All change at the top!
What a week that was! Katie, whose progress had hitherto been serene - regal, even - found that John Steven was in no mood for jokes, royal or otherwise. 9-4 the score in this one.The other front-runner had been Andrew Galloway; he found himself up against an international front-end, including the skip of the current Scottish Ladies Junior Champion team. For a man who has done a lot of cropping in his time, he came a cropper (don't you just love it?) this time and was on the wrong end of a proper thrashing from Mrs Barr (ooh err, Mrs!). Fortunately, he got his ends away, scoring three.
Robin and Andrew B had a toothy tussle that swung one way (at one point, Andrew was 9-2 ahead), then back the other; the game ended in a 9-9 draw.
In the clash at the rear end of the table, Brian came out on top - again in a bit of a one-sided game, 9-3.
Three thrashings and a draw. Bring on Mr Freud.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | ||||||||||||||||
| F | A | E | F | A | E | F | A | E | F | A | E | F | A | E | F | A | E | F | A | E | F | A | E | |
| Barr J | 7 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 3 | 4 | |||||||||
| Wood K | 8 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 3 | |||||||||
| Barr A | 5 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 2 | |||||||||
| Kesley | 3 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 1 | |||||||||
| Fleming | 4 | 9 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 1 | |||||||||
| Copland | 2 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | |||||||||
| Steven | 9 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 5 | |||||||||
| Galloway | 3 | 15 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 3 | |||||||||
All of which leaves the table looking something like this with two rounds of curling to go.
| Position | Team | Played | Ends | Shots U/D | Shots | Points |
| 1 | Barr J | 5 | 19 | 27 | 50 | 8 |
| 2 | Steven | 5 | 22 | 7 | 35 | 7 |
| 3 | Galloway | 5 | 21 | 3 | 32 | 7 |
| 4 | Wood K | 5 | 19 | 5 | 34 | 6 |
| 5 | Copland | 5 | 20 | -2 | 32 | 4 |
| 6 | Barr A | 5 | 14 | -5 | 34 | 3 |
| 7 | Fleming | 5 | 12 | -9 | 25 | 3 |
| 8 | Kesley | 5 | 14 | -26 | 21 | 2 |
Pick your winner from any of the top four teams. Robin, if he wins both his games can get to eight points. He plays Susan Kesley and Jane Barr, but there are too many people between him and top place for him to have a realistic shout at anything other than second place. Apart from anything else, Jenny and John play each other in one of the remaining games; if Jenny wins or draws, she moves out of his range. If Jenny lost to Robin, but beat John, then she would be on 10 points and, if Robin beat Susan as well, he would be on eight. John's other game is against Susan, so let's say that Susan won that game (he has already lost to Jenny in this scenario), then Robin could overtake him.
What about Andrew G? He's got Katie and Andrew B. Right - let's say that Andrew B beats Andrew G and then he draws with Katie. Andrew G moves to 8 points and Robin can get in amongst him on ends in that scenario.
Katie has Brian Fleming and Andrew G to play. Let's say she loses to Brian and draws with Andrew. Even if she beats Andrew G, in that scenario, she moves to 8 points and Andrew (if, as postulated, he loses to Andrew B) stays on 7.
OK - here's the deal. One of four teams can win and one of five can end up as runner-up. Which is another way of saying that, if you are in the Andrew B, Susan K or Brian F teams, you are officially goosed.
