Brigade moved two points clear at the top of the Billy Henderson Properties table on Wednesday evening with a 4-wicket win over fellow challengers Donemana at Beechgrove.

Mark Simpson's side had been set just 140 on Tuesday evening after the visitors had found scoring difficult but any suggestion of a comfortable night at the office was soon dispelled as the cup finalists made full use of the unpredictable track.

James McBrine started very well and had both openers, Chris Dougherty and Ryan Brace, back in the hutch with just 7 on the board. With no Mattie Moran in the side for the next few weeks much was going to depend on Iftikhar Hussain after that and he didn't let his side down.

Hussain survived plenty of scares mind, Kamran Sajid and both McBrines going past his outside edge with alarming frequency but the Brigade man toughed it out and supported by cameos from Gareth McKeegan and Johnny Thompson steered the Waterside men towards the winning line.

Hussain was finally out for a match-winning 62 having played one on from Graeme Boyd but by that stage the job was nearly done and David Barr settled the issue with a couple of sixes in his unbeaten 20.

At Beechgrove, Brigade beat Donemana by four wickets

Donemana 140-9

Brigade
C Dougherty c sub b James McBrine 2
R Brace c McGerrigle b James McBrine 0
I Hussain b Boyd 62
G McKeegan c R McBrine b McGonigle 24
J Thompson c Sajid b Junior McBrine 18
A Ur-Rehman b Sajid 16
D Barr not out 20
T Britton not out 0
Extras 3
Total (six wickets, 35.4 overs) 145

Fall: 1-2, 2-7, 3-35, 4-89, 5-114, 6-131

Bowling: James McBrine 8-1-32-2, J McGonigle 8-1-33-1, K Sajid 8-1-25-1, Junior McBrine 8-0-36-1, G Boyd 2-0-10-1, D McGerrigle 1.4-0-7-0