North Berwick capped a successful season, in which they already won promotion to the 1st Division, by beating the Div 1 champions, and near neighbours, Tantallon 3-2 in the semi-final of the Cup. And in fact the close scoreline did more to flatter the Div 1 champions than it did the apparent outsiders. At the top of the order Chris Wood and Mike Gray were approximately 4 under in seeing off Fraser Symon and Duncan Forbes. And there was a similar story in the 3rd tie, where Andy Hall holed out solidly throughout the match to also secure victory on the 15th green. Then Craig Hardie delivered the Coup de Grace when his beautifully struck approach to the 16th green finished no more that four feet from the hole, setting up a birdie opportunity which Horry Lawson duly converted for a 3/2 win. Tantallon did manage to salvage the scraps from the remaining two ties, but it proved to be too little, too late.
So North Berwick go into their fifth Cup Final in the 10-year history of this event, still looking for their fist win. Their opponents will be the winners of Royal Musselburgh vs Craigielaw.

Tantallon battled hard against a resurgent Haddington to share the spoils on the day and retain their League title. The first two ties were both won by the visitors on the 17th green, but the home team found their form in ties 3 and 4, which they won comfortably. That set up a showdown between Gareth Pugh & Liam Brown for the hosts, and George Bair & Adam McDonald for the visitors. The home team’s 4 was good enough to win the 17th hole to go 1 up and secure the league title, but the visitors fought back to win the last hole and share the spoils.

In a day where the outcome of the league title might have been determined, and the relegation teams finalised – in fact neither happened.
Taking on a strong opponent, as well as the weather, proved to be a step too far for a depleted Tantallon team, who succumbed 4-1 to Gullane, their only remaining challengers for the title. Attention therefore turns to their final match of the league season, at home to Haddington, in which they must avoid defeat to complete their defence of the league crown. That assumes of course that Gullane can complete their campaign with a win at Kilspindie. Should they succeed, and Tantallon fall short, then the title will go to Gullane once again.
At the other end of the table Longniddry fought hard for a 3-2 win over Royal Musselburgh, to avoid (or perhaps delay) relegation. To avoid the drop the equation for Longniddry is now simple. They must win their final match at Craigielaw, whilst Haddington lose to Tantallon – and Longniddry need to score 3.5 points more than Haddington. A tall order perhaps, but they go into their last league match with something to play for..

Gullane came through the closest of tussles with rivals Craigielaw – the decisive tie in the end being the third one in which Graeme Clark and Scott Walker defeated Craig Davidson and Ross Colquhoun on the final green. The win means Gullane are left as the only challengers to Tantallon for this season’s league title.
The two teams will be familiar with this situation, having gone head-to-head for the title twice in recent years. In 2018-19 Gullane would up winning the title on points difference, then in 2019-20 it was Tantallon’s turn for success.
This time round Tantallon must travel to Gullane on 20th Feb, knowing they will win the title if they can avoid defeat. The task before Gullane is to win that match to take the season to the final round. Then they must secure a win at Kispindie while Tantallon lose at home to Haddington, to see the league decided on points difference once again.

There was a tense match at Haddington, where “relegation rivals” Longniddry were the visitors. None of the ties seemed to be particularly close – and the home team looked to be doing enough to secure the points with decent leads in ties 1, 2 and 5. But Longniddry fought back from 5 down to level in the bottom tie, before a relieved Haddington pair stumbled over the line to win on the last green.
Elsewhere there were wins for Gullane and Craigielaw – the only remaining challengers to Tantallon. And these two face each other next week, with no room for anything other than a win if their challenge is to continue. Watch this space !