DESPITE a disappointing home slip up to County League Championship contenders, Fishwick Hall, Bury Seniors hung onto second place in the Red Rose League by the narrowest of margins.

John Latham and Rick Boyd opened against the Preston side with a draw against visiting skipper Frank Lawrence and Pat Houston before Jim Pilkington and Sid Hyams edged Bury ahead with a 2&1 win against D Noblett and J Carr.

Fishwick hit back to level when M Blanchard and M.Blanche triumphed by a similar margin against Brian Little and Peter Dawson before storming into an unassailable lead with three consecutive 3&2 victories.

First Steve Bracegirdle and Stan Horne, then Ken Pendleton and Dennis Taylor and finally Tim Whitehead and Gordon Swinnerton failed to muster a point.

It was left to Denny McKinstry and Gerry Barnes to salvage some respectability to the scoreline with a 3&2 win over D Howarth and I Gardener to leave Fishwick Hall worthy 9-5 winners on the day.

With Hurlston Hall setting the pace with 56 points, Bury are now just one point ahead of Fishwick Hall and Bolton Old Links on 49 points. With Deane also chasing, it remains all to play for.

Bury made nine changes for the challenge match first leg at Bolton Golf Club, recording their best result for some years on the Lostock Course.

Latham and Maurice Almond opened with a 4&3 win followed by a 6&5 win for Jim Pilkington and Gerry Barnes against a Bolton top order, depleted by late withdrawals.

The home side soon hit back with John Bradbury and Rick Boyd losing on the 18th to David Elliott and Julian Grice and Trevor Grimshaw and Glyn Evans suffering a 4&3 reversal at the hands of Richard Hurst and Michael Yates. A similar margin of victory for Brian Simper and Peter Dawson was cancelled out by a 4&3 defeat for Ken Brown and Stan Horn, leaving the match level at 6-6 going into the last game.

Ted Foster and Dave Kerry fought valiantly to halve the tie with Jim Hall and Tim Bolton to leave the final match score at 7-7 going into the home leg at Unsworth Hall next month.