Raymond Terrace have claimed their first win of the season recording a five-wicket win against Thornton with just three balls to spare.
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The Lions finished on 5/185 successfully chasing down Thornton's 9/184 at Jack Collins Oval on Saturday.
Terrace's win leaves Tenambit Morpeth the only team without a victory, with the Bulls going down by 56 after City United's top three posted 1/280 including an unbeaten century by Ricky Dent.
Elsewhere Kurri Weston Mulbring won by 45 runs despite a fighting 68 not out by Will Stoneman who came in with the score at 6/61 and took the total through to 142 chasing the Warriors 187.
A quick-fire 66-run sixth-wicket stand by Matt Sugden and David Hancock gave Northern Suburbs a fighting chance against Western Suburbs, but when Harry King bowled Hancock for 28 with the first ball of his second spell and Sugden was out for 53 soon after, the Plovers' 257 was too much and Norths were all out for 187.
At Jack Collins, Terrace produced a terrific team performance to hand the Thunder their third loss from the past four games after they had jointly led the competition.
Aaron Sherritt top scored with 41, captain Dan Upward made 39 and Steve Smith 37 before Luke Thomas 14 not out and Daniel Harden eight not out saw their team across the line in the final over.
Terrace's Bryce Smith picked up the opening three wickets including the prize wicket of Jono Gabriel for 2, his brother and Thornton skipper Matt Gabriel for 30 and the dangerous Jamie Krake for 2 to leave Thornton at 3/59.
Thornton opener Jake Reeves anchored the innings with 38, Dan Willis 40 and Dean Bradford 24 not out at the end, but the Lions bowlers had kept the Thunder to a beatable target.
Tom Callan took 2-40, Thomas Hewett 2-48, but Jaxon Brooks' 1-10 off 10 overs proved decisive in restricting Thornton to less than 200.
The result was some cold comfort for Eastern Suburbs as they slumped to their third loss in the row going down by 45 runs to Kurri Weston Mulbring at Kurri Central.
Easts are still only four points outside the top four with Thornton now on 29, six points behind Wests and the Warriors in second and third respectively and City who are clear on top by four points.
The Griffins must have rated themselves a real chance when they restricted the powerful Warriors batting line up to 187 after Steve Abel (52) and Tyler Power (26) shared in an opening partner of 91 off just 17.3 overs.
Michael Mascord made 18 and Elliott Maher 18 not out to be the next best with the bat for the Warriors.
Will Stoneman finished with four wickets and young James Killen took three for Easts.
The Griffins had slumped to 6/61 when Stoneman came to the crease and his defiant 68, which included with four sixes and eight fours gave them a chance.
But, unfortunately for Easts Stoneman ran out of batting partners and he was unbeaten on 68 when last wicket fell with the score on 142.
At Robins Oval, City United sent a warning before the Christmas break to all of their rivals with an emphatic performance against a brave Tenambit Morpeth.
City's top three smashed 1/280 against the Bulls with Ricky Dent unbeaten on 100 and Josh Trappel 70 not out and Karl Bowd 88 after he shared in an opening stand of 181 off 21 overs.
There was plenty of big hitting by all three with Dent hitting 13 fours, Bowd 14 fours and two sixes and Trappel six sixes and four fours, but they also kept rotating the strike with plenty of singles.
Ryan Wind picked up the sole wicket.
In a show of their depth, Roy Bocking returned the best figures taking 4-49, while Tim Burton continues his strong form from a knee reconstruction taking an impressive 3-26 off his 10 overs.
Facing down such a imposing total, the Bulls showed real courage to bat out their innings and make a more than respectable total of 10/224
Haydn Adams top scored with 47, Shane Wind made 41, Ryan Wind 28 and Alex Lidbury 16 not out.
Northern Suburbs went down fighting as they tried to keep pace with a big Western Suburbs total of 257 at Lorn Park on Saturday.
Justin Lantry set the tone for the Plovers with 61 off just 45 balls at the top of the innings including nine fours and two sixes.
The Plovers had plenty of contributions to maintain the flying start Lantry gave them with captain Mitchell Fisher making 41, Zac Gayfer 36, Sam Collison and Shaun Hill 25 and 19 off 17 balls by Izach Dennis at the end.
Norths shared the wickets around with captain Jordan Callinan (2-41), David Hancock (2-58), Rodney Hines (2-59) and Fletcher Cousins (2-35) picking up two apiece.
Wests bowlers proved the difference picking up early wickets and keeping a tight reign on the scoring.
Captain Mitchell Fisher led the way with 3-23 off his 10 overs. He was on a hat-trick after claiming the important wicket of Sean Gibson lbw for 42 and youngster Hayden Lucas for a duck with a gem of a ball which hit the top of off-stump.
While Matt Sugden was at the crease Norths were a chance and his inning of 53 included a crucial 39-run partnerships with Gibson and 66 partnership with David Hancock.
But astute bowling changes by Fisher to reintroduce King (3-23 off 10) and to bring Riley Harrison (1-10 off three) into the attack resulted in the crucial dismissals of Hancock and then Sugden with the first ball of their spells.
Young spinner Izach Dennis was savaged by Sugden in his first over but struck back to finish with 3-24 cleaning up the tail.
Michael Hartshorn
Since starting in 1985 at the then Melbourne Herald, journalism has taken me around Australia from Victoria, to the Northern Territory, Cairns in Queensland and now Port Stephens. After all those years there is still something special about informing and connecting with readers.
Since starting in 1985 at the then Melbourne Herald, journalism has taken me around Australia from Victoria, to the Northern Territory, Cairns in Queensland and now Port Stephens. After all those years there is still something special about informing and connecting with readers.
