With excitement at fever pitch at the top of the leaderboard, Wexford Motor Club's Eamonn Boland has been quietly progressing in impressive fashion. The four-times winner of the Wexford Rally started off by finished 33rd of 117 on the opening spectator stage in Cardiff, traversing the 2.45 kilometres in 2 minutes 21.8 seconds. Out onto the roads this morning, with the second stage taking the drivers 14 kilometres through the St Gwymmo area. Boland had problems here, coming in 51st on the stage, 65 seconds behind stage winner Colin McRae. That result dropped him back to 46th overall. Boland's fightback began on the fourth stage in the Rhondda, in which he came home 35th, almost two minutes down on Marcus Gronholm, but still near enough to edge back up to 41st for the rally. A 37th placing on SS5 in Crychan kept him there, but the Wexfordian climbed four places up the GC ladder thanks to a fine performance on Special Stage Six, where he came in 32nd. Boland was showing tenacity in his Subaru, which he displayed by jumping a place at Brechfa, but it was the fact that he came in 33rd on SS8 at Trawscoed that really worked the oracle for the Slaneysider. That thrust him up to 31st at the end of day two in the decisive leg of the World Rally Championship, leaving him quarter of an hour behind leader Gronholm, but only eight seconds away from the top 30. Day three can only produce more good form - provided Boland gets the good fortune needed to stay in such a competitive event.