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Lothian Smallbore Shooting Association |
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Competitions & Results
The Association provides
a wide-ranging selection of competitions for its affiliates. All
take place in the winter indoor season (October to March).
For Sale -
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Go to Division 2 30/01/2012: Pathhead A v Selkirk. Well, what can I say after last week's prediction? Pathhead beat their very out-of-sorts visitors from the Borders by a considerable margin, and take over the second place spot, two points behind Balerno & Currie with a match in hand over them and a much better aggregate. If Pathhead repeat this performance in next week's match against Selkirk it might put the league title within their grasp and beyond the reach of the past champions. This league is as wide open as I've seen it for years and it won't be over till it's over. Pathhead's top scorer in this match was Niall Georgeson with 197 - way ahead of everyone else on the night, while best for Selkirk was Bill Vaughan with an uncharacteristic 190. Niall takes over from Bill at the top of the (qualifying) averages list for this divsion. The home team took the Matchplay points 7-1 and that secondary competition is starting to look pretty even too. 06/02/2012: Pathhead A v Selkirk. Selkirk travelled back to Pathhead in the hope of halting their recent decline in fortunes, and improved their score from last week by ten points. It wasn't enough, though, as a rampant home team improved their score too, and won handsomely. Selkirk have now lost three on the trot and all four losses have been away matches. Anything in that? Only time will tell, but their next match is also away, to Heriot's in three weeks' time. Pathhead A take over from Balerno at the top of the table on equal points but with a better aggregate. It's certainly not over. Top scorer for Pathhead was again Niall Georgeson with another 197, and joint top for the visitors were Ian Burton and Bill Vaughan scoring 191s. Selkirk were on the receiving end of what could well be their first-ever whitewash in the Matchplay, losing 8-0.
League Table ---
Click on each team to see its detailed record for the season. Balerno & Currie Pathhead A George Heriot's FP Selkirk
Click here to see archived historical results. Previous match commentary: 03/10/11: Selkirk v George Heriot's FP. The season kicked off with Heriot's making their way down the A7 for their first visit to Selkirk hoping to get their programme off to a good start against last year's champions. Alas it was not to be as the home team, despite being two regular team members short, took the points easily by ten points. Nobody shot particularly well or particularly badly on either side, but Selkirk always had the edge, taking the Matchplay points 7 to 1. Top scorers for Selkirk were Bill Vaughan and John Milne with 195 each, and top for Heriot's was Chris Watson on 193. 10/10/11: Pathhead A v Balerno & Currie. The new-look Balerno & Currie team nipped round the Bypass and down the A68 a ways to take on Pathhead A and attempt to record their first win in this competition for two seasons. It was a close match but the visitors did indeed triumph, by only two points, for a welcome win. If they can keep up this level of scoring, and perhaps improve on it, with a refreshed team then who knows, they may yet challenge Selkirk for the title. Top scorers for Pathhead were Alistair Parlett and Niall Georgeson with 194 each, while top for Balerno was Richard 'Ziggy' Hall with 196 with newcomer Ryan Bain only a point behind in his first-ever match in this league. Balerno & Currie also took the majority of the Matchplay points. 13/10/11: George Heriot's FP v Pathhead A. Last season's runners-up Heriot's lost their second match in a row to visitors Pathhead, bouncing back from their early defeat to Balerno & Currie. They shot exactly the same score, but it was too good for the City team, who obviously haven't found their form yet. Early days though. Heriot's top scorer was again Chris Watson with 193 and the best for Pathhead was Niall Georgeson with 196. The Matchplay points were shared 4-all, which was the best that Heriot's could have got. 20/10/11: Balerno & Currie v George Heriot's FP. From being perennial whipping-boys, Balerno & Currie now stand proudly on top of Division 1 after two wins on the trot following Heriot's unfruitful visit. It was a fairly easy win for the home team, who shot a similar score to their previous match, but Heriot's are getting worse with each match and will have to improve if they want to make a mark in this league this season as they are now three for nothing as they say and have a lot of catching up to do. Top scorer for the home team was veteran Frank Gifford with 196, but top on the night was Heriot's Colin Aitken with 198. Both he and Balerno's Ryan Bain scored 'possibles' - the first time there have been two in a match for some time. Ryan rather spoiled his average by starting with a 94. Colin's score took the visitors' only Matchplay points (top score versus bottom score). 10/11/11: Balerno & Currie v Selkirk. Balerno are definitively on a roll now! This eagerly awaited top-of-the-table clash against visitors Selkirk gave them their third win on the trot. This puts them securely on top of the league with an undefeated record. Could this be the team that breaks Selkirk's three-year stranglehold on the Championship? However, all three of the top teams have very similar averages, so it's by no means over yet and there will be a lot of interesting matches coming as Pathhead certainly can't be discounted. Top scorer for Balerno was Sinclair Bruce with 195 but top on the night was Selkirk's Keith Nixon on 196. Unusually, it was the losing team that took most of the Matchplay points, with Selkirk winning that battle 6-2. 14/11/11: Selkirk v Pathhead A. Selkirk did what they had to do against their visitors from Pathhead, and took the spoils by only 3 points in a high-scoring match, leapfrogging them into second place behind unbeaten Balerno. All three teams at the top have almost identical averages so it promises to be a close programme. The home team had the top two shooters on the night with Selkirk's Bill Vaughan and Keith Nixon shooting identical 197s, while Alastair Parlett was best for Pathhead with 195. Four-all in the Matchplay. 25/11/11: Selkirk v Balerno & Currie. Balerno & Currie's undefeated run came to an end when Selkirk showed their true colours by posting their best score of the season and taking revenge for the away loss to their visitors a couple of weeks ago. Balerno's score was well down on their score then and was their lowest this season. Eight to zip in the Matchplay also says something about the scale of the win for the home team. Their top scorer was Bill Vaughan with a pair of 99s. while Frank Gifford and Ryan Bain were best for Balerno with 190 each. These two teams are now tied at the top of the table with one loss each, but Selkirk take the top spot on aggregate. 28/11/11: Pathhead A v George Heriot's FP. Pathhead keep their challenge alive by this convincing win against Heriot's, which keeps the city team firmly anchored at the foot of the table with no points yet. They managed to buck their trend of shooting worse in each successive match though so this might be their turning point. Pathhead stay in 3rd and they had a 3-way tie for top-shot honours, with Niall Georgeson, Alastair Parlett and Stephanie Geddes all scoring 194, while Chris Watson was best for Heriot's with 191. It was another whitewash in the Matchplay, with the home team taking all eight points. 05/12/2011: George Heriot's FP v Balerno & Currie. In a cracker of a match Heriot's suddenly found their form and defeated visitors Balerno by one single point . If past performance was anything to go by then Balerno would have been expecting an easy win, but the home team upped their game considerably to take the points with nothing to spare. Their top scorer was Chris Watson on 195 and his 99 on his first card probably won the match. Top for Balerno was Gavin Walker, making his first appearance of the season, also on 195. Matchplay points were unsurprisingly shared at 4 each. There is no change to the league though, but the top 3 all have similar averages and with Heriot's getting back into the swing of it, it all looks pretty open. 09/01/2012: George Heriot's FP v Balerno & Currie. The first match of the new year saw Balerno & Currie travelling into town again to first-foot Heriot's in a repeat of both teams' last matches a month ago. In that match Heriot's upped their game considerably over their previous performances to win by a single point, and this time the same team delivered exactly the same score as in that match. However, it wasn't enough this time as it was Balerno's turn to up their game and their six-point improvement gave them the points. The overall aggregate equals the highest-scoring match of the season so far. Balerno & Currie now go top of the league, although Selkirk do have two matches in hand. Top scorers for Heriot's were Stewart Mackenzie and Chris Watson with 195s, but way out front on the night was Balerno's captain Peter May with 198, including a 'poss' on his second card. As in the previous match, the Matchplay points were shared 4-all. 16/01/2012: George Heriot's FP v Selkirk. In what only can be called another shock result, bottom-placed Heriot's continued their giant-killing act and inflicted on Selkirk their second defeat of the season. In a very low-scoring match the champions for the last three years never got into gear and went down by six points to what must have been an elated Heriot's side who shot slightly better than their average. However, it was only their second win and they remain at the foot of the table. At the top, Balerno & Currie retain the lead but Selkirk are still lurking just behind them, now with only one match in hand. It can't be denied that this unexpected result has opened the league right up. Pathhead are the dark horses - they have only shot four matches and have the best average. Who's betting they won't make an impact too? Their two home matches against Selkirk this and next week might have a huge influence. Top scorer in this match for Heriot's was Chris Watson with 194 and best for the visitors, in their first match since the end of November, was Ian Burton with 193. Heriot's took six Matchplay points to give their total a good boost. |
