Fiona Steel's Nairn rink edge out Forres rival Sandra MacIver in Moray Province Curling Ladies Knockout final
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MORAY Province Curling's ladies final turned out to successful title defence.
Fiona Steel’s Nairn rink have retained the trophy they won in 2020 at the expense of Sandra MacIver's Moray Firth ladies.
Covid prevented the Nairn team from defending their title last year, but they made up for it by defeating McIver’s rink 5-3 in a game that was possibly more convincing than the score may suggest.
The Moray rink opened the contest with a single shot in the opening end, but a swift and ultimately conclusive response from their opponents gave the Nairn team a 5-1 advantage after five ends.
MacIver could only pick up two single shots at the last two ends when handshakes were exchanged.
In Moray Province West League Division 1, Mark Fraser consolidated his lead atop the table with an 8-3 win over Larry Kerr.
Title challenger Callum Greenwood put Ali Asher to the sword with three counts of three over the last four ends giving the Ardclach rink their big win.
The big result in the East saw Division 3 hotshot Charlie Watt jnr finally have a stick thrown in his spokes as Elgin’s Helen Downey ended the Forres maestro’s incredible several seasons' game-winning run.
Watt may have been sitting pretty at 6-2 up going into the last end, but Downey fairly managed to ruffle his feathers with a count of four to take a share of the points.
Bob Stewart was in uncompromising mood as he won every end in a big win against the inexperienced Moray Wheels rink.
Gordie Kennedy skipped the family rink to a straightforward win over Linda Hardie, racing to a 7-0 lead before the Forres four had opened their account.
In the battle of the Moray juniors, Georgia Clarke claimed the spoils. A solid mid-game performance with four consecutive end wins was a bit too much for Owen Watson and co.
In Division 2 it was Abby Duncan who advanced his title credentials with a very good win over club-mate and former rink mate Alan Durno.
The Gordon Castle gunslinger, who many years ago learnt his tactical nous as Durno’s third player, put one over on his old boss.
A four at the third end and an ability to only concede single shots were the decisive factors.
The whole Province looks forward to next week’s Winter Olympics as both British rinks must be in with a very good chance of standing on the medal podium.
Results:
Moray Province Ladies Knockout Final
S McIver (Moray Firth Ladies) 3 F. Steel (Nairn Ladies) 5
Moray Province West League
Division 1
M Fraser (Dalcross) 8 L Kerr (Nairn) 3
A Asher (Nairn) 3 C Greenwood (Ardclach) 12
Moray Province East League
Division 2
A Duncan (Fochabers) 10 A Durno (Fochabers) 3
Division 3
H Downey (Elgin) 6 C Watt jnr (Forres) 6
R Stewart (Elgin) 14 L Roberts (Moray Wheels) 0
G Kennedy (Ballindalloch) 10 L Hardie (Forres) 3
G Clarke (Moray Juniors) 7 O Watson (Moray Juniors) 2
