BAR Lane have taken over top spot of the Thwaites East Lancashire Premier with only three games to play.

The Bolton club took full advantage of their game in hand, collecting all 14 points against Blackburn's East Lancashire club, then collecting a further 12 points away to their neighbours Turton.

Even though second-placed Colne Cricket collected 10 points at home to the Globe they now trail The Lane by six points.

Albert Starkie and Ray Vickers, both 21-10, did the damage at Turton, while John Haslam, 21-8 for the Villagers, prevented the whitewash.

Results: R Utility 92-4 Darwen Subs 114-10; St Andrews 124-12 Colne Legion 82-2; Turton 89-2 Bar Lane 113-12; Bar Lane 126-14 East Lancs 85-0; East Lancs 124-12 Greenhill 75-2; Colne Cricket 116-10 Globe 102-4.

Fixtures: Greenhill v R Utility; Darwen Subs v St Andrews; Colne BL v Turton; Globe v Bar Lane; Colne Cricket v East Lancs.

The Cricketers hauled in 10 points against the team that beat them in the Hille Cup last weekend, The Globe, but the gap may to too great for them to close as the season draws to a close. Driver 21-8 was the best for Colne, while Schofield's 21-4 did the damage for the Accrington club.

Burnley's Saints kept themselves in the top half with a 12-2 win against Colne's British Legion, Michael Harrison doing the damage with a 21-8 win and Marshal 21-19 preventing the whitewash for the Legioners.

Darwen Subs had a good away win against the vastly improved R/Utility. With only a top half place to play for, the Darwen will be disappointed with their form of late, but will be consoled by their early season cup win. Harvey's 21-3 for the Subs and Keith Scaifes 21-12 for the Helmshore club were the best on the day.

The game between Blackburn and Burnley, East Lancs and Greenhill, went to form, with the Blackburn club gaining a 12-2 win. Brett 21-6 for East Lancs and Alan Marsden 21-19 prevented the whitewash.

P W L D Pt

Bar Lane ... 15 11 4 0 148

Colne Cricket ... 15 11 4 0 142

East Lancs ... 15 9 6 0 118

Darwen Subs... 15 10 5 0 118

St Andrews ... 15 9 5 1 111

Globe ... 14 9 4 1 107

R Utility ... 15 4 11 0 92

Turton... 14 5 8 1 79

Colne Br Leg ... 15 3 12 0 64

Greenhill ... 15 1 13 1 59

Merit

W Ave

G Shuttleworth... 14 128

M Yarwood... 13 97

J Bentley... 13 93

A Handford... 11 68

A Starkie... 7 61

L Evans... 10 58

P Brett... 9 52

D Fryer... 7 52

B Howarth... 8 44

A Croxhall... 8 38

J Mort... 8 35

B Trevett... 5 35

B Driver... 3 36

M Woodworth... 9 34

F Lord... 10 33

B Gilmore... 8 33

W McClellan... 8 33

S Clamp... 9 31

A Pilkington... 7 31

P Sutcliffe... 7 30