Otago B lies in second place in the Coastal senior A pennant series after sneaking home over North Otago at Balmacewen on Saturday.
With a win and a draw and nine games, Otago B trails the defending St Clair sextet which looks set to dominate this year's series with three wins, one draw and 16 games.
St Clair extended its lead by beating Otago A by a 4 to 2 margin on the hilltop Corstorphine course in the other match-up.
Despite being without the services of Gary Creedy, Stephen Waby and Paul Velenski, the Oamaru team was no pushover and Otago A only edged ahead after the final game between the No 1 players was halved on the final green.
Michael Smith and Michael Ormandy were square with two holes to play and the pair halved the penultimate hole in birdies.
Ormandy's approach to the final green was 25m short of the cup with a three-putt on the cards, but he lipped out for a tap-in.
Smith also made a par for the half which put his team in front.
The North Otago tail wagged, with Roger Gilchrist beating Tony Ruddenklau with two holes to spare.
Gary Watling led by one with two holes to play but lost the 17th to be square with Gregor Croudis with one to play.
Croudis approached into a greenside bunker and failed to get up and down, giving Watling Oamaru's second win.
But Daniel Elder, Brandon Hodgson and Mark Paterson all posted solid wins in the middle order, giving the home team the win.
At St Clair, the home team had a 3-to-1 lead over Otago A with Ross Colquhoun, Clayton More and veteran Kim McDonald all posting wins, while Paul Brouwer dropped St Clair's only game to former Aorangi golfer Cameron Grant.
The top two games became the decider, with Otago's Tyrone Ratahi birdieing the final hole to halve with Tony Giles.
John McIntee was two up with five holes to play but St Clair No 2 Stephen Hitchcox made two birdies to get out with a half.
Chisholm Park had a bye on Saturday, while Otago B and the Park team will be out in force next Saturday in an attempt to narrow the gap with St Clair which is on the sideline in round five.
