SOUTH BANK almost brought off another surprise result in the York C&IU Evening Bowls League when holding Railway Institute to a draw.

The Railwaymen had Peter Riley's rink to thank for steaming away from Alan May's four and winning by a huge margin to secure the aggregate points.

For South Bank, John Snowden's rink always had the upper hand against Mal Bulmer and, although Kev Potter's rink allowed RI to whittle away their early lead, they were outstanding over the last two ends to win by one shot to tie the game.

Holgate took advantage of Burton Lane not being able to raise a side and gained all eight points to take second place in the table, two points ahead of RI and only one behind leaders Clarence who beat St Clement's 6-2.

Acomb 'A' lost their unbeaten status in the Afternoon League when going down to Holgate 'A' - leaving four teams on eight points at the top of the table.

St Clement's 'A' are surprisingly still without a win and languish at the foot of the table.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire's Middleton Cup team took a big step towards reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in five years by securing victory against a strong Lincolnshire side, leaving the White Rose top of their group going in to the final round of matches.

Lincolnshire were ahead after five ends but Yorkshire gradually grew into the fixture and by ten held a small lead, with Phil Emmerson’s rink leading the charge by taking a ten-shot lead over the rink skipped by former national champion Scott Dunham.

By 18 ends the overall result was left in no doubt, with Emmerson’s rink already off the green having recorded a fabulous 28-10 victory.

That left the issue of individual rink points to resolve, which was still in the balance, with the rinks skipped by Ben Render, Sam Winter and Vinnie O’Neil all involved in tight battles.

Winter’s rink managed to secure a one-shot victory over Ashley Caress, with O’Neil’s rink pinching a two on the final end to secure a draw.

Render and Dominic Kelly’s rink succumbed to narrow losses against strong opposition and, in the remaining match, York RI Amateurs star Paul Humphreys’ rink ran out comfortable 26-13 winners over Andy Dunham.

Yorkshire's final group fixture is away to Northumberland in three weeks’ time, when any overall victory would almost certainly see them through.

Among the players in the county team alongside Paul Humphreys were A Humphreys (York RI Ams), A Horobin (Holgate), G Bunce (Haxby Road), P Parsons (Holgate), M Bruce (York RI Ams) and P Emmerson (Holgate).