East Lothian IBC men’s side’s hopes of making the it to the Scottish Premier League play-off final are still very much a realistic dream after they registered a hard-fought 79-71 home victory over Lanarkshire, while B section leaders Aberdeen suffered defeat at Ardrossan.

With two fixtures remaining, East Lothian have closed the gap to just two points and now have the leaders firmly in their sights.

In tomorrow’s (Saturday) penultimate week of fixtures, East Lothian face a tough trip to Falkirk, while Aberdeen enjoy home advantage but face a Lanarkshire side fighting for their lives to avoid relegation.

“In my pre-match team talk I praised the players for their performances, but more importantly their character over the last few games, but I stressed we need to keep up the high standards until the end of the season,” reflected team captain Mark Johnston.

“They did not disappoint me and responded with another solid display in a tough encounter against good opponents.” Wins on the rinks skipped by Billy Mellors and Jamie Higgins carried the day for East Lothian and covered the defeats sustained by Scott Kennedy and Derek Oliver.

Mellors produced a totally focused performance that saw him skip Ewan Fallen, Calvert Allison and Dougie Berwick to a 25-13 win over Mark McGowan.

Higgins continues to revel in the challenge of skipping in place of the unavailable Alex Marshall and in the company of Mark Johnston, Calum Darling and Andrew Jeffrey defeated Robert Gordon 20-15.

Kennedy and his rink of Lessel Middler, Gary Darling and Stuart Thomson went down 20-16 against John Simpson, while the rink of Gary Muir, Andy Burt, Graham Robertson and Oliver suffered a 23-18 defeat from Robert Grant.

East Lothian will head to Falkirk still missing Marshall and Willie Wood, but other than that the Garden County will be at near full strength for the must-win clash.

The selectors have decided to make one change to their line-up, with Kieran Simants replacing fellow youngster Calvert Allison at second in the rink skipped by Billy Mellors.

Team: L. Middler, G. Darling, S. W. Thomson, S. Kennedy skip. G. Muir, A. Burt, G. Robertson, D. Oliver skip. E. Fallen, K. Simants, D. Berwick, B. Mellors skip. M. Johnston, C. Darling, A. Jeffrey, J. Higgins skip.

The ladies’ side on Saturday did enough to score a nail-biting 70-65 win over Tweedbank and still remain in pole position in Division 1C of the Scottish Ladies League, with only one fixture remaining.

Wins on the rinks skipped by Yvonne Veitch (+13) and Janet Fairnie (+6) were sufficient enough to cover the setbacks suffered by Emma Brown (-2) and Nancy McNeil (-12).

So everything is set for a final-game winner-takes-all clash between East Lothian and Balbardie at Meadowmill tomorrow. The eagerly-awaited encounter starts at 2pm.

Team: M. Kivlin, P. Turner, M. Thomson, J. Fairnie skip. J. McFarlane, R. Mackintosh, M. Hamilton, E. Brown skip. M. Devine, J. Russell, C. Ward, Y. Veitch skip. M. Murray, I. Combe, G. Mackintosh, N. McNeil skip.

Meanwhile, on the international stage, the strong East Lothian contingent of Willie Wood, Graham Robertson, Derek Oliver, Scott Kennedy, Billy Mellors and Jamie Higgins have all been named in the Scotland side announced by the SIBA for the British Isles Home International series being held once again at Stanley IBC in County Durham from March 12 to 14.

There are also congratulations for Emma Brown after she was named in the Scotland Ladies side and the 24-year-old will participate in her fifth consecutive series in the Ladies British Home International series, also being held at Stanley IBC from March 6 to 8.

The talented senior side from East Lothian IBC were in Scottish Senior League quarter-final action on Wednesday when they tackled current title holders Falkirk at West Lothian IBC.

Meanwhile, the qualifying action on the Jock Brodie Senior Challenge Cup resumed last Wednesday and defending champions East Lothian A got their campaign off to a winning start following a 6-2 points win over Bainfield. In the other fixture played, Midlothian defeated Abbeyview by a similar scoreline. East Lothian A were back in action on Wednesday, this time playing Headwell, while Midlothian also returned and clashed with Tweedbank.

A side from East Lothian IBC is in first-round Scottish Mixed Team Championship action on Sunday against West Lothian at Balbardie IBC in Bathgate. Former outdoor national singles champion John McCrorie will spearhead the Garden County challenge in the singles, while Janet Dickson and Stevie Thomson forge a partnership in the pairs. Dee Hoggan, Andy Burt and Tommy Young will be the representatives in the triples, while in the fours it’s Megan Kivlin, Gordon Pryde, Emma Brown and Scott Logan.

The youth side at East Lothian IBC have a busy day of action tomorrow at Meadowmill as they play Falkirk in a league and cup double header. First up at 7.50am is an East of Scotland Junior League fixture, followed by a SYIBA Top Ten first-round clash at 10am.

Finally, the funeral of well-known county bowler Kenny Mason, who was tragically killed recently following a road collision near his home town of Gullane, will take place today (Friday) at Seafield Crematorium from 11am.