DALMAHOY, Glencorse and Silverknowes all won crunch clashes to boost their hopes of making it to the knock-out phase in this season's Edinburgh Summer League.
In a match which produced some of the best golf of the campaign, Dalmahoy made home advantage count against West Linton, while Glencorse came out on top in a must-win game against Bruntsfield Links at Milton Bridge.
Silverknowes won on the road at
Newbattle, a result described by stalwart Peter Hardwick as "shocking" as far as the Eskbank club was concerned.
Stuart George set Dalmahoy on their way, the newly-crowned club champion coming home in 32, five-under, as he recovered from being four down after ten to beat Scott Walker on the last green.
In a role reversal in the next match, Dalmahoy's Robert Carson was four up with eight to play against Colin Taylor but lost at the last, the scores remaining level after Dougie Hunter's win in match No.3 was countered by a victory for Simon Mackenzie, the former Scottish champion coming out on top against David Marshall.
Kevin Messer and Graham Turner shared the spoils in match No.5, with the Smiths – Steve and Stephen – fighting out the match of the night in the next game in the order. They shared 12 birdies between them as Steve, the Dalmahoy man, won by 2 and 1.
Tom Blennerhasset delivered another point for the home side, the 2008 Lothians Boys' champion standing two up when his opponent, Stuart Leslie, retired injured.
And, though John Stewart beat Iain Campbell in the anchor match, that proved to be too little, too late for West Linton.
Dalmahoy face Liberton away in their next match tonight, when another win will put them in a strong position to secure a place in the quarter-finals.
West Linton bounced back from that defeat to win at Musselbugh, whose match secretary, Ian Shaw, contacted enough players to field three teams but, due to a combination of holidays, family/working commitments and illness, could only muster a weakened side.
The only victory for the home side was provided by Kenny Wright, who produced sub-par golf to defeat Scott Walker in the lead game. Sixteen-year-old Greg Smail halved his game with Colin Taylor, fighting back from an early deficit. Broomieknowe kept alive their slim hopes of advancing from Division 3 with a home win over Baberton, who had whitewashed Liberton earlier in the week.
Baberton got off to a good start with wins for Andy Laurence, Paul Ferrier and Ron Bradly but the home side struck back through Peter Avent, Jamie McIntosh, Colin Renton and Scott Porter.
At Glencorse, Derek Thomson continued his good form from the club championship – he reached the semi-finals – to beat John Liddel after Charlie Simpson had accounted for Neil Shillinglaw in the top match.
Andrew Wight again played solid golf for a 3 and 2 victory, while Sean McGarvey got back on the winning trail with a two-hole triumph.
Iain Melville kept up his winning ways with a excellent 7 and 6 victory – he had five birdies in seven holes – over former Glencorse man Douglas Livingston, with Justin Lamb and Alastair Shanks also winning at the bottom of the order to round off a great night for Glencorse.
Shanks started by hitting a 4-iron to a foot-and-a-half, the first of four birdies and no dropped shots in the 13 holes he played against Keith MacKenzie.
"A good result for us in a match that was always going to be difficult," said Shanks. "It keeps us in with a chance of qualifying from a very tight group."
In their second game of the week, Bruntsfield beat Murrayfield 8-0, bringing Stevie Stuart's men back down to earth after beating Duddingston earlier in the week – their third win of the campaign.
New club champion Nairn McLeod, Dave Marshall, Derek Miller, Tim Bain and Lindsay Grant won for Murrayfield in that one, the latter closing out his match with an eagle at the 18th.
On a night when Ian Doig, Paul Ross and Paul Heggie all won for them, Chris Milligan was the Silverknowes hero, finishing par-birdie-birdie as he came from three down with three to play to secure a half against Gary Rodger. Keith Reilly and Kenny Alexander also secured crucial half points for the visitors as they boosted their hopes of making it to the quarter-finals.
Bouncing back from their defeat at Royal Burgess, Kingsknowe crushed Lothianburn 7-1 in Division 4, the home side's winners including youngster Andy Rowe, who stepped in at short notice and duly beat Dave Berrie by 7 and 6.
"We've got everything to play for with two games to go," said Kingsknowe team manager Bill Buchan. "Two victories will give us a great chance of topping the section."
In their first game for a while, Turnhouse won 6-2 at home against Mortonhall, only suffering a scare early on when Olly McCrone and Steven Armstrong were tamed by Greg Nicolson and Mark Dickson respectively.
Ratho Park kept alive their slim hopes of progressing in Division 1 with a hard-earned win over Swanston. Stuart Imrie, the newly-crowned club champion, got Colin Binnie's men off to a great start with a 6 and 5 victory, with runner-up Neil Sneddon and Ally MacPhail both contributing big wins.
Good halves by youngsters Robert Dobbie and Richard McKenzie-Smith meant the home side couldn't lose before David Campbell secured the win at the foot of the order.
