YORK Indoor Bowls Club beat South Shields 85-65 to make the quarter-finals of the Yetton Trophy - despite only winning one rink.

Maureen Walker, Betty Richardson, Hayley Macdonald and Sue Allen were the heroines at home.

They picked up a three on their first end then dropped a six on the next before regaining the lead with a seven.

After that, they only dropped singles and picked up 20 shots over the last eight ends to win 40-12 - and this proved vital in the aggregate score.

Joan Jackson, June Clayton, Helen Wood and Carol Instone struggled to get going and were 9-3 down after nine ends and then 16-6 after 14. They pulled it back to 16-12 with three ends to play but dropped a single in each.

Away, both teams put in creditable performances.

Dot Kennelly, Sheila Turpin, Melanie Brooke and Linda Harrison picked up a two on their last end to draw 16-16 after being 11-5 down after 13 ends.

Carol Banks, Lynda Parker, Zoe Eagles and Helen Walker led 16-9 with four ends to play but lost 18-17.

York now play Spalding in the last eight on February 20.

York stayed at the top of Yorkshire League division three after picking up ten points in a 84-79 success over Scarborough.

At home, Ken Simpson, Wally Darbyshire, Gordon Walker and Tony Hopcutt were in excellent form, led 11-0 after only three ends and continued in the same vein up to the 14th where they had a 25-3 advantage.

Their opponents won five of the last seven ends to finish 29-11 adrift.

Harley Wenham, Alan Potter, Ray Clark and Jim Robertson were involved in a tough game but scored nine shots between the ninth and 13th ends to lead 19-10. They secured a valuable two points as they scraped through 22-20.

Away, Gordon Fennell, Ron Munro, Allen Clapham and Mal Bulmer found themselves 11-1 down after five ends but a six on the 15th end levelled the scores at 17-17. They lost the next five ends, though, dropping nine shots as they went down 26-20.

John Birch, Allan May, Eric Hodgson and Geoff Walker were 18-13 behind with the other three rinks having completed their games and the aggregate score standing at 84-75. It was crucial that they didn't drop nine shots on the run-in and they only lost four as they ended 22-13 adrift.

York don't play again until March 5 when they will meet second placed New Earswick in a potential title decider.

Friday sees York Vikings endure a must win match with Featherstone Jets if they are to have a chance of winning the Yorkshire Over-55s division one title (12 noon). On Saturday, York IBC host the Durham versus Lincolnshire Liberty Trophy quarter-final tie (12 noon).

At the same time, the ladies play North Cave in the North Eastern League.

On Sunday, the Yorkshire Ladies U25s and O60s singles qualifying rounds take place, starting at 10am.