STUART AIREY insists England’s lawn bowls men’s triples team aren’t afraid to win ugly after two opening-day victories marked a perfect start to their quest for Commonwealth Games gold.

The 42-year-old from Sunderland, with the help of John McGuinness and skip Jamie Chestney, made light work of first opponents the Falkland Islands – winning 31-8.

But things became a lot tougher in the afternoon against Malaysia as Airey, McGuinness and Chestney trailed 13-12 with just two ends remaining.

The trio gathered their composure however and got their second win of the day, 15-13 this time, to put them in a great position to progress from the group stage.

And, after having to show their battling qualities early on, Airey insists a lot of confidence can be taken into the second day of competition in Glasgow.

“It is two wins on the board and we were all pleased to get through the first day having done that,” he said.

“It was good to get going, we have had a long week of practice so to get the first win under our belts was fantastic.

“We had a tougher test in the afternoon, it was a tougher rink and it was really tricky to read sometimes and the Malaysians played it well.

“We didn’t play as well as in the morning but you just have to stick in sometimes and a two-shot win is as good as a 20-shot win sometimes.

“I have been in fights like that and you need to dig in and get a win – you can win easy or win ugly but you have to dig in at the right time and we did.”

Airey knows exactly what it takes to get on the podium having won a silver medal in the men’s pairs at Delhi 2010 on his Commonwealth Games debut.

And he admits any chance of a medal will rely on their ability to produce when it counts – starting with Pakistan and silver medalists from Delhi Australia today.

“We wanted two wins from the first day, we were in a tricky little group and we have the Aussies and Pakistan next, who are an unknown quantity but two more wins and we will be through,” he added.

“We have set ourselves up nicely and we just need to step it up a gear for tougher tests ahead.

“We have come here with a good squad and are confident, you need to turn up in the big games otherwise medals aren’t given so we are hoping for a medal.”