Bon Accord travelled to Dundee today to play our rearranged match v City of Dundee that was postponed 2 weeks ago due to heavy rain.

It was glorious sunny weather that greeted us on our arrival and this continued for the whole match! A very welcome change. There was a strong breeze to contend with plus an 8 inch slope in the green which meant it was uphill in one direction and downhill in the other!!

The Bon Accord team had six squad members unavailable for today’s match, therefore there was a number of changes in the line-up and a debut for John Mackay (Whitehall) following his successes in both the District 4 Gents Under 25 singles and Gents Singles. The rink draws were as follows with Bon Accord names first followed by City of Dundee skip.

Rink 1 – Owen Jack, Colin Clark, David Cobban-Shaw & Paul Hay v Ross Carlin
Rink 2 – Ellis Adie, John Mackay, Ross Stewart & Jak Miller v Ron Duell
Rink 3 – Rory Thomson, Billy Grant, Martyn Orchard & Roy Henry v Mark Lowe
Rink 4 – Ben Inglis, Zak Morrison, Neil Anderson & Callum Work v Paul Lindsay
Rink 5 – Jim Shea, Cameron Millar, Kevin Harper & Scott Murray v Brian Smith
Rink 6 – Craig Burnett, Keith Morrison, Willie Stewart & Eric Gallan v Alan Crichton

With Team Captain Derek McNicol unavailable, former captain Roy Henry gave the team talk alongside Team Manager John Miller and stressed the importance of fighting for each other, encouraging each other and of course securing the win and 2 points to keep us at the top of the North Section with 2 further matches remaining.

When play got underway, it was the home team who made the better start over the first quarter with Paul Hay’s rink finding themselves 2-13 behind however Eric Gallan’s rink were 8-1 in front. The individual rink scores were:

Paul Hay 2, Ross Carlin 13
Jak Miller 4, Ron Duell 4
Roy Henry 4, Mark Lowe 3
Callum Work 3, Paul Lindsay 6
Scott Murray 3, Brian Smith 3
Eric Gallan 8, Alan Crichton 1

Overall score – Bon Accord 24, City of Dundee 30

Into the 2nd quarter and Bon Accord started to warm to the task at hand as we outscored City of Dundee by 36 shots to 13 over the next 30 ends! During this dominant spell, Roy Henry’s rink won all 5 ends, Scott Murray’s rink totalled 10 shots including a five and Eric Gallan’s rink added a further 7 shots! The rink scores now read:

Paul Hay 5, Ross Carlin 16
Jak Miller 9, Ron Duell 6
Roy Henry 12, Mark Lowe 3
Callum Work 6, Paul Lindsay 10
Scott Murray 13, Brian Smith 5
Eric Gallan 15, Alan Crichton 3

Overall score – Bon Accord 60, City of Dundee 43

Quarter 3 was much closer as Bon Accord maintained their advantage with only three shots in favour of the hosts, being the difference during this next set of 30 ends. Bon Accord highlights included a count of 4 for Roy’s rink and Eric’s rink continuing their dominance on rink 6 winning four of the five ends.

Paul Hay 10, Ross Carlin 22
Jak Miller 12, Ron Duell 11
Roy Henry 18, Mark Lowe 6
Callum Work 11, Paul Lindsay 16
Scott Murray 14, Brian Smith 13
Eric Gallan 22, Alan Crichton 5

Overall score – Bon Accord 87, City of Dundee 73

An advantage of 14 shots with 36 ends left was not a comfortable margin for the Bon Accord team and once more we responded when it was required over the next 18 ends, as we outscored our hosts by 26 shots to 12 to double our advantage to 28 shots ahead with only 18 ends left. Roy’s rink scored another 4 count but Eric’s rink went one better by scoring 2 four counts! Individual rink scores were:

Paul Hay 11, Ross Carlin 26
Jak Miller 16, Ron Duell 13
Roy Henry 23, Mark Lowe 8
Callum Work 12, Paul Lindsay 18
Scott Murray 19, Brian Smith 15
Eric Gallan 32, Alan Crichton 5

Overall score – Bon Accord 113, City of Dundee 85

Moving into the final home stretch, City of Dundee continued to battle to the end as they clawed back 11 shots, however the margin was enough to see Bon Accord record our fifth successive win, maintain our 100% record and put us into the quarter-finals unless there are some extraordinary results over the next 2 weeks. The final rink scores resulted in 3 up for Bon Accord, 2 up for City of Dundee and one draw.

Paul Hay 16, Ross Carlin 29
Jak Miller 18, Ron Duell 18
Roy Henry 24, Mark Lowe 12
Callum Work 13, Paul Lindsay 23
Scott Murray 21, Brian Smith 19
Eric Gallan 35, Alan Crichton 9

Final score – Bon Accord 127, City of Dundee 110

We wish City of Dundee BA all the best for the remainder of their campaign and season and thanks to the umpires Ian Duff and Grant Thomson.

Well done and thanks to all at Lochee BC for being an excellent host and for all you members operating the rink scoreboards, the big scoreboard which was updated very promptly during the whole match and to the bar staff and the green staff. We would also like to thank the caterers for food both pre and post match.

The Bon Accord will be back in action next Saturday when we travel to Inverness to face Northern Counties where 1 point will mathematically secure qualification to the quarter finals.

Well done again to the Bon Accord players and officials for another excellent performance and victory.

C’mon the Bon Accord 🔴⚪🔥