THE East Lothian senior side missed out on lifting the Matt Purdie Trophy, losing the final of the Inter-County Senior League Cup on Monday.

The Garden County ‘auld yins’ were beaten by four shots 72-68 by West Lothian at Abbeyview Bowling Club in Dunfermline.

East Lothian made a fantastic start to the match to lead by 23 shots but they failed to capitalise on the lead and West Lothian hit back, finally drawing on level terms at 53-53. Then disaster struck for East Lothian when the rink skipped by Andy Burt lost by eight shots on the last end of their clash with legendary footballer Colin Stein, and that put West Lothian ahead for the first time in the match and their remaining four rinks held on for victory, despite a late East Lothian onslaught.

Tom Young, team convenor, said: “I can’t fault the great spirit and gallant effort put in by my players but at the end of day we fell short again and the inconsistency in our play over the last few ends of the match was punished by our opposition.”

A big travelling East Lothian support cheered a great win on the rink skipped by Young (+12) but it was not enough to cover the setbacks, albeit all single-figure ones, suffered by Andy Burt (-2), Alan Morgan (-2), George Cowan (-4) and Alistair Russell (-8).

Meanwhile, an end-of-season game for the side has been planned for Sunday, September 2, at Haddington Bowling Club from 10am.

All squad members are requested to attend and anyone unable to do so is requested to contact Andy Burt immediately on 07783 323079.