A SCOTLAND team, featuring Ardrossan’s Martin Williamson, came a very close second to England last week at the Home International Series in Stanley.

They had to be separated by shot difference when both sides had recorded two wins apiece.

The Scots, who lalso had Prestwick’s Paul Boyd in their ranks, got off to a flying start when they crushed Wales by 30 shots (131-101) but came unstuck against a rejuvenated Irish side in their second game, going down 103-99. This left the Scots side needing an 18 shot victory against the undefeated English in the final game, and despite racking up a 112-107 win, it wasn’t enough.

It had looked good for the Scots for a large part of the game as they led by around 30 shots early on, but a spirited fightback by England seen them reduce the deficit and take the title.

Irvine man Williamson, playing second in the Four skipped by Neil Speirs, can be happy with his series as his rink had a 29-12 win over Wales, followed by a 16-15 win over Ireland, and finishing off their series with an 18 all draw against England. Prestwick’s Boyd, playing Lead in the Mike Stepney-skipped Four turned in three quality performances but it wasn’t such good news scorewise as his Four went down in all three games. They lost 23-9 to Wales, went down 24-14 to Ireland, and were defeated 22-20 by England.

PRESTWICK’s Junior side battled through to the semi-finals of the SYIBA Top Ten Championship on Sunday after defeating a strong Auchinleck side in the quarter finals in a game which went right to the wire.

Darren Weir had a good 21-15 win over Carrie McLean, Nathan White and Rebecca Houston added an 11-7 win in the Pairs, whilst the Triples side of Adam Sturgeon, Louise Noon & Ross Copeland scored a 12-6 victory. Rachel Houston, Lewis Brown, Jordan Law and Declan Shaw suffered a 15-10 defeat in the Fours, but they did enough to help the Prestwick Juniors to victory. The Junior stars now travel to Abbeyview on March 29 where they will be hoping to secure a place in the final.