Mt Xavier went into round six in sixth position - just one place and 11 shots ahead of Webbcona and the facing the likely a major challenge.

It now sits fourth, having overtaken BMS and City Oval.

While there were some sizeable margins at Mt Xavier, Phil McGrath had to fight all the way to get the points 21-20 for the home combination.

Ballarat and Learmonth opened up the opportunity for Mt Xavier to climb to fourth.

The day began with just 10 points separating second to sixth – opening up the possibility of a shuffle up and this was exactly how it panned out.

Top team Ballarat secured maximum points with a 115-46 clean sweep of City Oval and third-placed Learmonth fell over the line 94-92 against BMS.

It was only the second loss of the season for BMS.

City Oval, which has slipped from fifth to sixth was no match for Ballarat, which had victories of 28-8, 25-20, 22-10 and 40-8.

The Learmonth and BMS battle was full of mixed results, with two rinks producing sizeable margins – Wal Whitehead taking the honours for BMS 27-13 and David Kelly dominating 34-19 for Learmonth.

Meanwhile, second-placed Creswick continued on its way, defeating Ballarat East by 29 shots.

With the top three all winning, the gap has widened in the leading half of the ladder.

Even though their form remains solid enough, BMS and City Oval will need to respond in the coming weeks.

Webbcona has slipped to be 25 points outside the top four and cannot afford to have this gap get any bigger if it is stay in finals contention.

BDBD pennant now has a one-week break before resuming on Saturday, November 24.

BALLARAT EAST 72 lt CRESWICK 101

S Kay, B Wiffen, G Lucas, P Dean 14 lt A Penrice, H Irwin, B Huntley, S Hepworth 22

D Coulter, M Jarrett, J Dean, M Kay 27 d J Chamberlain, R Cooper, T Blackburn, T Hedger 19

G Christie, B Bellingham, C Uthenwoldt, R Christie 11 lt M Booth, T Booth, S Pope, G Flapper 29

T Ryan, B Moy, A Rickard, T Driscoll 20  lt R Ohlsen, D Cooper, G Antonio, A Annear 31

MT XAVIER 106 d WEBBCONA 88

N Biggin, P Forrest, R Bellingham, C McDonald 33 d R Davidson, M Collins, D Pattie, C Young 20

R Storey, F Duggan, G Bride, D Lamb 31 d S Cook, A Marshall, M Alpen, H Worsley 15

B McKeegan, S Warke, K McKeegan, P McGrath 21 d B Garnham, G Gullock, G Atkins, G Van Kessel 20

M Trickey, N Dart, B Horwood, P Morris 21 lt S Braybrook, B Colins, S Edmonds, G Blackburn 33

LEARMONTH 94 d BMS 92

F Lennecke, G Plier, B Pym, W Lennecke 13 lt W whitehead 27

R Peskett, M Casey, T Griffin, D Kelly 34 d D Schreenan19

M Powell, C Findlay, R Powell, D Pike 23 lt M Sloper 27

W Rowe, J Mullane, C Powell, A McCormack 24 d S McLan 19

BALLARAT 115 d CITY OVAL 46

D McGregor, C Fothergill, M Fothergill, A Dalgleish 28 d T O'Farrell, E Kierce, J Harman, T Gutteridge 8

S Bromilow, A Emonson, G Stewart, Z Stewart 25 d K Nunn, J Roberts, M Brown, W Roberts 20

L Cornish, B Forrest, W Fitzgerald, B Fothergill 22 d K Watts, P Orr, K Magrath, I Robinson 10

D Anwyl, T Stewart, S Wilson, T Wood 40 d S Kurzman, M Walton, B Morris, L Sims 8

SMEATON 85 lt CENTRAL WENDOUREE 88

A McKee, J McNaught, D Taylor, J Taylor 20 d T. Lee, M. Cashin, A. Bishop, J. Quick 15

K Clohesy, P Sewell, G May, D Toose 24 lt R. Watson, B. Adams, K. Watts, G. Brown 31

P Kersley, C McKee, G Toose, G Pickering 22 d L. Cashin, P. Murray, S. Cashin, J. Adams 21

J Gervasoni, R Briggs, R Mizzeni, R McCrum  19 lt  J. Nimmo, I. Forbes, M.Kennedy C. Johnson 21