ice hockey

elite league

BRAEHEAD CLAN 5

DUNDEE CCS STARS 2

Braehead Clan edged Dundee CCS Stars out of sixth place in the Elite League last night with their victory over the Tayside team last night, writes Nigel Duncan. Three goals in less than two first-period minutes provided the momentum as Clan powered to a 5-1 lead which ended Stars' two-game winning run.

Jade Galbraith, last season's top marksman, started the goal rush with a penalty shot after 16 minutes and Brock McPherson made it 2-1 just 38 seconds later. A mere 42 more seconds and English-born Sam Zajac added a third, set up by Drew Miller, Clan's latest signing and a former star with National Hockey league outfit Detroit Red Wings. AJ MacLean, the Dundee captain, opened his side's account in the 18th minute but Galbraith's second early in the middle session consolidated Clan's lead and Matt Haywood netted less than five minutes from time. Sami Ryhanan, assisted by Pat Bowen and former Clan player Mike Wirll, hit Dundee's second with 1min 30sec left.

curling

Lockerbie's Lorna Vevers followed up her surprise opening victory over the world champion Mirjam Ott by trouncing Sweden's Anna Hasselborg at the Swiss Masters in Basle, writes Lorin McDougall. A 7-5 victor over Ott, she won her second match 6-2 and will face Russia's Anna Sidorova in round three. Her fellow Scots Eve Muirhead and Hannah Fleming meet in the B Road after both suffered 6-5 second-round losses. Muirhead was beten by local skip Manuela Siegrist, while Sweden's Margaretha Sigfridsson edged Fleming, Muirhead had beaten Germany's Juliane Jacoby 7-4 in the first round, while Fleming saw off Sandra Ramstein-Attinger's Swiss 8-6.

bowls

Aberdeen are the early front runners in the Jack High Insurance National League with full points going into their third match in Section B of the Premier Division today while everyone else except Perth will be playing only second-round matches, writes Anne Dunwoodie. Aberdeen have wins over Perth and Lanarkshire and will be seek to maintain their momentum today although they face a long journey to meet Blantyre, who are in third place after holding on for an opening-round draw with Paisley last week. Second-placed Perth are away to pointless Lanarkshire while Paisley take on bottom of the section Alloa.

n Lynn Stein from East Fife, Teviotdale's Julie Forrest, Stonehaven's Cath McIntosh and Blantyre's Margaret Letham are the only players in the draw for the Taylor Bowls National Singles, which begin today, to have won the blue riband title. They have 11 national singles titles among them and Forrest is the record holder with five. She begins her campaign against Headwell's Eleanor Kennedy,

n Scotland's Under-18 team heads for Stanley, Newcastle, today aiming to break England's stranglehold on the British Isles Mixed Under-18 International title. Scotland's teams are led by Blantyre's Greg McLauglin and Jordan Slaven from Prestwick Ambassador.

cricket

Scotland's tour match against North West Dragons was abandoned as a draw last night after a violent electrical storm struck Potchefstroom, writes William Dick. The torrential rain did not arrive before a second Scottish recruit from the English county circuit got among the runs.

Following the century from Matt Machan, of Sussex, on Thursday, Richard Coughtrie staked his claim for an extended run in the side with a fine half-century. The Gloucestershire wicketkeeper hit 53 as the Scots reached 150 for two in their second innings. Grange's Ryan Flannigan added another 47.

Having resumed on 135 for four in response to Scotland's first inning 222, Dragons managed to secure a first-innings lead of almost 100 runs as the wicket flattened out.

Coughtrie and Flannigan went on to take advantage of the easier batting conditions to leave coach Pete Steindl satisfied with the work-out. "As practise matches go this was a useful one for us and some of the guys can take a lot from it," he said. "It was good for some of the batsmen to spend time in the middle and get some runs. Some of our bowlers are still a bit short of action, though." The Scots continue their tour tomorrow with a 50-over encounter against the Dragons.

Cycling

Scotland's Andy Fenn bounced back to form at the Tour of Beijing with a fine performance in the penultimate stage yesterday, writes Colin Renton. The 22-year-old Omega Pharma QuickStep rider was runner up on the opening stage but struggled on each of the two subsequent days. Yesterday he crossed the line in 13th place in the same time as the day's winner Marco Haller (Katusha), who pipped the Italian duo Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) and Elia Viviani (Liquigas) to chalk up his first professional win. Fenn's team mate Tony Martin holds a 40-second lead overall and is on course to retain the title when the race concludes with a 182km stage that features four climbs before a flat run in to the finish.

Rugby League

Liam Hood, the Leeds Rhinos hooker, and the Wigan Warriors full-back Shae Lyon-Fraser are both expected to be given their Scotland debuts in tomorrow's Alitalia European Cup tie against Ireland at Meggetland.

speedway

Premier League Knockout Cup, semi-final, second-leg

EDINBURGH MONARCHS 52

IPSWITCH WITCHES 37

Ipswich win 92-87 on agg

Theo Pijper powered to a 15-point maximum and comeback man Craig Cook scored 14 but Monarchs slipped out of the Premier League Knockout Cup at the semi-final stage last night, writes Nigel Duncan. The West Lothian-based side could not make up the 20-point deficit from the first leg in England, finishing five points short.

n Berwick Bandits directors have pledged to keep speedway going in the town "if at all humanly possible", writes Nigel Duncan. Their director George Hepburn said: "We, like many other speedway clubs, are finding it hard, but one aspect of Berwick Speedway which is maybe the envy of some other clubs is that we [the directors] all pull together here for the sake of the sport. It will tear us apart if speedway is lost to Berwick after all these years. I can assure fans we will all be working tirelessly together in the next month or so to try and continue, but I stress, we need support."

Bandits, having had a week off from racing, return to Shielfield Park tonight (7pm) to face Redcar Bears with both teams aiming to extend their season by reaching the final of the Premier League Challenge Trophy.