North Berwick underlined their title aspirations by taking both points from a tough match on the road at Musselburgh.  This was another close tussle for the league leaders, who once again held their nerve in a match that featured three ties going to the eighteenth green.

Indeed for much of the day it looked as though Musselburgh would hang on to their slender advantage, and with the back two ties being shared one apiece, the home team reached the 18^th tee square, square and 1 up in the front three matches.

But the 474 yard 18^th at Monktonhall isn’t for the faint hearted, especially in a westerly wind on a cold November day, and no-one was able to get home in two.  And perhaps surpisingly it was the home pairings that faltered from close range, all three in turn overhitting their pitch to the sloping green to leave awkward downhill shots for par.

And each in turn failed to make amends.  In the top match the hosts were let off the hook when Ally Simpson watched his four foot putt for glory slip by after Chris Wood’s tidy chip, but in the second match Norman Horsburgh’s miss was duly punished when George Cochrane and Richard Johnston made par.

So that left Andrew Millar and Craig Dewar needing to convert their one hole advantage into a win to ensure a share of the spoils for the home side.  But Millar’s pitch was too long, and Dewar’s downhill chip left his partner a short but tricky left breaking putt for a half in bogey.  The putt stayed out, allowing Craig Hardie and Horry Lawson to escape with the half point their team needed.

And with the other two Division 1 matches ending in stalemate there’s now a two point gap between North Berwick and their nearest rivals Longniddry, a position skipper Gordon Milligan will relish when he takes his team to play at his former club in a fortnight.