Western stars in the ascendant as they pull further away from rivals

THE top six clubs in the men's Jerzees League paired up in yesterday's fixture programme, with only defending champions Western able to afford to lose. They won - their seventh game on the trot - defeating Kelburne 4-1 at Bellahouston.

In the other two key matches, Dundee Wanderers put Grange further behind the pace with a 4-2 victory inspired by a hat-trick from the prolific Niall Stott, and Aberdeen Asset Management's Phil Webster also slotted away three first-half goals, enough for a 3-2 win over Menzieshill, for whom Andrew Thornton and Kenny Stibbles attempted a great comeback.

All of which left Western still six points clear of the field. Against them, Kelburne seemed in the mood to play the man not the ball, and the first half ended as Western's Calum MacLeod emerged with a bloody nose from a fracas with David Fowler's trailing stick. That earned the Kelburne skipper a yellow card, but the 1-1 half- time score reflected the play, with goals from Richard Forsyth and Gareth Hall.

After the interval, though, Western upped a gear, inspired by an excellent performance from Graham Dunlop. In the 42nd minute, he blasted a free hit from the right into the circle, where Gordon Moore deflected square to give Western the lead.

From the restart, it was Dunlop again who drove the ball to find Forsyth inside the circle in position to score his second. And, from a penalty corner soon after, Moore made it 4-1.

In the women's league, Bonagrass Grove players queued up to score against Menzieshill. Two hat-tricks by Nikki Kleppang and Evie Durham led the way, with Linda Clement (2), Cheryl Valentine, Vicky Bunce, Ailsa Roberts and Sue Fraser also scoring.

That barrowload may be needed later to separate Grove from Westcoast Western, who yesterday ended any thoughts of a challenge from Grange Edinburgh Ladies. They were three up through Gill Green, Karen Barr and a superb reverse stick strike by Leigh-Ann Scott, before GEL replied, Dorileen Forbes scoring on the break. Ailsay Young's penalty corner conversion made it 4-1.

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