EAST Lothian’s bowlers were keen to get their qualification from the east section of the Hamilton Trophy back on track after consecutive defeats to Midlothian and West Lothian, writes Matt Osborne.

Newtown St Boswells would host East Lothian against the 2022 runners-up Borders.

And it would be the visiting Garden County that would stun their hosts as they raced to a 28-16 lead after five ends.

The home squad hit back by the halfway mark as the main scoreboard read 55-46 in East Lothian’s favour.

A sun-drenched green, coupled with a vocal crowd, seemed to spur East Lothian more than the home side as the race to the crucial 100 began.

End 15 saw the visitors take what looked like an unassailable 92-66 lead in the quest for a crucial win.

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But a shout of a five for the Borders at end 16 ignited a fightback across the green as the home side looked to claw back the deficit.

However, East Lothian hit the 100-shot milestone first and all looked well to register their second victory of the campaign.

The Borders once again raised the noise levels and looked to peg back over the closing ends but a resilient performance from the away side saw them close out the game 121-106.

The victory sets up a mouth-watering tie today (Saturday) at Dunbar Bowling Club as East Lothian host a high-flying West Fife side.

Meanwhile, the East Lothian under-25 squad were looking for a quick return to action and winning ways after narrowly missing out on progression from their league section.

They were drawn in a preliminary round of the Top 10 against Renfrewshire and welcomed the west coast side to EL Co-op on Sunday.

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As always in the Top 10 competitions, the all-important singles (Danny Stevenson) can often dictate the outcome of the tie with a convincing win.

The reigning under-25 national singles champion wasted no time in dispatching his opponent 21-9 with the advantage of his home green.

The score would mean the junior side would likely require just one more win from the remaining three disciplines.

Not to be outdone, club-mate Robbie Shields skipped Cammy Shaw and Lennon Rafferty to a resounding 23-4 win in the triples, while the brother-and-sister duo of Dean and Beth Riva wrapped up an 18-12 win in the pairs.

The tie was rounded off with a win in the fours as David Young skipped his rink of Kieran Dodds, John Clark and Logan Kennedy to victory to complete a whitewash 10-0 win for the hosts.