Survival in the Scottish Premier League is probably now the key ambition for the ultra-talented gents side from East Lothian IBC this season and that campaign mission received a huge boost with Saturday’s stunning 55-shot victory (100-45) over fellow strugglers Falkirk at Meadowmill.

East Lothian finally got two points on the board and the major significance of their triumph is that it moves them up to fourth position in the highly competitive B section.

Hopes now are that the victory will kickstart the Garden County side’s season and see them move away from the relegation zone.

“Without doubt that was our best performance of the season with a welcome and well-deserved win,” said team captain Mark Johnston.

He added: “The side was nervous going into the game, as another defeat would have been disastrous, but credit to the players, they kept their heads and showed real character in an overall excellent team performance.” The performance from East Lothian was immense under skips Derek Oliver, Scott Kennedy, Alex Marshall and Billy Mellors, with all having the measure of their respective opponent.

Oliver earned rave reviews by skipping Kieran Simants, Andy Burt and Graham Robertson into a promising 7-1 lead over Simon Thomson. Oliver and Co continued to fly high and led 21-6 after 15 ends before converting their supremacy into an impressive 27-7 victory.

Kennedy made the most inspirational contribution of the lot in the early stages, having skipped Lessel Middler, Gary Darling and Jamie Higgins into a 16-2 lead after 10 ends and the outcome was never in doubt as they cruised to a 29-10 triumph over former Garden County ace Steven ‘Kinch’ Glen.

Marshall made his first appearance of the season and he skipped captain Mark Johnston, Dougie Berwick and Andrew Jeffrey to a 27-13 victory over Willie Hutchison, while Mellors and his front three of Ewan Fallen, Scott Logan and Willie Wood were involved in a ding dong battle with David Taylor before settling for a 17-15 win.

The side is back in action tomorrow (Saturday) when they travel to the Ayrshire coast to tackle Ardrossan. At the time of going to press, no team news had been released but Alex Marshall is definitely an absentee as he jetted off to Australia earlier this week to participate in the Australian Premier League, where he will represent Moama Bowling Club.

Talented lead Kieran Simants is also set to miss out but the ever-reliable Stewart ‘Beanie’ Thomson is expected to return to the line-up.

The ladies’ side have genuine prospects of making it through to the knockout stage of the promotion playdown of the Scottish Ladies League but did their cause some harm on Saturday by dropped points at chief rivals Balbardie.

Hopes were high that they would make it five wins in a row and take a grip of Division 1C, but they stumbled to an 80-75 defeat that leaves them joint top.

“It’s disappointing to lose our unbeaten record but this was always going to be a tough fixture,” reflected team manager Sheena Currie.

A mixed performance saw the rinks skipped by Emma Brown (+15) and Nancy McNeil (+4) have the measure of their respective opponents but the defeats of Cathy Ward (-2) and especially Janet Fairnie (-22) were very disappointing.

The side is back in action tomorrow when they have home environment advantage against West Lothian.

Team: M. Kivlin, P. Turner, M. Thomson, J. Fairnie skip. A. Barclay, M. Devine, D. Rowan, C. Ward skip. J. McFarlane, J. Russell, R. Mackintosh, E. Brown skip. M. Murray, I. Combe, G. Mackintosh, N. McNeil skip.

Meanwhile, Emma Brown and Dee Hoggan have both been named in the Scotland Ladies Under-25 team that will play a trial match at Glasgow IBC on Sunday, November 30.

The senior side continue to impress in the East B section of the Scottish Senior League Cup, with last Wednesday’s hard-fought 65-56 home win over Bainfield making it four wins out of four and keeping them top of the table.

Wins by the rinks skipped by Tom Young (+9) and Peter Laidlaw (+5) were ably supported by a strong finishing Willie Wood to grab a one-shot win, with Jock Brodie (-6) the only loser.

The side was back in action on Wednesday when they welcomed Hawick-based Teviotdale to Meadowmill.

Meanwhile, there was to be no joy for the East Lothian trio of Jim Neilson, Billy Higgins and Alister Russell in the National Senior Triples after they suffered a 19-5 defeat against Midlothian in Sunday’s third-round action at West Lothian IBC in Livingston.

The youth side’s opening match in the East of Scotland Junior League on Saturday was a 7-0 points defeat on home soil against local rivals Midlothian.