Worthington CIU Team Knock-out Cup

Third Division, Fishburn B ended the Cup hopes of First Division title challengers from Wheatley Hill A in a closely contested quarter final match. The home side had 34 points start but this was cut by three after Jack Wright won the first frame. However two excellent frames for Fishburn saw Dave Wilson win by 52 points and George Whitelock by 44 points to move them into a big lead. Dave Walker won for the Hill by 36 points to send Dean Bryden into the final frame with a 91 point deficit. Even though he put in a 30 break, Winston Hodgson did enough to take the home side to victory.

Newhouse had 13 points start when they visited Willington but only had Kevin Allison as a winner and went down by 86 points. The Willington winners were Jeremy Martin, Gordon Parkin, Arthur Goldsborough and Tom Parkin. Wheatley Hill B went one further than their A team when they beat the visiting Durham City, who received 24 points start. Michael Pratt extended Durham's lead by 18 points but then Ken Johnson won for the Hill to close the gap to 13 points.

Gary Ward put in a 31 break to move Durham into a 43 points lead. However the whole match changed when Jock Frost hit top form in the fourth frame as he won by 70 points. This left Steve Cave with a 27 point lead going into the final frame against Barry Stoddart and he did enough to edge through by one point to put out Durham City.

Leeholme B received 109 points start on their visit to Hunwick A but failed to win a frame and left the competition after Neville Blenkinsopp, Ian Richardson, Des Mason Norman Kirkley and Paul Atkinson all won for the home side.

Results: Wheatley Hill B 282 Durham City 254; Willington 279 Newhouse 193; Hunwick A 321 Leeholme B 236; Fishburn B 307 Wheatley Hill A 262.

Worthington CIU Pairs Championship

Dave Walker and Alan Hall of Wheatley Hill reached another Final of the League Pairs Championship when they beat John Griffin and John Carter of Fishburn in the semi-final held at Brandon. The Wheatley Hill pair will now meet another pair from Fishburn after George Whitelock and Wayne Oliver beat the Willington pair, Jeremy Martin and Arthur Goldsborough at Coundon.

At Brandon Griffin and Carter got on top in the first frame and ended it with a 40 point advantage. However there was a reversal of form and fortune in the second, which Walker and Hall won by 64 points. In the final frame Griffin and Carter had closed the gap to ten points but then slipped so that they needed all the colours from the brown to black. Griffin potted a brilliant brown but then wobbled the blue and left Hall to clear up and go to the Final.

The other semi-final at Coundon was more one-sided as Whitelock and Oliver won the first frame by 27 points and the second by 22 points. Martin and Goldsborough tried hard to reduce the big deficit but could not overhaul the Fishburn pair.

Worthington CIU

Team Plate

Belmont recovered from a 22 points deficit going into the final frame to come through and beat their hosts at Ferryhill. The home side received four points start and were able to extend this to 38 after Nigel Redfearn won the first frame. Eric Clough and Mick Short then won the next two frames for Belmont by narrow margins to cut the home lead to 21 points. Glyn Toas added one point to the home lead after the fourth frame but Belmont's Chris Morley hit the high spots in the final frame to take the visitor's through to the semi-finals.

First Division leaders, Old Shildon conceded 80 points start to their hosts at Stanley Central but the visiting Jossie Aldworth, Steven Bennett, Michael Pratt, who put in a 39 break, and Billy Goggins won so well that Stanley Central trailed by 39 points. Even though Harry Grimes on the final frame he could not do enough to close the gap, whilst Charlie Blake scored sufficient to put the visitors through.

Hunwick B visited Wingate and received 27 points start. Tom Ward took the first frame for Hunwick by eight points but after that the home side took over and won the remaining frames through Steve Allen, Dave Hammond, Geoff Howe and John Marley to take Wingate into the semi-finals with an 87 point advantage.

Leeholme A received 51 points from the visiting Crowtrees but only managed to win one frame through Barry Shaw. The Crowtrees players Phil Whitfield, Peter Laverick, Sean Johnston and John Hall all won to move into the semi-finals with a 41 points victory.

Results: Stanley Central 282 Old Shildon 311; Wingate 300 Hunwick B 213; Ferryhill 209 Belmont 247; Leeholme A 243 Crowtrees 284.

Worthington CIU

Winter League

Top five players in the race for the First Division Player of the Year are: 1 Paul Biddle (Spennymoor A) played 17, won 16, lost 1, 1152 points; 2 Michael Pratt (Old Shildon) 16, 15, 1, 1087; 3 John Armstrong (Shoton Palms) 16, 14, 2, 983; Steven Bennett (Old Shildon) 16, 14, 2, 892; 5 John Griffin (Fishburn) 16, 13, 3, 1018.

Second Division top five: 1 Paul Atkinson (Hunwick A) 16, 15, 1, 1106; 2 Jim Dufton (Stanley Central) 16, 13, 3, 927; 3 Scott Mallaburn (Sherburn Village) 17, 13, 4, 1018; 4 Paul Nord (Langley Park) 17, 12, 5, 870; 5 Steven Armstrong (Belmont) 13, 11, 2, 798.

Third Division top five: 1 Andrew Sugden (West Auckland) 16, 15, 1, 956; 2 Andrew Dent 14, 13, 1, 863; 3 Gary Ward (Durham City) 16, 13, 3, 841; 4 Michael Pratt (Durham City) 16, 12, 4, 908; 5 Frank Nicholson (Coundon) 16, 12, 4, 900.

The top five breaks in the First Division: 1 Michael Pratt (Old Shildon) 81; 2 Paul Biddle (Spennymoor A) 71; 3 equal M. Pratt and P. Biddle 62 each; 5 John Carter (Fishburn A) 60.

Top five breaks in the Second Division: Paul Atkinson (Hunwick A) 71; 2 Scott Mallaburn (Sherburn Village) 57; 3 Steven Armstrong (Belmont) 56; 4 Mallaburn 51; 5 Sonny hann (Crowtrees) 50.

Top five breaks in the Third Division: 1 Frank Nicholson (Coundon) 59; 2 Paul Vickers (West Auckland) 44; 3 Barry Shaw (Leeholme A) 40; 4 Dave Wilson (Fishburn B) 37; 5 equal Glen Morton and Alan Smith (Bearpark) 36.