Merry Moors simply the best

The Moors landed the Championship but play-offs are necessary to decide the champions of both the Second and Third Divisions when Bearpark and Wingate finished level in the Second and Coundon and Sacriston finished level in the Third.

Spennymoor needed three points to be certain champions when they visited Willington, who needed a maximum victory to have a remote chance of avoiding relegation. The Moors made certain by taking the first four frames through Paul Biddle, Karl Welsh, Eddie Rhodes and Paul Atkinson before Tom Parkin prevented the whitewash by taking the final frame, but by then relegation was a certainty for the home side.

Old Shildon took the runners-up spot in the First Division when they only dropped one point to the visiting Newton Aycliffe. The home side took the first four points through Charlie Blake, Stephen Bennett, Michael Pratt and Billy Goggins. Stuart Neil saved the whitewash by taking the final frame for Newton Aycliffe.

Bearpark looked to be on line to land the Second Division championship when they took the first two frames at Stanley Central with wins from David Jackson and Glen Morton. However Walter Cornell and Frank Forster pulled the Central level and Harry Grimes took the home side to victory when he beat Alan Donaldson in the decider.

Wingate forced the play-off for the Second Division title when they won by the odd point at Belmont. The home side had wins from Tommy Robinson and Billy McGrath, whilst Dave Hammond, John Bourne and Geoff Howe took the points for Wingate to still have the chance of taking the title.

Both Coundon and Sacriston had to come from behind before winning by the odd point to force a play-off between them for the Third Division title. Coundon entertained Hunwick B and lost the first two points when David Penman and Tom Ward won for the visitors. Graham Goulbourn and Frank Nicholson levelled the match and Colin Moore snatched the winner for Coundon by beating John Bate in the decider.

Sacriston were twice behind on their visit to Leeholme A but pulled back to win when Mark Appleby beat Adrian Forster in the decider. Karl Thompson put Leeholme ahead but Steve Bradley levelled. Barry Shaw restored the home lead only to see Willy Nixon equalise.

Meadowfield slipped up in their hope of retaining their First Division place when they only took one point from their visit to Wheatley Hill A. Dennis Clish, Dave Walker, Ronnie Peacock and Alan Hall took the points for the Hill, while Stephen Hughes played a captain's part for Meadowfield with a 42 break to take their lone point.

Witton Gilbert escaped relegation when they produced a good win at Brandon, who only took the final frame through Owen Howarth. The Witton winners were Willis Joynes, John Rooney junior, Ken Davison and Ian Renwick.

Shotton Palms were also in danger of going down but they came through to an odd point winner when they beat the visiting Cockton Hill. Shotton went two up through Paul Hickman and John Armstrong only to see Harold Lomax and Andrew Aisbitt level. In the decider, Jim Evans junior took the Palms to safety by beating Vickers Bell.

Langley Park needed two points from their visit to Newhouse to make certain of avoiding relegation into the Third Division. Steve Mountain put Newhouse ahead but then Ray Coates and Kevin Keers scored the precious points for the Park. Ian Dinsdale levelled the match and then Newhouse's John Maddox beat Peter Morgan in the decider. Hunwick A and Wheatley Hill B are both down into Division Three, even though the Hill made a sterling effort to avoid the drop by only dropping one point at Hunwick.

Sherburn Village celebrated their return to the First Division by ending their season with a home win in the decider over the visiting Fishburn A after recovering twice from a deficit. John Griffin put Fishburn ahead but Scott Mallaburn put in a 32 break to level. Brian Quest restored the Fishburn lead despite a 31 break from Peter McGowan. John Bower then pulled Sherburn back on terms before Alan Greener beat the visiting Tommy Carter in the decider.

Ferryhill had wins from Glyn Toas and Ian Fawcett but went down by the odd point to the visiting Crowtrees A, who had wins from Sean Johnston, Keith McLauchlan and Sonny Hann (41 break).

New Durham finished third in the Third Division when they finished their fixtures with a win in the decider at Fishburn B. John Hodgson put the home side ahead but then Brian Birks and Tony Thompson moved New Durham ahead. George Whitelock levelled the match but then Thomas Cairns beat Keith Binks to take New Durham to victory.

Durham City moved up to share fourth spot in the Third Division when they only dropped one point at Crook Belle Vue, who had John Warriner as their only winner.

Leeholme B finished as wooden spoonists after going down in the decider at Crowtrees B.

Results: Newhouse 3 Langley Park 2; Crook Belle Vue 1 Durham City 4; Ferryhill 2 Crowtrees B 3; Wheatley Hill A 4 Meadowfield 1; Old Shildon 4 Newton Aycliffe 1; Leeholme A 2 Sacriston 3; Stanley Central 3 Bearpark 2; Crowtrees B 3 Leeholme B 2; Sherburn Village 3 Fishburn A 2; Shotton Palms 3 Cockton Hill 2; Belmont 2 Wingate 3; Fishburn B 2 New Durham 3; Brandon 1 Witton Gilbert 4; Coundon 3 Hunwick B 2; Willington 1 Spennymoor A 4.

Individual Handicap Singles semi-final

Stephen Coates of Langley Park received four points per frame when he met Peter McGowan of Sherburn Village in the semi-final match of the best of five frames at Leeholme, looking for the right to meet Karl Thompson in the final.

The first frame was very slow to get moving as both players missed shots they would normally have scored with. McGowan slowly built up a lead until with only one red on the table he led by thirty-one points. Coates potted this final red but only managed to get position on the brown, which also went down. In a series of safety encounters, Coates added the yellow and green singly, still requiring the remaining colours to snatch the frame. He potted a good brown and blue, leaving a reasonable pink. But snatched at it. However he was extremely lucky to see the ball miss one corner pocket and go round the table into the opposite corner. Position on the black was not good but he tried to cut it into the corner pocket and was amazed to see his luck hold as it went off two cushions and into the middle for a 55-54 win.

Both players seemed to be affected by the final two shots of the first frame and the second frame was safety dominated until McGowan inadvertently pocketed the black whilst playing a red. Stephen's small breaks took him to a 20-point lead and the frame was conceded when he potted green and brown.

Coates got away to a good start in the third frame, with McGowan never having a reasonable opening. Eventually McGowan conceded after Coates potted the final red to lead 57-15. The final between Karl Thompson of Leeholme and Coates will be played at Crowtrees on Wednesday, May 6 at 7.30pm.

Worthington CIU

Doubles Final

Bob Reay and Ronnie Peacock of Wheatley Hill had played tremendously through the competition to reach the final against George Chapman and Andrew Aisbitt of Cockton Hill but at the Sherburn Village final they lost their way as the match was dominated by the high scoring Aisbitt.

The match was over aggregate of three frames with Aisbitt putting in a 24 break on his first visit to the table. He later concluded the frame with a 34 clearance to put Cockton Hill 87-22 ahead.

The second frame followed the same pattern with Aisbitt knocking in an early 28 and later clearing up with a 36 break to win 81-13.

The third frame was almost pointless as the Wheatley Hill pair trailed by 1333 points but it followed the earlier pattern as Aisbitt made breaks of 23 and 18 before Reay and Peacock conceded at 237-57.