Scottish Student Sport League

Dewars Centre, Perth, 21st November 2012

Edinburgh University came into this game knowing that they would need to start much better and play much more consistently if they were going to improve on their performances in their previous SSS games in October.

Edinburgh certainly started much brighter than last time with McQuistin making a very impressive take out, despite finding the ice having more grip than last time, to allow Edinburgh to steal a one.

However Edinburgh quickly realised they were in a game with Strathclyde 2 bouncing back and taking four points in the next two ends despite Stirling drawing well.

Quick to bounce back, Stockton played his first stone into the house however with Strathclyde missing the take out, Stockton was able to produce a lovely guard which protected his original stone until the end where it was joined by an excellent takeout by McGaan to bring Edinburgh right back into the match.

Edinburgh then levelled the match in the fifth end with some excellent skipping from McGaan, allowing Edinburgh to protect one of Stirling’s consistently excellent draws with a ‘guddle’ of stones at the front of the house. However they were not able to carry this momentum forward with Strathclyde 2 changing to a much more open hitting game.

Edinburgh, however, continued to believe in themselves with McGaan reverting back to a guddling tactic, with McQuistin protecting Stockton and Stirling’s stones. Despite this, a very lucky tap-up by Strathclyde 2 restricted Edinburgh to a 1. This knocked Edinburgh’s confidence, which Strathclyde ultimately took advantage of.

This was certainly the closest SSS league game in recent memory for Edinburgh University and was proof that this team are continuing to gel and improve. It surely won’t be long until this team gets the results they deserve.

 Fraser Stockton