THE Eastern Premiership title race will,as expected, go down to the wire - but not in the manner most observers had imagined.

In a penultimate weekend of high drama, Aberdeenshire put a spanner in the works by pulling off a shock triumph over Grange, knocking them out of contention.

Leaders Arbroath squeezed past the awkward challenge of Glenrothes at Lochlands, with a win by Heriot’s over SMRH earning them the chance to snatch the glory from the Lichties on the final weekend.

Ironically for Heriot’s seamer Adrian Neill, their last fixture is against Aberdeenshire, the club he helped to become champions a few years ago.

He said: “It would be great personal achievement to win the league again with a different team.

“But Shire have obviously hit form, so they’re not a team to underestimated

“if you don't take a side seriously, there is a big chance that they will come out on top.

“So we will play our own game and hopefully current champions Carlton do us a favour and beat Arbroath to enable us to keep the trophy in Edinburgh.”

Neill added: “It has been a great season for us and that is all down to all the players standing up and taking responsibility in there roles.

“We have shown real fight when either defending or chasing a low score.The desire has never deserted us.

“In addition, several fringe players have played their part in full after being called up for reasons of injury or retirement. They have shown tremendous commitment.”

Relegated Falkland were swept aside by Forfarshire at Scroggie Park - Christian Robertson and Brock Ditchmen sharing a seven wicket haul.