Gold triumphed 97-80, winning three of the four rinks, but it was a tough battle, according to City Memorial Gold skipper Ray Cooknell.

“It was a pretty hard-fought game right throughout,” he said.

“The rinks were pretty even all throughout the day.

“We ended up getting the three rinks up and lost the other one on the last end.”

The City Memorial side won its three rinks 24-17, 26-18 and 23-20, while Mortlake prevailed 25-24 in the remaining rink.

Cooknell said Gold only lost the rink on the final end in a contest indicative of the day as a whole.

Up by two heading into the final end, they were trumped by Mortlake, which scored three points to win by one.

Across the day, a similar story unfolded.

“At afternoon tea were were one shot up across the line,” he said.

“Each team had its turn in front and each rink really at most stages was very close.”

Cooknell’s own rink was no different.

“We got away to an early lead and then led for probably two-thirds of the day, and then Mortlake got in front and then led for four to five ends towards the end,” he said.

“We were down with two ends to go and we were lucky enough to pick up a multiple of six on the second last end of that.”

The win saw City Memorial Gold rise two spots to seventh.

Warrnambool Gold flexed its muscles with a big win over Timboon Gold.

The ladder leaders triumphed 117-70, with the win underpinned by huge victories from two of its rinks.

Home club Timboon won the other two rinks 21-19 and 21-16, but it was not enough with Warrnambool Gold prevailing in the others 46-12 and 36-16.

A comprehensive victory over Lawn Tennis Red launched City Memorial Red into second spot on the ladder, with the City Memorial side securing a 126-61 away win.

The visitors won all four rinks, narrowing the gap between it and Warrnambool Gold to just eight points on the ladder.

Terang Green won three of its rinks against Warrnambool White to prevail for a 100-80 away win.

Dennington Red lost three rinks to Koroit Blue, going down 80-94, but could take a comfort in winning its one rink by a considerable margin, with a 34-15 victory in Darren King’s rink.

In the closest game of the round, Warrnambool Blue was pipped by Port Fairy Red 99-101, with both clubs claiming two rink wins.