The Final of the Moray Province Ladies Knockout will once again be contested by the two Fiona’s, Ewen and Steel. With a win apiece over the previous 2 years, the ladies will fight it out for a third consecutive time in March 2025.
On very slow and rather straight ice, Ewen’s girls were 6-1 up on Julie Stewart before losing a 3 and a single steal to just be a nose in front after 6 ends. A big count of 4 and a double steal however, eventually gave Fiona and co what looked like a fairly comfortable win.
On the next door sheet, Helen Downey and Fiona Steel were serving up a proper ding dong battle with Helen leading 3-0 after two ends before Fiona levelled things up over the next two ends. Steel’s Nairn Ladies had worked out the ice by now and were unfazed by a single shot loss in end 5 ,picking up a deuce and then a single steal for their hard fought 6-4 victory.
In a rearranged Division 1 Fochabers derby,it was Wilson Burnett who pocketed the points in a 9-4 win over Gordon Fraser. After a cagey start with each team scoring a single, the game was blown apart in the third end as Burnett picked up what turned out to be a decisive 5 shot count.
Sitting a single counter but with several of his own stones in decent spots, fourth player Gary Burnett played the shot of the night with a perfect take out of Fraser’s second placed stone, forcing it cleanly through a gap barely wider than a stone’s width ,to the audible dismay of Fraser and friends. 7-1 down after 4 ends, Fraser’s count of 3 at the fifth wasn’t quite enough to bother his opponents as Burnett picked up another couple of singles for his win.
Division 3 front runner Sandy Howie had his work cut out to retain his 100% League record with the narrowest of wins against Helen Downey. Ahead all the way,the Buckie combo jumped to a 5-0 lead after 3 ends and was 6-2 up going down the last before Downey engineered a 3 shot count in the last to just come up short of a share of the spoils.
The battle of the Stewarts was an even closer affair, Elgin Bob’s 4 at the second end and subsequent single steal putting him 5-2 up before Moray Firth Lady Julie bagged a 3 to tie things up. Bob hit back with a fifth end 3 but handshakes were exchanged after the Ladies had counted a single and then a 2 shot steal for a Christmas spirited 8-8 draw.
Alan Douglas kept his Darnaway team in the honours hunt with a solid win over Gateway’s Steve Field. The Gateway gang were slow out of the traps and found themselves 7-1 down after 5 ends before Skip Cameron Smith managed a single and another 2 shot steal for in a creditable 7-4 reverse.
John Key and his Gateway team of Gerhald Winkler, Tony Summers and Les Tulloch maintained their perfect League record with a good win over the determined Juniors of Cameron Turnidge. The youngsters were 4-1 ahead after 4 ends but ran out of steam as Key and co now scored 4 unanswered shots over the last 3 ends to pip the Juniors 5-4 in the night’s most exciting match.
Rod Christie showed not an ounce of Christmas spirit as his Buckie team rather steamrolled Ruthie Harris’s Juniors. A consolation last end single was Ruthie’s only score as the ruthless Rod rampaged to an 11-1 victory.
Bill Jaffrey