Swallows? undefeated run in the A league was nearly snapped on Saturday as they struggled to pull out a 1-1 draw against Canaries despite taking the pitch short of many key players.

Four Swallows A players were off the Island and two were out sick or injured but B players Nicola Wilkinson, Claire Johnson and Orla Travers stepped up to help secure the draw.

Despite the close scoreline, Swallows were in possession for much of the game.

Yvonne Slattery was given the task of keeping key Canaries threat Lisa DeSilva out of the game while Liz Osborne kept Rhonda Rawlins at bay.

Stand-in goalie Wilkinson made a few convincing saves for Swallows but DeSilva eventually proved too quick and Canaries were first on the scoreboard.

Swallows dug deep for the leveller, however. A ball was moved out of defence from Slattery, through midfielders Lucy Daynes and Shelley Lahti where quick passing from Lahti found Cath Griffiths ready to put it away.

Swallows have already sealed the league title.

In other A league play Ravens defeated Cardinals 1-0 and Swifts and Bluebirds played to a 1-1 draw.

In B play, Cardinals scored a key 4-0 win over Ravens to help solidify their narrow lead over Swallows.

The match started slowly but Cards got on the board midway through the first half when Megan Leitch picked up a pass from Laurel Powell at the top of the circle and slotted it past the Ravens ?keeper.

After the break the Reds, were quickly awarded a series of four short corners and Leitch, at the top of the circle, sent a cracking shot home to make it 2-0.

Leitch then set up Laurel Powell for a third goal.

Ravens threatened several times in the second half, especially after the loss of Cardinals captain Lesley Smith to injury, but failed to capitalise and in the dying minutes Powell again found the goal from a short corner.

Cardinals now have 32 points in the B league but Swallows are hot on their heels with 29 ? and a game in hand ? after defeating Canaries 2-1. In other B play, Swifts defeated Bluebirds 3-0 while Orioles and Ravens drew 0-0.

Men?s action saw Upstarts pull off a 3-0 upset of league-leading Panthers.

It may have been Upstarts? best performance of the season and there was added surprise as the team were missing a number of regulars.

Upstarts took the lead midway through the first half as Phil Trussell stuck the ball home following a goalmouth scramble.

And before the end of the half Dave Turner had made it 2-0.

Upstarts struck again 10 minutes from the end when Gary Fyffe buried a third goal with a crisply struck shot into the bottom left hand corner.

In other men?s play, Chameleons picked up a 3-1 win over Rebels.