Bowls
MORAG Wood was doing the wifely bit.
''We'll be back trying again next year,'' she was telling anyone who cared to listen through a smile that tried hard to hide her disappointment.
Husband Willie however, was more direct - ''He drove me off the green,'' claimed the Gifford veteran moments after he had lost out by the minimum margin to Kirkliston's Raymond Logan in the Scottish singles final at Ayr Northfield on Saturday.
Wood's assessment, while not entirely off the mark, was certainly an over simplification of the day's proceedings.
There was no doubt that Wood out-drew his international colleague for much of the 28-end match and that Logan kept in touch with some accurate drives but, in the modern game, the ability to drive is just as important as the ability to play the finesse shots.
For all of Logan's array of heavy armour, Wood will ultimately reflect that it was his own inability to close the door on his younger opponent that cost him his chance of ultimate glory.
It has been the final that most neutrals had wanted. Evergreen Willie Wood, now into his sixty-first year, chasing a life-long ambition, and the younger, talented Logan, son of former Scottish internationalist Rennie and brother of world triples champion Kenny.
It had came about after both had scored 21-15 semi-final wins with Wood beating Crosshouse's Derek Ross 21-15 while Logan held off a determined challenge from indoor internationalist Mark McGowan, from Houldsworth.
The ''dream final'' took a while to really catch fire.
The opening half was, by most standards, ordinary but then the game sprang into life and kept the large crowd gathered round Northfield's main green on tenterhooks.
Wood, leading 20-17, looked to be heading for the title but, playing to his preferred short length jack with the mat at the pin, he suddenly produced his worst end of the match.
Nothing closer than four feet left Logan lying 3 and with a golden opportunity to snatch victory. However, he sailed some five feet past the head, leaving a relieved Wood to concede three shots.
Twenty-twenty and the scene set for a dramatic finish.
Wood found the perfect opener, drawing his first bowl to an inch or so behind the jack. However, he drew his second shot beside his first, leaving Logan with a target.
Wood dropped well short with his third bowl, Logan drew two feet jack high with his last and Wood again dropped badly short with the last bowl of the match to leave Logan a 21-20 winner.
It was a cruel end for Wood but one should not take too much away from Logan. He drew the match-winning shot with all the pressure on him and in fairness he felt he had been the victim of a bad umpire's measure on the nineteenth end and overcame that to go on and take the title.
The junior singles went to Robert Donaldson, of the Parkside club in Edinburgh, with a 21-18 win over Stuart Hogg, from Denny.
In the pairs, Prestwick's John Keir and Tom O'Hara hit back from 2-12 down to beat Pumpherston's David Anderson and Derek Wardrop 17-15.
Broxburn's Stewart McMaster, George Sneddon and Jim Mallon took the triples, beating Fenwick's John Black, Brian Queen and Matt Auld 18-14.
Glenluce took the fours when they survived a slow start to beat the local Newton Park side 21-13. In the senior fours, former Partick Thistle stalwart John Harvey guided his Killermont rink to a 14-9 win over an Irvine Winton side skipped by former Motherwell full back Willie Kilmarnock. Results :
Single: Semi-finals - R Logan (Kirkliston) 21, M McGowan (Houldsworth) 15; W W Wood (Gifford) 21, D Ross (Crosshouse) 15.
Final - Logan 21, Wood 20.
Junior singles: Semi-finals - R Donaldson (Parkside) 21, A White (Kelso) 13; S Hogg (Denny) 21, T Newall (Kincaidstone & Belmont) 20.
Final - Donaldson 21, Hogg 18.
Pairs: Semi-finals - Prestwick (J Keir and T O'Hara) 23, Campbeltown (Argyll) (H McNair and J McLauchlan) 9; Pumpherston (D Anderson Jr and D Wardrop) 22, Springside (G Thomas and G Gibson) 10.
Final - Prestwick 17, Pumpherston 15.
Triples: Semi-finals - Broxburn (S McMaster, G Sneddon and J Mallon) 26, Tanfield (S Breslin, A Sneddon and K McLauchlan) 1; Fenwick (J Black, B Queen and M Auld) 19, Grahamston (R Stoddard, J Reid and J Mackie) 15.
Final - Broxburn 18, Fenwick 14.
Fours: Semi-finals - Glenluce (I Laverie, D Fisher, A McHardie and A Hainey) 21, Gartcosh (J Moss, S Campbell, W Kilgour and G Quate) 10; Newton Park (D Hill, A Marshall, W Cole and D Wyllie) 19, Castle Douglas (W Brydson, B Lockhart, T and G Maxwell) 18.
Final - Glenluce 21, Newton Park 13.
Senior fours: Semi-finals - Killermont (J McNeill, D McLean, W Morton and J Harvey) 12, Stoneyetts (J MacDonald, H McGurk, P McPake and J Stevenson) 11; Irvine Winton (H Frew, A Marshall, G Weir and W Kilmarnock) 17, Tulliallan (J Wallace, W Rodger, J McDonagh and R Erskine) 13.
Final - Killermont 14, Irvine Winton 9.
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