The 2nd round of matches in the 2026 AHT took place today with Bon Accord facing Highland at Kittybrewster & Woodside BC in a vital match for both Associations. As a reminder, both Associations qualified last season for the quarter finals.

Following defeat in round 1, Bon Accord knew that they had to win today in order to keep qualification in their own hands, whilst Highland were looking to keep a 100% record and move 4 points ahead of Bon Accord in the North section.

The Bon Accord line-up included one debutant – Keith Edment (Polmuir) and three other changes with Colin Clark (Newhills), Steve Buchanan (Balgownie) and Kevin Philip (Whitehall) coming into the starting line-up. We also had a late call off with Roy Henry succumbing to flu, so Gary Forbes moved to skip in Roy’s rink and Ross Stewart came in to 3rd in Eric Gallan’s rink.

The weather was dry with sunny intervals, and the green was double cut just prior to the match by our own Steve Buchanan! An unusual warm-up for the match Steve but both Kittybrewster and the Bon Accord are very grateful for you stepping in at the last moment due to technical issues with Kittybrewster’s mower.

The rink line-ups were:

Rink 1 – Zander Main, Willie Lumsden, Scott Runcie, Jak Miller v Kevin Beaton
Rink 2 – Colin Clark, Keith Morrison, Kevin Harper, Martyn Orchard v Sandy Wyllie
Rink 3 - Craig Burnett, Stephen Tennant, Ross Stewart, Eric Gallan v Lee Trotter
Rink 4 – Jim Shea, George Milne, David Cobban-Shaw, Derek McNicol v Stuart Cruickshank
Rink 5 – Keith Edment, Steve Buchanan, Kevin Philip, Callum Work v Harry Hay
Rink 6 - Owen Jack, Billy Grant, Neil Anderson, Gary Forbes v Joe Sammons

Over the first 12 ends (2 on each rink), both teams were settling in and adapting to a quick but tricky green and the score was 10-12 to the visitors. On end 3, Bon Accord scored on 4 of the 6 ends including a 5 from Derek McNicol’s rink as we moved 19-15 ahead.

On the 4th ends, we again scored on 4 of the 6 ends to lead 26-17. However, on end 5 across all rinks it was Highland who scored on all 6 rinks to move 26-28 ahead! The individual rink scores were:

J Miller 6, K Beaton 3
M Orchard 4, S Wyllie 3
E Gallan 2, L Trotter 5
D McNicol 7, S Cruickshank 9
C Work 3, H Hay 6
G Forbes 4, J Sammons 2

Into the 2nd quarter and over the next four ends across all rinks the match score remained even with the overall score being 48-48 with 9 ends played on all rinks. However, on the 10th ends we saw the second significant move by Bon Accord as we won the 10th ends by 15-3 to move 12 ahead. Threes were scored on Jak’s, Martyn’s, Eric’s, Callum’s and Gary’s rinks. The individual rink scores were:

J Miller 11, K Beaton 5
M Orchard 10, S Wyllie 6
E Gallan 7, L Trotter 9
D McNicol 14, S Cruickshank 15
C Work 8, H Hay 11
G Forbes 13, J Sammons 5

So, could we back-up the great end 10 over the next quarter? Over the next 24 ends, we scored 22 shots to Highland’s 21 to maintain our lead but on ends 15, we outscored Highland by 7-3 to move 92-75 ahead with 36 ends left. The individual rink scores were:

J Miller 18, K Beaton 8
M Orchard 17, S Wyllie 9
E Gallan 12, L Trotter 15
D McNicol 18, S Cruickshank 19
C Work 12, H Hay 14
G Forbes 15, J Sammons 10

The next 18 ends were to prove decisive as Bon Accord added a further 20 shots to move past the 100 mark, whilst Highland were restricted to only 10 shots. Bon Accord now led 112-85. During this spell Eric Gallan’s rink added 8 shots.

Onto the final 18 ends, and Bon Accord smelt the win and the finishing line and were in no mood to let Highland back into the contest. Over this final section we outscored Highland again by 27-16 to record a morale boosting victory by 139-101.

In this final section, Derek McNicol’s rink scored 5 shots, Callum Work’s rink scored 9 shots and Gary Forbes rink 7 shots!

The final rink scores were:

J Miller 24, K Beaton 16
M Orchard 19, S Wyllie 15
E Gallan 23, L Trotter 19
D McNicol 24, S Cruickshank 24
C Work 24, H Hay 15
G Forbes 25, J Sammons 12

All the best to the Highland squad for the remainder of the competition.

Thanks to our umpires Raymond Davidson and Steve McGillivary.

Thanks to Kittybrewster BC and all your members for another successful hosting and a wonderful buffet post-match. To those on the big and rink scoreboards, bar staff, green warden, members helping with the post-match meal, a huge thanks again to all. And finally a big thank you to our supporters!

We go again next Saturday 30th May at Harlaw BC v Aberdeen & Kincardine BA.

C'mon the Bon Accord!!