ATHERLEY A's hopes of winning Group H in the Famous Grouse Four Nations Classic all but vanished in a 15-0 thrashing by the "auld enemy" Victory.

"We are bitterly disappointed but all credit to Victory - they had the edge on the day. Now we have got to pick ourselves up for this Saturday when we play East Dorset in the Denny Cup," said Atherley indoor secretary, Gwyn Guy.

The triumph puts Victory in top spot with a perfect record of 30 points from two matches leaving Atherley 11 points adrift having played one game more.

Atherley had to shuffle their line-up after county skip Richard Shelley withdrew because of a national championship commitment.

This meant Mick Barrett taking his place in the fours with Keith Cole tackling Colin Hayward in the singles.

Playing at Portsmouth, Hayward won 21-11 and he was backed in the fours by Peter Hobday's rink as Victory snatched that contest 20-19 in an intriguing tussle against Larry Collins, Dave Edmonds, Mick Barrett and skip Colin Thresher.

The game stood at 11-11 before Thresher dropped a three, a four and a two to trail 20-11.

Atherley responded with eight shots themselves over three ends, but at that point their hopes ended as they ran out of time and the final end was not played - matches are limited to three hours.

At Southampton, Steve Spreadbury and Peter Ward bowed to Matthew Marchant and Charlie Bailey 16-10 in the pairs, while an outstanding performance by Darren Griffith, playing alongside the father-son combination of Keith and Steve Robertson - saw Victory take the triples 20-16 against John Barter, Brian Buckle and Bill Groves.

Banister Park, who beat Atherley last month but were without a game last weekend, will be next to challenge Victory's dominance in the fourth round of fixtures on Sunday, December 17. In the other Group H fixtures, Isle of Wight lost 10-5 to Dolphin B and Bournemouth slammed East Dorset B 13-2.