LAST week, Tweedbank Indoor Bowling seniors played their last league match of the season away to Portobello.
In the past, this fixture has never been an easy one and this was no different. The Tweedbank seniors soon found themselves behind and as the match progressed the gap between the two teams grew steadily wider.
The result was a win for Portobello by 80-45, with just one of the Tweedbank rinks managing a creditable draw.
If the seniors are to have any success in the Scottish Cup, there must be a vast improvement on their current performance.
The men also played their last league match of the season on Saturday, against neighbours Teviotdale.
With no chance for either team to win the league, the match acted as a warm-up for the Scottish Cup.
Things did not start well for Tweedbank and after completion of 10 ends they were seven shots adrift with only one rink in front.
The team did manage to catch up, but was very soon behind again and showed little sign of being able to move ahead of their opponents.
The match finished with a win for Teviotdale, although this made no difference to the final league placings, with Tweedbank ending in third place while Teviotdale remained at the bottom.
However, the result does not help the confidence within the Tweedbank team, with the Scottish Cup fixture to come against Coatbridge at the Meadowmill Stadium in East Lothian.
The week’s action ended with the preliminary round of the Scottish Team Championship and in this Tweedbank faced a team from Abbeyview at the Midlothian stadium in Dalkeith.
The match started well for the visitors, with Kenny Johnstone doing well in the singles category. The match looked all over at 19-9 but it was another four ends before Johnstone managed to gain the two shots needed for the win and the vital two points for Tweedbank.
With the seven-shot advantage from the singles, Tweedbank needed to win just one of the other three categories to have a chance of winning overall on shot difference. The teams playing in the pairs, triples and fours were, however, making heavy weather of it, and for a large part of the match, Abbeyview still had a chance of winning all three categories.
Defeat for the pair but victory in the fours then meant the two teams might well finish equal on four points each. However, the shot difference was in favour of Tweedbank and victory in the triples meant a 6-2 victory for the Borders outfit. Their next match will be against Stirling at Balbardie.
At club level, players are reminded that a list has been put on the noticeboard concerning availability for the Scottish Cup game and interested members should add their name to the list as soon as possible.