Brampton Heath missed a golden opportunity to take a clear lead at the top of group A as they crashed to a 8-0 home defeat to Kettering, who they had beaten away last month.
After a slender victory for Rob Aarts and Richard Grove in the opening tie, Kettering moved further clear by taking the next three games by four, one and two holes respectively.
Needing two convincing wins to snatch the victory, Brampton’s Lee Butler and Daniel Moore halved the penultimate game before fellow home members Don Field and Andy Churchill did likewise in the last tie.
Northampton moved level with Brampton and Kettering on six points after recording a 19-0 home success against Rushden.
Although all the matches were relatively close, Northampton always held the upper hand as they improved their points difference with a series of good wins.
Cherwell Edge gained bragging rights over Silverstone as they secured a 14-8 group B victory at their sister club.
The away side started strongly as Geoff Stone and Matt Riddle took the opening match by eight holes and John Thompson and Ben Anderson extended the lead by one more in the next game.
Silverstone responded as Lee Coughlan and Steve Pedder (five holes), Peter Sapey and Tim Roberts-Holmes (one hole) and Clive Nicholls and Nigel Parsons (three holes) left the match all square.
Cherwell duo Duncan Bidwell and Sena De Thabrew kept their nerve in the final match as they beat Trevor Barnes and Richard Morey by five.
Overstone Park made it five wins out of five outings in group C with a 12-3 home success against Oundle.
In a relatively tight match, the home side made the decisive surge late on as Chris Hoy and Tony Ames took the fourth tie by five holes, while Dave Mandley and Ivan Roy won the closing game by four.
Group D leaders Farthingstone were no match for Cold Ashby on their own track as they went down to a 16-1 away defeat.
With Jim Burberry and James Lovett taking the first game by five holes, the hosts extended their advantage in the middle ties before Stephen Bull and Younus Nabi completed the scoring with a six-hole win.