Third win puts Rogart joint top
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ROGART Skip Nigel Murray kept the pressure on the rampant Loch Fleet with his third win in the Province League championship last week in Inverness to give his club a share of first place at the top of the table.
Backing Murray up against the Ross-Sutherland Young Farmers were Hamish Fraser, Colin Wilson and Joan Fraser and still in a learning curve, the opposition soon found themselves six shots adrift.
Alan Munro did enjoy a mid game rally but the final two ends also went to Rogart for their 10-3 winning result.
Ian Mackay came up against Keith Stewart for the first time since the ex Brora curler returned to competitive play and was making it difficult for the new Loch Fleet skip in the early stages. Stewart, with the two Lyons and Emma Deeth at lead, made the breakthrough with three shots in the 5th end to level, having made an opening single and then broken the Dornoch resistance with a follow up treble against the head. A closing steal brought Loch Fleet an eventual comfortable 8-4 result.
Richard Mackenzie, with Oldshoremore based David de Boer installed at third in his North Highland Curling Trust (No 2 rink), alongside Mike Sangster and Muir of Ord substitute Finlay Mackenzie, overwhelmed Bill Watson’s Brora, winning six ends that produced fifteen shots. Brora’s only respite was a count of four in the penultimate end.
Defending champion Hugh Mackay and the NHCT first rink is still searching for his first point. With two of his last season’s winning line up, Alan MacDonald and Joyce MacLennan, joined by Angela de Boer, they struggled against Coreen MacRae (Alness), who picked up her second win with a 6-3 winning score.
The Locheye derby fixture between Alan Mackenzie and Tony Watson ended up with the points going to Watson in a final three end shake-up.
Winning four successive ends from the second to fifth, producing five shots for his rink of Christine Mackenzie, Willie McRae and Val Mackay, put Locheye’s second skip into a comfortable four shot lead after Watson began with a single.
Mackenzie gave back a single in the end six before, in what normally would be the final seventh end, he came a cropper and lost four shots against the head.
With the game having been played at pace, an eighth end was begun and Watson finished with another steal to win 7-5.
The next round of league fixtures is on Monday, November 21st, but four clubs are in action on Monday, November 7th, in a preliminary round of the knock-out completion. The ties are NHCT 1 v Loch Fleet and Brora v Rogart.
League Results Round 3 – N Murray (Rogart) 10 A Munro (RSYF) 3. R Mackenzie (NHCT 2) 15 B Watson (Brora) 4. A MacKenzie (Locheye2) 5 T Watson (Locheye 1) 7. I Mackay (Dornoch) 4 K Stewart (Loch Fleet) 8. H Mackay (NHCT 1) 3 C MacRae (Alness) 6.
