The West Midlands closing in on top spot

The second-placed county darters are hot on the heels of leaders London after an emphatic win on the road last weekend,

Their four teams all left unbeaten as they eased to a 25-14 success, making it four victories out of five so far this season.

The only clash in which they were held was the ladies B affairs, where the two sides played out a keenly-contested 3-3 draw.

Shellbie Simmons scored the visitors' best average, with 18.89 to roll over Leesa Wollard 3-1. Suffolk's Barbara Chenery had 16.98 to beat Jacqueline Maiden (17.21) by the same verdict.

The West Midlands got on top with the men's B proceedings, prevailing 8-4 to take a match lead. Scott Baker romped to a 3-0 whitewash with 28.36 over Jamie Collins (18.96) along the way.

Stuart Greenlaugh's 24.41 for Suffolk was only enough to lose 3-2 to John Morris (26.45), while the hosts' John Attwater notched 23.48 for a 3-0 shut-out over Mick Hoult (18.62).

Coming out on top 4-2 in the women's A proceedings left the West Midlands 15-9 up going into the men's finale.

Sarah Roberts racked up 21.13 for a 3-1 result over Chrissy Stubbings (17.61), while Jo Locke (18.30) replied to beat Debbie Loon (17.77) by the same scoreline.

Suffolk's men's A line-up made a fist of their clashes before going down 7-5, helped by Nick Bloom (26.72) and his 4-0 rout of Avtar Singh (24.29) as play was upgraded to best-of-seven.

Ian Jones' weekend-best average of 27.32 to see off the spirited Stephen Burton (27.23) in the last leg led the way for the West Midlands.

And two-time BDO World Championship semi-finalist Chris Mason, now of Hednesford, got them over the line with 26.38 to see off David Ballard-Flatt (27.40) in the last leg.

Victory went to the away ranks 19-14, with three extra points for the winning county. They next host Northamptonshire, at Gilberts Bar in Willenhall, on the weekend commencing March 5.