The well stuffed brown envelope handed to Dougie prior to the start proved worthwhile.

Dougie was only fielding three, Colin back from Oz, feeling heat deprived, and John MacConnachie, while we had a full complement. Having won the toss, we were hoping for a good start. Dougie had yellow while we were blue. Unfortunately, we failed and allowed a steal of one.

Second end again saw another failure from me and another steal to the opposition.

Third end saw two yellow stones well protected and stubbornly stuck well in the black despite all attempts to remove. There was a way in from the other side. Yours truly had to produce a well-executed draw to count. Great sweeping and stone in place and counting but partly exposed. Dougie steps up and throws a wonderfully executed shot to remove it. Last stone and call for the dreaded same again! Same line and much the same weight but with even more strenuous sweeping another great draw to count one, amazing and a dispirited Dougie.

Fifth end, not sure what happened, but James removed a yellow stone which was counting and somehow we ended up with four.

Sixth end a well-placed stone from Rob lay on the black with a good guard out front. DD managed to promote this to lie on the other blue and lie on the button. John’s repost was to place his stone to just in the black behind the tee line. We failed to move this and there was a big build-up of stones out front. There was a narrow gap allowing a route through to the yellow. I sent my stone down bang on line, a cert; however, the final denouement was screened by the sleepers and when cleared the yellow was still lying. What went wrong? My stone ran out of steam at the last moment and skewed sideways. Dougie, lying one, decided that he needed desperate measures to make up the deficit and opted to send his stone into the yellows at the front. Result – he managed to move his lying stone and leave a two to us.

Final end, two useful stones from Rob saw a yellow removed from play, but John threw a great stone to lie just behind the tee line. DD was asked to remove it but although unsuccessful, his stone did a sideways shuffle to lie close and lie second. Further attempts failed, then my attempt. First stone bang on line, again ran out of steam and did a similar sideways move at the end – a good draw, but not what was wanted. Second attempt, simple shot to just push back the yellow. Same result. Dougie with his last stone tried the draw to lie on the button in front of his other yellow. Slightly too heavy, his shooter hit the lying yellow, pushed it back and shooter out the side. Two for us.

A good game with well-placed early stones, removal of threatening stones by James and guards proved to be the downfall of a frustrated Dougie

Kind regards,

Ken.