West Bowling face an uphill struggle in the battle to avoid relegation following an 18-4 defeat at Hull Dockers.

Bowling have just four matches left to escape the bottom three - but they showed that they will fight tooth and nail to keep their National Conference Premier status after another gutsy performance against the high-flying Dockers.

West's were still well in the hunt when they trailed 10-0 at the interval and a try on the hour from their man- of-the-match Tim Sutcliffe put the game back in the melting pot.

Injuries to prop Phil Chappell (ribs) and full back Peter Simpson (hamstring) virtually put paid to their chances, leaving player-coach Glenn Barraclough to reflect on what might have been. He said: "The referee hammered us on the penalty count with all the 50-50 calls going in the Dockers' favour, but we stood toe to toe with them and but for two silly errors that cost us tries at vital moments when we were on attack, things could have been totally different."

Queensbury's march up the Pennine League Premier Division table continued with a hefty 48-16 home win over Keighley Albion. Bury have transformed their season with six straight wins to move into the top four and sparkling rugby was once again the order of the day with tries from Kristian Freibach and Lee Baron helping them to establish a 16-10 half- time lead.

They went to town on the re-start with further touchdowns from Darren Wilkinson, Luke Brearcliffe, Lee Charlton, Trevor Stead (2) and Stuart Calvert.

Birkenshaw's woes seem unrelenting following a 37-14 home defeat against Westgate Redoubt.

Birky's recently-acquired bad habit of conceding tries at vital moments once again proved to be their downfall.

Centre Morton Robinson and prop Ben Cousen crossed the whitewash to give them some consolation as the Wakefield outfit cut loose.

Division One side West Bowling A look to be back on song despite just losing out 26-20 at home to St Josephs.

A penalty from hooker Dean Garside got the scoreboard moving and two tries from full back Shaun Tordoff, plus a conversion from scrum half Ashley Wood, saw them narrowly behind 14-12 at the break.

Former Wibsey rugby union favourite Steve Gregory raced over for one of his trademark specials and Wood added the extras to put West's in front 20-18.

And when St Joes had a man sent off, things looked rosy.

But the visitors rallied and, despite their lack of numbers, scored a last-minute converted try to take the spoils.

Undercliffe's short reign at the top of Division Four came to an abrupt end 28-16 against York Acorn at Rawdon Meadows.

Acorn not only took over from the Cliffe at the top, they also ended their unbeaten home record after overhauling their hosts late in the second half. Alex Scargill (2) and Lee Nellist crossed the whitewash for Undercliffe and Roland Padgett kicked two conversions.

Bank Top Harriers' march towards the Division Five title continued with a 52-6 home win against neighbours Clayton A.

The Harriers' best try came from a sparking solo effort by Mark Brown. Unfortunately he strained his knee when he went over. Bank Top made it 11 straights wins.

West Bowling B went down to a disappointing 30-12 defeat against Park Amateurs at the Delph. Matt Broadbent and Craig Hillam posted the tries.

Guiseley Rangers are four points clear with three to play at the top of Division Six following their 30-20 win at Wyke A.

Top scorer for Rangers was Scott Wade with a try and seven goals and further efforts came from Stuart Patchett, John Waite and James Lavelle.

Wyke replied through Craig Flynn, Liam Hay and a hat-trick from Paul Phillips with Mickey Wormald kicking four conversions.