Linlithgow League
Murrayfield Curling, 16th September 2012

The first time you step out onto the ice in any season is going to be difficult, and the hope is that you can quickly shake off any rust and start making the shots asked of you. Unfortunately, this was not the case for the Edinburgh University side and they got off to a poor start with The 37 Club stealing 3 in the first end. Some lovely guards from McCrossan in a 2nd end played mostly front of tee set Edinburgh up to control the end but with Stockton unable to find draw weight, there was another steal. Things went from bad to worse in the 3rd end with another steal of 3. This time the team were unable to get many stones in play so never really threatened to score.

From being 7-0 down, Edmunds suggested to the skip that a change of tactics was necessary and from the 4th end the skip called a more defensive hitting game which worked in Edinburgh’s favour. Edinburgh then won the next four ends by a score of 3-1. Williams made almost every hit he was asked to make which set up Stockton up for a simple draw to score in the 4th end. He obliged, getting Edinburgh on the board but made his sweepers work hard for the point. A steal in the 6th end gave the University team a boost in confidence but the 37 Club skip snuffed out any chance of a dramatic recovery with an excellent promotion with the hammer. In the final end Edinburgh went out with a bang. Having hogged his first stone, McCrossan more than made up for it with an excellent double take-out. This put Edinburgh in control and the skip capped it off with another double take-out to score 1.

The team will be ruing what might have been given their much improved 2nd half performance. If they had performed like that from the start then there may have been a different result, however, there are still many positives to take from this first defeat. Here’s to a good season!

Eoin McCrossan