It was the first end wot did it! A five straight out of the blocks puts you at a significant advantage and although there can be no room for complacency, you know that it leaves your opponents chasing the game. While John Mac and his plucky crew fought back valiantly, they never really recovered and despite an excellent three shot sixth end, finished the game trailing by nine shots to five.
While John Mac’s squad were all able to tick the attendance register, for Team Waterlow it was a very different story. Richard Willson was still hors de combat while Fiona, although refreshed from her recent break in Spain, had gone down with a heavy cold. As of midday, the team was down to two and the prospects of finding subs was non-existent thanks to a dearth of reserve members and the coincidence of a Province League match being played that same evening. Potentially the game would have to be scratched. But the knight in shining armour was Deemo who rode back into town from a day out in Biggar to save the day. At least we were three and the game could go ahead.
After their disastrous first end, Team MacConnachie picked themselves up with a single in the second. But Team W were finding the house more consistently than their opponents and replied with a single point in the third end followed by two points in the fourth.
Team W’s mission now was to play cautiously, not do anything silly and hold on to their seven point lead. But then came the wobble. Team Mac played a canny fifth end for another single and then in the sixth they built up a well-guarded array of stones which left JW looking for answers to questions he had never asked. 8-5 and one end to go – had Team Mac left the comeback too late? As it turned out they had. Unable to capitalise further, they went down by another single point, leaving a four point deficit overall.
John W.
Holyrood Curling Club 