Haddington Bowling Club lived up to their reputation as strong finishers with a tremendous 7-1 home victory over fellow title contenders EL-Coop in last Friday night’s action and it is result that has thrust them to top spot with just two fixtures remaining in Division 1 of the East Coast Carpets-sponsored East Lothian Bowling Leagues.

The Hi Hi’s ambition to capture the coveted title in the new league set-up for the first time received a major boost with pre-match leaders and chief rivals West Barns collapsing to a shock 7-1 defeat at home to Gifford.

West Barns tackled Gifford defending a three-point lead at the top of table, and a great record at home, so with everything to fight for were left suffering post-match blues to now find themselves three points adrift in second place.

“It’s a defeat that has stunned us and we are mystified by a terribly flat performance from the whole team,” reflected spokesman Scott Kennedy, who added: “We are determined to bounce back from our worst performance of the season to keep the pressure on Haddington.” The destination of the title could still go right down to the wire, with Haddington facing two tricky away fixtures at Gifford, then Tranent, while West Barns entertain Castlepark, then visit relegated Prestongrange.

There is little prospect of it turning into a three-horse race as Cockenzie & Port Seton could only manage a 4-4 share of the spoils at Tranent and, although now in third place, find themselves 11 points off the pace, with EL-Coop and Castlepark a further point behind.

Castlepark inflicted more misery on foot-of-the-table Aberlady with an 8-0 home win, while relegated Prestongrange added to outgoing champions East Linton’s woes with a 6-2 home win.

Castlepark look bang on course to be the second club ever to have two sides in the top division after their second-string side took a huge step towards winning Division 2 with a 6-2 away win at Athelstaneford, while chief rivals Dunbar collapsed to a shock 6-2 away defeat at foot-of-the-table Macmerry.

It’s congratulations to all concerned at East Lothian Labour Club after they were crowned champions of Division 3, despite suffering an 8-0 defeat at EL-Coop A.

It rounds off a memorable season for the Polson Park-based club after their ‘auld yins’ captured the Division 1 title in the senior leagues.

The big win for EL-Coop A saw them pip Ormiston to the second promotion spot.

Cockburnspath lead the way in Division 4, while Prestongrange A look set to clinch the second promotion place. The stakes are high for Haddington tonight (Friday) with the Division 1 leaders defending a three-point lead but facing a tricky away trip to Gifford.

West Barns are the chasers and still entertain high hopes of stealing the title but to stand any chance they must defeat Castlepark on home soil.

Third-place Cockenzie and Port Seton need to do the business at East Linton, then hope for miracle results at other venues, and it is the same situation for fourth-placed EL-Coop when they play host to neighbours Tranent in the ‘Belters’ derby.

It is a battle of the relegated sides when Aberlady entertain Prestongrange.

Meanwhile, the ladies’ leagues came to an end last week.

In the Ladies League Triples, Gullane were crowned the champions with victory over North Berwick. Dunbar finished second.

The Ladies Night League was also won by Gullane, ahead of the two EL-Coop sides, while the Ladies Senior League honours went to Gifford ahead of West Barns.

The ELBA County Championships are now up and running, with the semi-finals due to be played on Wednesday evening at Cockburnspath and Dunbar bowling greens respectively, while the finals day will be staged at West Barns BC tomorrow (Saturday).

The finals of the gents’ singles, junior singles, pairs, triples, fours and senior fours will all be down for decision at 2.30pm and a day of anticipated action-packed drama gets under way at 12.30pm with the finals of the youth singles and fours.

Meanwhile, ELBA match secretary Keith Fender is calling on all 2013 winners to hand back their respective trophies to him or hand them into West Barns BC before tomorrow.

The action in the most prestigious cup competition of the season, the ELBA Jubilee Cup (Top 10), swung into first-round action on Monday evening and saw Dunbar, Castlepark, EL-Coop, Haddington, Tranent, West Barns, Cockenzie & Port Seton and Prestongrange all progress through to the second round, with the matches due to be played this coming Monday evening at 6.30pm.

All senior players who participated in this season’s Inter-County Senior League Cup campaign for the Matt Purdie Trophy are reminded that an end-of-season bash will be held at Dunbar BC this coming Monday at 10am. Any player who cannot attend please contact team convenor Andy Burt immediately on 07783 323079.

Former National Singles champion John McCrorie is celebrating etching his name on the championship singles board for the record equalling eighth time at Tranent BC when defeating new boy Alister Russell 21-18 in the final. McCrorie now stands one title away from beating the record held by club legends Robert Small and Graham Robertson.

Steven White is a first-time champion at EL-Coop after he came out on top 21-18 in a thrilling final against Kenny Boyd.

The final at Prestongrange was due to be played last night (Thursday) and was being contested between Michael Greenan and Ross Marwick, while Elphinstone has also reached its final stage and sees Peter Fallen tackle Kevin Gordon.

The championship singles at Cockenzie & Port Seton is at the semi-final stage and six-times champion Derek Oliver faces another former champion in the shape of Ronnie Branley, while Steven Morgan plays Gordon Baillie, with both ties due to be played last night.

Gifford Bowling & Sports Club is staging a Top Four tournament on Saturday, September 6, and entries are now being accepted by phoning 01620 810517.

Finally, the East Lothian bowling community is in mourning following the recent death of Harry ‘The King’ Cunningham, who passed away last Tuesday after a lengthy illness.

Harry was a stalwart figure at Tranent Bowling Club for many years and also represented East Lothian at county level on many occasions both outdoor and indoor. He is survived by wife Jeanette.

A funeral service will be held at Tranent Parish Church today (Friday) from 10.15am and thereafter at Tranent Cemetery for 11am.

The draw for Gifford Bowling & Sports Club Senior Open Triples, sponsored by Solutions by B & S Ltd, on Wednesday is as follows: 9.30am: Dirleton 2, S. Galloway, W. Higgins, W. Kerr, J. Forbes, S. Neish, Dirleton 1, R. Veitch, B. Wilson, D. Waugh, D. Kennedy, M. Hunter, P. Laidlaw, J. Campbell, B. Fotheringham, Dirleton 3.

10.30am: Linlithgow 4, W. Colgan, S. Todd, G. Anderson, S. Plenderleith, B. Brunton, Linlithgow 3, T. Taylor, J. Combe, Linlithgow 2, V. Renwick, Late Entry, T. Kerr, M. Wood, M. Grindlay, Linlithgow 1.