ESSENDON may be striding towards a top-two finish in Henselite Premier Division but arch-rival Moonee Ponds is still within striking distance in spite of a draw against Bundoora RSL at the weekend.
The duo continued to stretch their lead as the top pair in Saturday pennant, with the Bombers still top of the table after downing Lalor by 12 shots.
Moonee Ponds drew 9-69 each with Bundoora RSL in a Saturday twilight match before backing up against Werribee RSL on Sunday.
The catch-up game means the top pair will finally be level on matches played, with Essendon on Sunday morning on 188 points from 15 played, while Moonee Ponds was on 172 from 14, the same tally Essendon had through 14 games.
Werribee RSL was third on 156 from 14 played.
Mark Jacobsen's 23-8 rink victory against Bundoora RSL's Luke Aiello was the big gain for Moonee Ponds on Saturday, with Adam Galloway (23-19 against Keith Fraser) the other rink winner.
Brett Spurr (13-22 against Nick McIntyre) and Shane Fordham (10-20 against Gavin Niclasen) lost their rinks.
Essendon won 16-88 to 2-76 against Lalor with Peter Loe (30-18) the biggest winner while Matt Flapper (24-19) and Aaron Tomkins (20-13) also won.
In division 1 section 2, Moonee Valley's pursuit of the minor premiership received a major boost as the top two teams in the division were both beaten at the weekend.
Moonee Valley took care of business with a comfortable 17-77 to 1-63 win against sixth-placed Lalor 2 in its match.
But the points had that bit more impact on the ladder this week as ladder-leader MCC (197 points) was beaten 18-0 by Melbourne 2 and second-placed Richmond Union (196) was beaten 15-3 by ninth-placed Ivanhoe.
The results did not dislodge the top two but now leave the ladder MCC (197), Richmond Union (196), Moonee Valley (192) and Melbourne 2 (186).
In division 2, section 2, Flemington-Kensington defeated West Coburg to retain top spot on the ladder and hold off the chasing pack for another week.
Flemington-Kensington (16-97) downed West Coburg (2-66) while division rival Strathmore stayed in hot pursuit by matching the points with a 16-84 to 2-76 win against Moonee Ponds 2.
The ladder leader now has 192 points from Craigieburn (182), Strathmore (178) and Lalor 3 (147) who jumped from sixth to fourth, overtaking Moonee Ponds 2 (133) in the process.
In division 3, section 1, Maribyrnong Park was the latest team to fall victim to run-away unbeaten ladder leader Melton.
Home-ground advantage at Maribyrnong Park counted for little as the visitors won 15-87 to 3-58.
Maribyrnong Park's 105 points keeps it eighth on the ladder ahead of Sunbury 2 (88) while division rival Gladstone Park failed to improve on its 115 points in seventh after a 0-51 to 18-100 defeat against Altona Sports at the weekend.
In division 3, section 2, a trio of Moonee Valley-based teams suffered heavy defeats as Clifton Park, Aberfeldie and Buckley Park collected just four points across three separate matches.
Buckley Park started the round fourth but lost 2-70 to 16-82 against Sunbury 3, while Aberfeldie lost 0-69 to 18-79 against Lalor 4.
Clifton Park suffered the most damage on the ladder after its 2-77 to 16-79 against last-placed Werribee RSL 4, falling from second to fifth.
Sunbury 3 is top of the ladder with 169 points, from Lalor 4 (160), Keilor 2 (150), fourth-placed Strathmore 2 (147) then Clifton Park (146), Buckley Park (141) and Aberfeldie in seventh (131).
In representative bowls, Essendon's Ben Fearn skipped a clean sweep for Victoria under-18s against South Australia in a three-test series held at Ascot Park in Adelaide last week.
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