Lymphoy Cup First Games on Friday 10 January at 7.30pm

Here are the teams for the Lymphoy Cup, the first round of which takes place this Friday at 7.30pm.  The eagle-eyed amongst you will note that there are two enforced changes from the card - Gina Aitken replaces Norman Nicol in Jenny Barr's team 1 and Karen Munro replaces Barbara Wood in team 2.  The best to both of them, obviously for a swift return to the rink; I know that Norman hopes to play in the Tom Holmes and that Barbara has everything crossed for a return to the fray in the new season.

Team	Skip	Third	Second	Lead
1	Jenny Barr	Raymond Preston	Gina Aitken	Sheena Munro
2	Katie Wood	Dave Munro	Karen Munro	Simon Kesley
3	Andrew Barr	Andrew Cargill	Nook Weir	Donald Kennedy
4	Susan Kesley	Bob Barr	Lois Copland	Anne Anderson
5	Brian Fleming	Mike Wood	Margaret Nicol	Joe Barry
6	Robin Copland	Shona Watt	Morna Aitken	Pauline Alexander
7	John Steven	Catriona Still	Susan MacFarlane	Francis Kennedy
8	Andrew Galloway	Niall Gunn	Betty Gibb	Agnes Barr

The draw remains as in the card, so the first round pits Jenny against Katie, Andrew Barr against Susan, Brian against Robin and John against Andrew Galloway.

Looking at the teams, I am going to stick my neck out and suggest that Andrew Galloway (the defending champion skip) looks to have a strong team all the way down the rink; that Brian Fleming and Mike Wood could combine at top end pretty well and that finally the two Andrews, Barr and Cargill also look strong.  This probably means that John Steven will win the competition and that the three I mentioned will finish somewhere near the bottom of the pile.

The eagle-eyed (there you are again - twice in one blog!) will also have noted that I have not mentioned the Robin Copland team.  A thorn in amongst a bed of roses - that's all I'm saying.