February 07, 2016

The Final


MacDonald took a dominant lead in the final taking the first four ends to lead 5-0. Alan MacDougall’s side kept the pressure on, they took a single in the 5th and guarded up in the 6th playing aggressively to try and get back into the match. However, a short final stone from Alan meant at least two shots to MacDonald and the handshakes were offered.

Team Ewan MacDonald are Accord ESL Aberdeen City Open Champions 2016. The team now move into 3rd position of the Goldline Scottish Curling Tour with just one event left.



Semis

The first semi-final was between Team England (Alan MacDougall) and Team Wales (Adrian Meikle), so in addition to a place in the final there was national pride to play for too. The English went ahead early leading 5-1 after 5, however the Welsh struck back with a big three. England made their single in the 7th and looked to defend their two shot lead in the 8th. However it was the Welsh that took their chances and Adrian had a draw for two to tie the game. The sweepers nursed it to the button for the extra end. The Welsh placed their guards well early in the extra but when skips came to play the house was open again. Alan was left with an open hit for the game. He held his nerve and made no mistake.

In the other semi-final Lauren Gray, the remaining ladies team in the event, faced the tournament favourites skipped by Ewan MacDonald. It was a tight match at 3-3 after five ends, when Ewan made a draw for two and control of the game. In the 7th, MacDonald managed to get a stone well guarded on the edge of the four-foot and the girls had only a tricky tap to the button to save one. Lauren executed the shot perfectly. The men tried hard to lift a double on the guards in the 8th but never quite managed it. A good draw by Lauren with her last showed Ewan only half stone. This proved more than enough and he peeled it out for a place in the final.

For the second time this weekend Scotland will play England for the cup. Will yesterday’s events at Murrayfield be echoed in Aberdeen today?
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Quarter Finals in Focus

Local blogger Louise Edwards reports on the quarter final action:

The 8 quarter finalists took to the ice at 9am this morning while other competitors were no doubt taking the opportunity for a well earned lie in to ease their sore heads from last night.
Great to see 3 ladies teams making the Sunday stage of the competition, joined by the Welsh and English men and 3 Scottish men's rinks.
 
MacDonald v Fleming
Unfortunately for the girls this game got off to a bad start with Ewan and his team stealing 3 in the opening end. The next end the men continued to pile on the pressure and Hannah was forced to draw for her one before conceding a two and a subsequent steal of two in the fourth. At 7-1 the girls decided to call it a day.
 
Macleod v Gray
This game seemed to have a lot of stones in play from the start, with Scott taking on a number of run backs and angles to try and keep the ladies from running away with the lead. Lauren played a very nice shot in the 6th end, scraping (and nudging) past a shot at the front of the house to take another 2 and a convincing lead - full credit to her sweepers for a lot of effort on that one! Scott attempted a difficult raised split for three in the seventh end but unfortunately only scored one and the team shook. #girlpower
 
MacDougall v Aitken
The first half of this game was a tight affair with scores of one keeping the game close. A pivotal two from the English men when already one up, followed by some effective clearing by the team meant the young Aitken side were run out of stones playing the last end.
 
Taylor v Meikle
Momentum in this game swung between sides, with Taylor taking a big three in the sixth end. The seventh end was blanked leaving the Welsh men requiring a score of two to take the game into an extra end. After Adrian's first stone in the last end, the team lay three (one top four and two in the back eight all on the centre line), Taylor, took on the double for the extra just missing the run back and left Meikle a nose hit for the win - which he duly made.

February 06, 2016

Saturday Evening Round-up





In the Red Section Ewan MacDonald beat Anna Fowler to finish top of the section. With this loss Anna's team failed to make the Sunday just one end short of 4th spot.

In what were two straight play-off games to qualify, Gina Aitken beat Dillan Perras and Scott Macleod beat Maggie Wilson to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively on three wins.

Lower down the table Adrian Meikle beat Ross Fraser for his 2nd win and sneaked into 4th spot moving ahead of Anna Fowler on their 'shots up' score.



Hannah Fleming stole a crucial 8th end from Stuart Taylor to draw their final game in the Blue Section. Stuart remained unbeaten and qualifies in first. The share of the points kept Hannah in the tournament otherwise she would have dropped to 5th place.

Jackie Lockhart played Lauren Gray in an epic battle that saw Lauren steal the last two ends to take victory with a scoreline of 10-9. Lauren and team qualify in 2nd with 3wins.

Alan MacDougall picked up 5 ends in his win over Andrew Hutcheon, this gave him a total of 17 total ends seeing him safely through to the quarters in 3rd.




February 02, 2016

Accord Aberdeen City Open

The penultimate event on this year's calendar gets underway on Friday.


As always the City Open will provide great fun throughout the weekend together with some serious competition.


The draw is below, while more information can be found on the event's own blog: http://aberdeencityopen.blogspot.co.uk/



RED SECTION
BLUE SECTION
Ian Keron
Susan Kesley
Scott Macleod
Alan MacDougall
Ross Fraser
Judith Dixon
Anna Fowler
Stuart Taylor
Gina Aitken
Lauren Gray
Bill Morrison
Jackie Lockhart
Ewan MacDonald
Andrew Hutcheon
Maggie Wilson
Rebecca Morrison
Adrian Meikle
Hannah Fleming
Dillan Perras
Duncan Menzies



Friday


        Draw 1                              12.30 pm   Red Section
        Draw 2                              3.00 pm     Blue Section
        Draw 3                              6.00 pm     Red Section
        Draw 4                              8.30 pm     Blue Section

Saturday


        Draw 5                              9.00 am     Red Section
        Draw 6                              11.30 am   Blue Section
        Draw 7                              2.30 pm     Red Section
        Draw 8                              5.00 pm     Blue Section

        Entertainment & Dinner       8.00pm


Sunday


        Quarter Finals                     9.00 am
        Semi Finals                        12.00 am
        Final                                  3.00 pm

Scottish Championship Draw

The draw is now complete for the Go Coco Scottish Curling Championships taking place in Perth 14th - 20th February 2016, five teams having qualified via the Goldline Scottish Curling Tour. They are:


Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
Cameron Bryce
Scott Macleod
Ewan Macdonald


Good luck!