The Bon Accord were back on home territory today as they welcomed City of Dundee to a bright Balgownie BC.

We knew that following 3 defeats in this campaign, that even a win today may not be enough to keep us in the race for qualifying, as we needed results elsewhere to go in our favour.

However, this was quickly forgotten about as the selected players made their way to the green just before 2pm.

The rink draw resulted in the following match-ups

Rink 1 - Callum Work v Craig McInally
Rink 2 - Gary Forbes v Paul Lindsey
Rink 3 - Derek McNicol v Grant Harrison
Rink 4 - Eric Gallan v Ronnie Duell
Rink 5 - Jak Miller v Ally Mitchell
Rink 6 - Martyn Orchard v Ross Carlin

End 1 across all rinks saw Bon Accord lead 5-4 however over the next 12 ends, the home team took the initiative outscoring Dundee by 22-9 to lead 27-13. A count of 5 for Callum and fours from Derek and Eric contributed to this lead. Callum then counted a four on the 5th end as the home team raced into a 41-25 lead with 5 ends played across all rinks. The individual rink scores read:

Callum Work 9, Craig McInally 5
Gary Forbes 3, Paul Lindsey 5
Derek McNicol 11, Grant Harrison 0
Eric Gallan 8, Ronnie Duell 3
Jak Miller 6, Ally Mitchell 3
Martyn Orchard 4, Ross Carlin 9

Into the 2nd quarter and Bon Accord continued to dominate proceedings as 4 counts of 4 or more shots were scored and Bon Accord won this mini-session by 37-17 to extend their lead to 78-42 by half-way. The individual rink scores read:

Callum Work 13, Craig McInally 7
Gary Forbes 9, Paul Lindsey 7
Derek McNicol 19, Grant Harrison 3
Eric Gallan 13, Ronnie Duell 5
Jak Miller 13, Ally Mitchell 7
Martyn Orchard 11, Ross Carlin 13

The 3rd quarter was more even as City of Dundee checked the Bon Accord momentum by scoring 28 shots to Bon Accord's 30, however they were unable to prevent the home team reaching the 'ton-up' (Bon Accord 108, City of Dundee 70). The individual rink scores now read:

Callum Work 20, Craig McInally 10
Gary Forbes 13, Paul Lindsey 12
Derek McNicol 24, Grant Harrison 5
Eric Gallan 20, Ronnie Duell 8
Jak Miller 19, Ally Mitchell 12
Martyn Orchard 12, Ross Carlin 23

Moving into the last quarter, the atmosphere became more subdued as there was an inevitability of a home win being recorded and the only question was by how many? Credit to City of Dundee as they kept battling away to the end.

By the time all rinks had finished the big scoreboard showed the final score as Bon Accord 143, City of Dundee 100.

Individual rink scores were:

Callum Work 27, Craig McInally 15
Gary Forbes 17, Paul Lindsey 24
Derek McNicol 26, Grant Harrison 10
Eric Gallan 28, Ronnie Duell 8
Jak Miller 28, Ally Mitchell 15
Martyn Orchard 17, Ross Carlin 28

A dominant performance today which sees us move up to 4th in the North Section and 4 points off the qualification positions.

We now have a break of 3 weeks before the next round of matches when we will be away to Buchan at Peterhead.

Thanks to our umpires Jim Fowlie and Graham Senff.

A huge thanks to all the members at Balgownie that made it a memorable and successful day - on the big scoreboard which was kept updated in a timely manner, those manning the rink scoreboards, the bar staff, the kitchen staff for pre-match food for Dundee and post match meal, those preparing the green which looked in excellent condition.

All the best to City of Dundee players and officials for the remainder of the competition and for your outdoor season and to those of you who have qualified for the National Championships at Ayr in August.

Well done again to the Bon Accord team!