It was crunch time for York and District Indoor Bowls Club in the Famous Groups Top Ten Tournament when they played closest rivals Hull 'A' and then Hull 'B'.

Needing a win or draw against the 'A' team to top the Yorkshire group, they didn't disappoint in an amazing match, which turned out to be the closest contest in the two-year history of the competition.

Stuart Bryan's game against Alan Croft lasted 29 ends, Croft scoring the all-important shot to win 21-20.

Charlie Bateman, brought in as a late replacement for David Stroughair to skip the fours, joined Michael Brucc, Graham Brook and Dudley Williams and, despite dropping a five on the first end and trailing 15-9 after 13 ends with the three-hour time limit drawing closer, took the game 16-15 to level the home aggregate at 36-36.

At Hull, Paul Mooring and Graham Instone led 9-3 after five ends of the pairs, but by the 11th were pegged back to 10-10. The York duo led 15-13 by the 17th but a good run for the hosts saw them lead 19-15 going into the last end. Importantly the visitors got three shots to only lose by one.

In the triples, John Emmerson, Dave Hewick and Frank Turner enjoyed a brilliant start to lead 9-0 after two ends and after the 11th were 12-7 up.

The hosts then scored highly to lead 15-12 with four ends to play, but again the York team showed determination and won the last four ends by singles to win 16-15 and share the away aggregate.

With only one-point differences in each tie and the aggregate level, both teams picked up 7 points, which meant York only needed 11 points against Hull 'B' to make certain of a place in the finals for the second year running.

At York, Emmerson, Hewick and Williams made light work of the triples, winning 27-3, while Mooring and Instone easily won the pairs 27-13, scoring two fives on the way.

The away fours saw the return of Stroughair, who was joined by Brucc, Brook, and John Walker, and they were never in danger, winning 21-11.

The only blemish for York was Frank Turner's 21-16 defeat in the singles, but the scores were sufficient for them to collect 13 of the 15 points at stake.

New Earswick, playing in this competition for the first year, were disappointed by Hull 'A's failure to play their fixtures.

Hull's pairs failed to turn up at New Earswick, while their triples, knowing they had no chance of picking up the necessary maximum points, decided to go home without playing.

This meant it was a wasted day for the New Earswick players.

The organisers will determine the result of this fixture.

York Ladies moved into the area final of the Vivienne Trophy after a 104-63 win over Doncaster.

At Thanet Road, Jocye Gee, Doreen Fennell, Margaret Smith and Pat Lofthouse were in control as they won 30-11, while Anita Haw, Clarice Johnson, Pat Teasdale and Ida West turned a 13-10 deficit after 13 ends into a 21-17 win.

At Doncaster, Betty Richardson, Cath Blease, Sylvia Walker and Marjorie Elvidge controlled their game, leading 27-2 at one point and winning 37-15.

The rink of Pat Bracken, Marilyn Andrews, Ann Coatesworth and Maureen Robinson had a tougher game, going down 26-16.

York now play Cumbria next Thursday.

New Earswick took maximum points from their re-arranged John Smith's Yorkshire League fixture against Saltburn.

Plating at Huntington Road, Bob Edwards, Dave Birch, Paul Dawson and Tony Taylor dropped a single on the first end but won the next eight picking up 17 shots and going to win 29-10.

Ken Harrison, Bill Waldie, Barry Johnson and Ralph Tiplady were also in control, scoring two fives as they won 30-13.

Playing at Saltburn, Brian Gray, Kevin Fort, Tony Abbot and Ken Lippett were 7-6 down after eight ends but then won 11 of the remaining 13 as they took their game 22-11.

In the other rink, Mal Beavers, Anthony Scruton, Mick Stannard and Stephen Long were involved in a much tighter game. They were 17-16 up with four ends to play and a six, three and a single put paid to Saltburn's hopes as the visitors won 27-17.

Updated: 12:35 Thursday, January 24, 2002