domination of the third.

Team captain David Peacock was a high-profile loser along with his front three of Ian Forbes, Ian Fleming, and Scott Briggs.

Peacock and Co did go down fighting, however, having surrendered a 13-7 lead to be crossed 17-15 then battling back to regain the upper hand at 18-17 before put dramatically to the sword by the loss of a double on the last end (18-19).

Walker emerged the hero for Midlothian and in swashbuckling style as he skipped Jack Macnab, John Stevenson and Lindsay Plenderleith into a 10-1 lead after seven ends then a later run of 1, 4, 3, 1 stamped their authority on a 30-7 victory.

Duncan trailed 7-4 after three ends but zipped to 16 by skipping Scott Runciman, Craig Hodge and Sandy (AJ) Knight on a run of 1, 1, 2, 1, 3, 1, 1, 2 then traded well enough on the margin to clinch a 21-16 victory.

Billy Peacock made the biggest impression on his game with the carding of a super six on end 15 to skip Andrew Caldwell, David Salkeld and James Cullen into a 17-12 lead then won four of the remaining six ends to enjoy a 22-16 triumph.