Its next challenge? To stay there.

Port Fairy Red climbed to fourth spot after recording an 86-78 win against Timboon Gold on Saturday.

But club veteran Jim Lowe knows the evenness of the competition — 21 points separates fourth and eighth after eight rounds — means his side can ill-afford a hiccup. 

“It was good to get a win and sneak into the top four,” he said.

“We’ve just got to keep winning now.”

Jim Murray (28-10), Peter Grenfell (23-20) and Chris Fox (23-22) used Port Fairy Red’s home-ground advantage to secure rink wins.

Arthur Finch was Timboon Gold’s sole winner, downing Steve Gibb 26-12. 

Lowe said Port Fairy Red had its “nose in front all day”.

“We had two rinks lead pretty well all day and it was only towards the finish that one of the Timboon sides came back,” he said. “Timboon is sitting down the bottom of the ladder but there is not much difference between them and the better sides.

“It depends on the day who fires up. They will worry some sides during the year, especially at Timboon.”

Lowe said conditions were “ordinary” for much of the afternoon, causing havoc for both teams.

He said the muggy weather eased in the latter stages. 

“There was a strong north wind and the greens were running a little slower than normal because of the rain overnight,” he said.

Lowe said the division one ladder was intriguing with sides swapping ladder positions regularly. 

He credited improvement in the lower-ranked sides and similar playing surfaces at all venues for evening the competition after Warrnambool Gold and City Memorial Red played “catch us if you can” for more than 20 seasons. 

In other round eight games, Warrnambool Gold unseated Koroit Blue at the top of the ladder.

Both sides secured wins to finish the round on 95 points apiece but Warrnambool Gold’s 132-75 thumping of bottom-placed Lawn Tennis Red ensured it leapfrogged Koroit Blue on shots up.

Koroit Blue was too strong for Terang Green at Victoria Park, cruising to a 107-76 win.

Dennington Red squeezed home against City Memorial Gold 84-81 in a match where rinks were split. 

City Memorial Red had two dominant rinks in its 136-52 annihilation of Warrnambool White.

Kevin O’Keeffe (42-12) and Kevin McMahon (45-11) produced powerful performances in the clean-sweep victory.

Mortlake Blue celebrated a narrow 97-87 win against Warrnambool Blue, giving the 10th-placed side a much-needed confidence boost.