28/10 Match Report

Moray Province curling resumed this week following the October holiday break and in Division 2 East it was a tale of deputy skips as Gordon Fraser and Alan Douglas stood in for  regular bosses Duncan and Milne. The Darnaway rink were 3-1 up after 3 ends before Fraser pulled off a perfect chip and lie for a 4 at the 4th end. This proved the high water mark for the Fochabers four, as Douglas racked up an unanswered 5 shots over the last 4 ends for his 9-5 win.Mike Kemp and Roy Thomson regularly skip Andrew Allardyce’s Elgin and Dave McPherson’s Tennis club teams and the latter outfit just sneaked past their Elgin rivals with 5 single shots in their 5-3 victory, whilst the Fochabers derby resulted in another close win for Alan Durno over Bill Jaffrey. Durno’s vast experience proved decisive but he breathed a sigh of relief as skip Wilson Burnett’s final stone picked up some debris and changed handles as he attempted a double take out which would have edged his team ahead of the Clochan farmer.
A rearranged match in Division 3 saw a win for Linda Hardie’s Forres rink. Lynn Roberts opened the scoring with a one at the first end, but Hardie skip Carol Bennett took over from there to open up a game  winning 8-1 lead before 2 single shots gave the Roberts rink some cheer in the 8-3 defeat.
In the West, Division 1 had a couple of inter club games. Honours were even as Ardclach’s Ally Fraser picked up a count of 5 in the fourth end to dent  the hopes of Nairn’s Larry Kerr in a 7-5 victory, but Nairn fortunes were restored as Mike McInnes had a great win over reigning champions Callum Greenwood.  5 shots each as they entered the final end set the scene for an exciting finish, and McInnes used his last stone advantage perfectly to pick up a 2 for his win. The other Division 1 game was,perhaps, the most exciting of the night, finishing in an honours even 8-8 draw. Mark Fraser had raced to a 7-0 lead before Nairn’s favourite baker woke up to take the next 3 ends and sneak ahead by a single shot. Fraser then  managed to regain his composure to take a shot at the last for a share of the points.
In Division 2 ,Nairn’s Angus Forbes was victorious over clubmate Ricky Marwick and Jamie Cattell pipped Fiona Steel’s Nairn Ladies rink.
Bill Jaffrey