Scotland in danger of claiming wooden spoon in Wales

Lothians man Scott Knowles was today trying to lift his Scotland team for their final match of the Home Internationals against Ireland at Ashburnham in Wales.

Knowles watched his team's hopes of Raymond Trophy glory disintegrate yesterday with an 8-7 defeat to defending champions England which left the Scots bottom of the table with two defeats. The Scots made a solid start and Michael Stewart and Ross Kellett picked up a half point from the top foursomes tie with Tommy Fleetwood and Laurie Canter while the pairing of James Byrne and Lothians champ Allyn Dick eased past Tom Lewis and Chris Lloyd by 5&4. England took charge of the lower order, however, and won the remaining three matches to take a crucial 3-1 lead into the afternoon singles.

They extended that advantage when Fleetwood beat Byrne 3&2 and, despite a 3&1 win for Stewart over Lewis, defeats for Kellett, Dick and Peter Latimer inched England towards victory.

The Scots rallied with wins for Philip McLean, Kris Nicol and Brian Soutar but a halved match between Jordan Findlay and Matt Nixon pushed England to the winning eight-point total.

In the day's other match, Ireland beat Wales 8-6 to leave both sides with one win each. England have the upper hand, however, with two wins and a vastly superior points difference.