Tweedbank bowlers took on Coatbridge in the preliminary round of the Scottish Cup on Saturday at Meadowmill in East Lothian.
This turned out to be some match with an amazing twist at the end.
Coatbridge raced ahead and by the halfway stage Tweedbank were trailing by eight shots.
On the 14th end, disaster struck with 15 shots conceded from the Borderers on three of the four rinks, and with the lead for Coatbridge now at 18 shots, all was beginning to look lost.
However, with just a few ends left to play on each rink, everything suddenly changed. One of the losing rinks was continuing to keep their match tight, conceding just singles, but the other two losing rinks began to make a comeback. From 22-14 down and three ends to play, one of them finished with a draw, while the other one gained six shots in three ends to be level playing the last end.
In a short space of time, not only had Tweedbank clawed back all the deficit, but also took a seven-shot lead with the one rink still in play on their last end. Coatbridge lost another four shots on this final end and Tweedbank gained what had looked a most unlikely victory.
In the first round on Saturday, the team will face Prestwick at the Lanarkshire Stadium in Wishaw.
Last Sunday saw the first round of the Scottish Team Championship and Tweedbank faced a side from Stirling at Balbardie. The format for this competition is singles, pairs, triples and fours. There was a good win for Marie Todd, Lauren Upton, Ben McGregor and Ross Nichol in the fours, but Stirling gained victory overall by 77-66.
On the same day the junior challenge event took place at Meadowmill, with Tweedbank being represented by Liam Nicholson and Stephen Whittet. The two youngsters are good prospects for the future and this round-robin event was a good learning experience for them. Stephen did not manage to gain any victories, but Liam did win one match and achieved a draw in another.
On completion of the senior league and with the Senior Scottish Cup still to come, action last week switched to the annual fixtures against Portobello for the Portotweed Cup.
On this occasion it was the home fixture with the Tweedbank seniors hoping for a good win to give them an advantage for the away leg.
After a closely-contested match, during which the lead changed hands on several occasions, the hosts edged the victory with a score of 82-78. This was not, however, the advantage they were looking for and to take the cup they will need to be on their best form at Portobello on Wednesday, March 27.
There is no action for the seniors in the coming week, but the men play at Lanarkshire and the ladies face the preliminary round of the Scottish Cup on Saturday against West Lothian at the Midlothian Stadium in Dalkeith.