The senior brigade from East Lothian Bowling Club are nursing serious wounds this week after suffering a 25-shot defeat from arch-rivals Edinburgh & Leith at Hillside BC on Monday in their week four fixture in the Inter-County Senior League Cup for the coveted Matt Purdie Trophy.

Despite a win against the city side in the opening game of the campaign, after eight ends the writing was on the wall for the Garden County ‘auld yins’ as they struggled to find the weight of the green in the Edinburgh sunshine and in the end lost 61-36.

“Losing this fixture is a huge disappointment and a major setback to our prospects of making the knockout stage; however, if we can sort ourselves out and win all our remaining games we can still put pressure on leaders Fife,” said team manager Andy Burt.

Dunbar ace Tommy Young salvaged a bit of pride for East Lothian as he skipped Robert ‘Banger’ Strang, George McLeod and Mike Hunter to a fighting 15-14 win against Adam Davidson.

Gordon Blyth was unlucky a few times but only won four of the 15 ends completed to lose 20-7 to A. Melrose.

Dougie Kennedy’s rink had a bad day at the office and went down 15-8 to A. Brock, while Billy Higgins and his front three of Stewart Fitzsimmons, Sandy Delaney and Alastair Russell went down 12-6 against former Macmerry star B. J. Smith.

The team face another huge confrontation on Monday when they travel across the River Forth to tackle section leaders Fife at Gallatown Kirkcaldy BC.

Team: S. Fitzsimmons, S. Delaney, B. Brunton, B. Higgins skip. J. P. Hamilton, A. Russell, J. Greenwood, D. Kennedy skip. M. Hunter, JM Hogg, R. Strang, T. Young skip. D. Hogg, R. Scott, G. Gray, G. Blyth skip. Reserves: B. Fotheringham, J. Holmes, K. Boyd.

Bus pick-up times are as follows: Corn Exchange, Haddington 10am; EL-Coop BC, Tranent 10.15am.

Any player selected who is unable to play or unsure of travel arrangements is requested to contact Andy Burt immediately on 07783 323079.

The biggest week on the outdoor bowling calendar comes to the fore from Tuesday as Ayr Northfield is the venue for the gents’, ladies’ and senior national finals.

The showpiece event continues until next Sunday and embraces singles, junior singles, pairs, triples, fours and mixed pairs.

The county challengers are: Men’s Singles, Gordon White (Aberlady); Men’s Junior Singles, Grant Thomson (East Linton); Men’s Pairs, Stephen Whitson and John McCrorie (Tranent); Men’s Triples, Ian Thorburn, Gary Landells and Billy Mellors (West Barns); Men’s Fours, Jamie Gordon, Gordon Baillie, Steven Thomson and Craig Valentine (Port Seton); Men’s Senior Singles, Michael Carey (Longniddry); Men’s Senior Fours, Charlie Sobolewski, Peter Johnstone, Ian Gibson and Sandy Delaney (Haddington); Mixed Pairs, Derek Oliver and Leanne Baillie (Port Seton); Ladies’ Singles, Yvonne Veitch (EL-Coop); Ladies’ Senior Singles, Joy McLeod (Aberlady); Ladies’ Pairs, Agnes Thomson and Iris White (East Linton); Ladies’ Triples, Margaret Thomson, Agnes McLeod and Jean Russell (Castlepark); Ladies’ Fours, Hazel Fender, Dawn Murdoch, Amy Newlands and Jennifer Newlands (East Linton); Ladies’ Senior Fours, Betty Gunn, Barbara Macleod, Grace Thomson and Janet Fairnie (Castlepark).

Gifford’s Dean Riva will spearhead the East Lothian challenge at the Scottish Young Bowlers Association National Championships at Ayr Northfield on Monday.

Riva, who is the nephew of Garden County and Scotland legend Alex Marshall, goes for title glory in the blue riband singles event, while Robert Ferguson and Chris Gordon of Longniddry compete in the pairs event.

The challenge in the triples comes from the EL-Coop trio of Robbie Shields, Cameron Shaw and Robbie Buchanan.

Haddington continue to blaze the trail in Division 1 of the East Coast Carpets-sponsored East Lothian Leagues as they enhanced their position as leaders with a powerful 8-0 home win over relegation-zoned Prestongrange.

It’s a result that keeps them two points clear of second-placed West Barns, who kept themselves in the frame with an 8-0 home win over outgoing champions East Linton.

But EL-Coop remain a danger to both as they moved into third place with a thumping 8-0 win over Cockenzie & Port Seton that leaves them nine points adrift of the leaders.

Castlepark kept their slim title hopes alive with good away form to beat Tranent 6-2, while Gifford’s 6-2 away win at foot-of-the-table Aberlady should eradicate any lingering relegation fears they had.

In tonight’s (Friday) action Division 1 leaders Haddington face a tricky-looking away fixture at Cockenzie & Port Seton, with the hosts knowing they face a must-win encounter to keep their ailing title ambitions alive.

West Barns get the opportunity to put major pressure on the leaders when they visit Aberlady, while EL-Coop have a testing away fixture at Gifford.

Prestongrange play host to Tranent and East Linton welcome Castlepark.

All club secretaries are requested to ensure that all league and cup results, including shots aggregate score, are phoned into ELBA match secretary Keith Fender on 01620 860217 or via text message 07786 110416 immediately after each match.

There is a busy day of bowling action tomorrow (Saturday) as the ELBA Brown Trophy reaches its conclusion at Cockenzie & Port Seton BC.

The last-four action in the Brown Trophy features Tranent against Haddington and Dunbar tackle EL-Coop.

Play gets under way at 12.30pm with the semi-final action and the final is expected to commence at about 3pm.

Aberlady Bowling Club is staging a Senior (Over-60) Open Triples tournament next Tuesday (August 12) and entries are now being accepted by organiser George McLeod on 01875 870735.