Abu Dhabi: Craig Hinton consolidated his position at the top of the leaderboard after carding a tidy three-under-par 69 in the second and penultimate round of the Mena Golf Tour’s Abu Dhabi Golf Citizen Open on Tuesday.

One shot clear overnight, the Englishman, who is now on seven-under par after 36 holes, will start the final round a good three strokes clear of Welsh ace Stephen Dodd, who fired a 68 — the day’s joint best score – and Scotland’s Clarke Lutton.

England’s Matthew Turner matched Dodd’s score to move into a tie for fourth on a three-under 141 along with his compatriot Stuart Archibald, with Austria’s Berni Reiter sitting alone on sixth on a two-under 142.

England’s James Allan added a 72 to his first round 74 to lead the amateur division on a two-over 146, one ahead of Morocco’s Mustapha Al Maouas and two off Yassine Touhami, also of Morocco.

It was Hinton who held sway with another solid round. “It feels nice to be in this position going into the final round, but still you have to play your best golf since there are many quality players in the field,” said Hinton, who is preparing for the second stage of the European Tour Qualifying School next month.

“It was kind of an up-and-down round, but I managed to hole some key putts and that was the key,” said the 25-year-old from Oxfordshire, who started and ended his round with a birdie.

Wales’ Dodd, who is the defending Mena Tour champion, went bogey-free in his second round 68 and might be the biggest threat to Hinton on the final day.

Also making the charge on Tuesday was Lutton, who was five under after the 13th, but dropped a couple of shots coming downstretch. “I am really pleased with my overall efforts,” he said.

“I putted really well, which was good,” said 25-year-old Scot, who eagled the par-5, 11th. It wasn’t easy out there on couple of holes because of the strong winds, but I hung on in there well.”

Scotland’s Buchanan, who shot a 68, was equally pleased with his efforts. “I played really well and that early eagle on the second kind of got me going and then I finished strongly with a chip-in birdie,” said Buchanan, whose only blemish was a three-putt to drop a shot on the 16th.

England’s Zane Scotland, who is three-over after a second-round 71, will need to conjure up something special to catch up with the leaders and maintain his amazing run of success on the tour.