Derby Day in the West After Grand Match Weekend

The Indoor Grand Match, played across 12 of Scotland’s Ice Rinks took place on Saturday with 4 Nairn teams and teams from Ardclach and Fochabers competing . Traditionally the Match is between the North and the South, the virtual borderline being a line from the Clyde to the Forth. All the Moray Province teams won their matches but this still proved insufficient in a combined 1356 shots to 1287 shots victory for the South.
On Moray Province duty,it was something of a club Derby in the West of the Province with a family affair in Division 1 as Dad Ali gave son Robbie a harsh lesson in an 8-1 win. Asher junior’s token shot picked up in the last end.
Mike McInnes and Ally Fraser had a battle royale and were tied at 6-6 going down the last end. Fraser and co had the hammer however and used all their big match experience to keep things clear and pick up the shot they needed for a tight victory.
Division 2’s Nairn club derby resulted in a straightforward 12-4 win for Jamie Cattell while the Dalcross Club bragging rights went to Ian Thomson who out-counted clubmate Ernie Nicholson in a 6-4 win.
In the East of the Province Charlie Watt jnr had his second convincing league victory. Despite spending the weekend at a very sociable curling competition in Switzerland Charlie found enough Tuesday energy to ring up a 9-2 win against Graeme Mackenzie. The Elgin team managed just a couple of single shots as Charlie’s Forres four scored a couple of deuces and a 3 at the last. Talking of Switzerland, a brisk look into Charlie’s curling bag revealed 200 bars of Toblerone, 2 cuckoo clocks and a medium sized Alpenhorn. A most successful shoplifting spree.
Fochabers’ Gordon Fraser was in good form in a game that was a lot closer than the final score would suggest. Mike MacDonald scored a couple of singles to lead 2-1 after 3 ends but a count of 3 at the fourth and then 3 consecutive single shot steals gave Fraser a good win.
Jim Gault’s juggernaut Aberlour team were merciless over the last 5 ends in their Division 2 win over Alan Douglas. The Darnaway team were ahead 3-2 after 2 ends before Gault clicked into gear , scoring at all of the next 5 ends in an 11-3 success.
In Division 3 Mike Kemp’s mystery Elgin team had a proper ding dong battle with Cameron Turnidge’s Moray Juniors. An opening end Juniors’ 3 was answered by a Kemp 4 . Thereafter it was a cagey exchange of shots with the Juniors eventually taking a share of the spoils with a 2 shot steals gave at the last for a 7-7 draw. Talking of mystery Elgin teams, it seems that the total absence of names on the Kemp scorecard was an attempt to conceal the fact that his third player was none other than Lord Lucan.
Nothing much went right for Gateway’s John Key as he was outsmarted by Bob Stewart’s Elgin trio. Sometimes it seems to be an advantage playing a man short and that was the case for the Elgin team,as Bob raced to a 7-1 victory against the less experienced Gateway rink.