Colin Goldsworthy notched Mortlake Blue’s only rink win but his nine-shot triumph was enough to ensure a 90-all tie in the final home-and-away round before the month-long Christmas break.

Mortlake Blue skipper George Draffen said Goldsworthy made a seamless transition to the top role after replacing Mark McDonald who was unavailable for the round 12 fixture.

“We threw Colin in there. He is going to be a good skipper for us in the long term,” he said.

“He played third for Ian MacDonald last week and has been playing second in rinks.

“He’s working his way up. Unfortunately he couldn’t play the first two or three weeks of the season so he took a while to get into it.”

Draffen said Mortlake Blue, which enters the break in ninth spot, started strongly against Port Fairy Red.

But he said the visitors justified their top-four standing after afternoon tea to surge home.

“We were 14-up at afternoon tea time overall but they are a good side and just kept coming,” Draffen said.

“It was disappointing in a way, like every draw, because you’d have liked to have won and I was a little disappointed with my own form. But it was a pretty good result as Port Fairy is a good side.”

Draffen said despite a shaky start when it lost its first five games, Mortlake Blue was capable of producing some upsets on the run home.

“We are happy to be competitive and if we can win a few more games before the end of the season, we’ll be happy,” he said. “No one is going to take travelling to Mortlake lightly.”

Koroit Blue smashed Lawn Tennis Red in the top-versus-bottom battle. The Victoria Park-based club’s clean-sweep 134-55 win ensured it entered the Christmas break in first place, 10 points clear of City Memorial Red.

Koroit Blue skipper Brendan Keane said the club needed to produce a strong result against Lawn Tennis Red, given the evenness of the competition.

“We had to treat it like a game where we were playing Warrnambool because we needed to get points on the board,” he said. “We couldn’t afford to relax and take it easy.”

Keane said Koroit Blue was rapt with its dominant start to the season.

“At the end of the day that last game of the year is what you have to strive for.”

In other fixtures, Warrnambool White split the rinks in its hard fought 93-88 win against Timboon Gold, sixth-placed Terang Green’s 94-83 win over Warrnambool Blue kept it within striking distance of the top four, City Memorial Red squeezed home against clubmate City Memorial Gold by one shot and third-placed Warrnambool Gold thrashed Dennington Red, 123-75.

justine.mc@fairfaxmedia.com.au