Stewartry rounded off their home games with another five pointer that puts them in the driving seat for second spot in Tennents West One.
With two matches left, they can cement that with a bonus point victory at second bottom Strathendrick this weekend.
Top spot almost certainly belongs to Allan Glens who have not lost a match, are only one point behind the Blacks and have two games in hand.
Garnock in third place have a slight chance of overtaking the Greenlaw outfit but they would have to beat them on the last day of the season if the Blacks lose in Stirling.
Fourth place Kilmarnock’s visit to Castle Douglas on Saturday heralded a tough scrap as they were unbeaten in seven games since they lost to Stewartry in November.
They got the game under way, helped by a strong easterly wind that saw the ball go deep into the Stewartry 22 where they won an early lineout quickly followed by another. From there they drove ten metres to the Stewartry line for the opening try at the posts in only three minutes. The conversion was added in what was a shock start for the league leaders, 0-7.
As forecast the easterly wind was strong and it saw two Kilmarnock clearance kicks bounce on the main road and into the field on the other side.
Stewartry got going from a scrum restart that saw no 8 Stevie Hogg pick up and set Yates off but he was tackled into touch,
Minutes later Yates broke clear but the ball was knocked on in the tackle.
Stewartry backs were making good inroads to the Kilmarnock half with Yates again making the opening, this time for captain John Picken who touched down under the posts, Armstrong adding the points to make it 7-7 after seventeen minutes.
Stewartry were moving the ball at speed with the Kilmarnock heavy forwards struggling to keep up and another break saw Forsyth take play into the Kilmarnock half where he found TJ McCarney who broke clear and scored at the posts. Armstrong added the points to make 14-7 with 34 minutes gone. Three minutes from half-time Stewartry hooker Root was yellow carded for a front-row infringement.
So, although the Blacks started the second half a player short, they immediately used the wind advantage to add a third try, Forsyth putting Stevie Hogg in for the score within a minute. Armstrong again converted, 21-7.
Ten minutes later, with Root back in action, he took a quick penalty setting Porteous, Forsyth and Mick McCulloch off on another attack with TJ McCarney finding big holes in the Killie defence to give John Picken his second and the bonus-point fourth try. Armstrong again converted, 28-7.
When Kilmarnock were reduced to 14 men by a yellow card in 50 minutes, a quickly-taken penalty saw Maxwell driving forward before sending Hogg in for his second try. However, the conversion missed and the score remained 33-7.
Stewartry brought the replacements on for the last ten minutes with Murray Wright going over for a try with his first touch of the ball only for it to be disallowed for an earlier forward pass.
With four minutes to go a driving maul for Kilmarnock gave them a second try but the conversion missed. 33-12.
And in the final minute Picken and Root combined to see Hogg complete his hat trick.
Stewartry Squad: T Wilson, S Milligan, R Austin, TJ McCarney, M Yates, D Armstrong, J Picken(c), J Forsyth, C Root, M McCulloch, D Maxwell, J McCulloch, R Porteous, F Telfer, S Hogg, C McGuire, T McLean, A Wilson and M Wright.
