Page 5 - Winter 2013

Page 5:Layout 1 09/02/2014 17:24 Page 1

The other match saw Raymond Stubbs of Ireland played Jason McLean of England. Ray- 5
mond was perhaps the pre-tournament favourite for the event but Jason was hoping to
catch him early. Raymond of course was having none of it and after an even exchange grad-
ually built up a lead showing his class and having his sights on the title he also won in 2000 as
well as the Pairs in 2007. By end six he led 5 - 2 but then went on a run of two’s and singles over
the next five ends to lead 13 - 2. Jason then scored a single, as did Raymond but his closing two
three’s left Jason on the end of a hefty 20 - 3 defeat.
The second round of the Singles threw up a bit of a surprise with Scotland’s Lawrence Moffat
edging out Raymond Stubbs by 12 shots to 11, Lawrence held a 9 - 1 lead at one stage but Ray-
mond fought back to finish just one shot behind. This left Lawrence with two wins out of two and
he became favourite with everyone else having lost one, could this be his year? Wales Luke Had-
don meanwhile bounced back from his opening defeat and by scoring more on his winning ends
than England’s Jason McLean he duly won 16 - 9.
In the final round of Singles play, it was all eyes on Scotland’s Lawrence Moffat. He needed
to beat England’s Jason McLean to finally lift the singles title he has so coveted and leave his sev-
eral runners-up behind him. Jason of course was playing for pride having lost both of his games.
At one stage Lawrence seemed almost to have one hand on the trophy leading 13 - 9 but Jason
fought and fought until he levelled the score with just one end to go. The crowd were riveted to
this match and in the end the Englishman took a vital single to win 14 - 13. Meanwhile, Luke Had-
don was beating his Irish opponent 16 - 9 and this meant he had snatched the singles title on
shots difference.
ALAN EDDIE & JIMMY BROATCH WIN THE PAIRS FOR SCOTLAND
ALAN EDDIE & JIMMY BROATCH WIN THE PAIRS FOR SCOTLAND
In the Pairs England fielded a scratch pair
as the National winners from Shropshire
never bothered to accept their invitation
and didn’t even bother to reply, which ap-
parently is not unusual from this county as
they have a history of such indifference, al-
though they have certainly had British Isles
Champions in the past.
England’s Ryan Knight & Chris Hop-
kins were given a bit of a roasting in their
opening match against Ireland’s David
Coulter & Stephen McKinley. At one point
after seven ends England led 7 - 5 but the Irish pair took the next six ends to lead 19 - 6, including
two three’s and a four. An exchange of two’s left the score at 21 - 8 to Ireland.
The other pair’s game in the opening round saw Wales’ Paul & Andrew Hudson facing Scot-
land’s Alan Eddie & Jimmy Broatch. This was humdinger of a game that swung first one way and
then the other and with just one end to go the score was level at eleven shots each. In a very
tense last end Wales managed a full house four for a 15 - 11 victory.
In England’s second round they were in much better form with Chris Hopkins & Ryan Knight
beating Wales’ Paul & Andrew Hudson by 15 - 9. In the other match, Eddie & Jimmy Broatch
bounced back from an opening defeat with a hard fought 15 - 13 victory over Ireland’s David Coul-
ter & Stephen McKinley. At one point Scotland led 13 - 6 but a determined fight-back closed the
gap for Ireland but they could not prevent defeat.