Snooker News

The home sides winners were John Armstrong, Paul Hickman, Jimmy Evans, Dave Swindle and Barry Hall.

Old Shildon were taken to the final frame before they beat their hosts at Fishburn A.

Michael Pratt and Steven Bennett put the visitors ahead with Wayne Oliver, making his first win since moving up to the top division, and John Griffin levelled.

In the decider Charlie Blake took the Shildon team to victory by beating Charlie Hirst.

Old Shildon are in second place, just a point behind Shotton Palms.

Cockton Hill took the first and last frames at home to Spennymoor A when George Chapman put in a 39 break in the first and Andrew Aisbitt a 38 break in the last. However the Moors went to victory with wins from Paul Biddle, Dennis Dodd and John Wilson.

Witton Gilbert went two up on their visit to Wheatley Hill A when Ian Renwick and John Rooney senior won. However Alan Hall and Dave Walker, with a 37 break, levelled the match.

In the decider the Hill's Jack Wright beat Willis Joynes to move his team into third place, one point behind Old Shildon.

Only Gordon Parkin managed a point for Willington when they entertained Newton Aycliffe.

The visitors had wins from Peter Brown, Bill Barrigan, Stuart Neil and Mark Howe.

Newhouse moved to the top of the Second Division with a whitewash home success over Wheatley Hill B. The home side had wins from Kevin Allison, John Maddox, Steve Mountain, Ian Dinsdale and Jimmy Hassen.

Langley Park and Hunwick A share the second spot after the Park beat the visiting Hunwick side by the odd point. Langley Park went into a winning position by taking the first three points through Kevin Keers, Stephen Coates and Paul Nord. However Ian Richardson won for Hunwick and Paul Atkinson took a second point with a 71 break.

Crowtrees moved up just a point behind Hunwick A with an odd point win at Wingate.

The visitors took the first three points through Peter Laverick, Keith McLauchlan and Sonny Hann with the home side replying with wins from Keith Naylor and Geoff Howe.

Sherburn Village's defeat at Meadowfield means that they slip to share the same place as Crowtrees. Ian Hodgson and John Jackson put the home side ahead with Alan Greener and Scott Mallaburn levelling. In the decider Meadowfield's Stephen Hughes beat John Bower on the black.

Newly-promoted Spennymoor B made their first win in the Second Division when they defeated the recently demoted Stanley Central in the decider. Alan Rowell put the Moors ahead with Frank Foster levelling.

Kurt McCormack restored the Moors lead with Jim Dufton equalising. In the decider Wayne Parry potted the final black to beat Jimmy Atkinson by three points.

West Auckland top the Third Division after only dropping one point at Hunwick B, who had John Bate as their only winner. West had wins from Andrew Dent, Chris Kitch, Paul Vickers and Andrew Sugden.

Bearpark will obviously be a serious threat to any team contemplating promotion from the Third Division after they beat the visiting Fishburn B for the loss of only one point. League Chairman, Dave Wilson, back in action again after a long lay off, took the only point for Fishburn, whilst Glen Morton, Andrew Guy, Antony Cooper and Alan Smith won for the home side.

Tow Law managed an odd point home win over the new look Crook Belle Vue side.

Arnold Fleming, who has moved from Hunwick, scored the first point for Crook with Doug Watson and Tommy Williams moving the Lawyers ahead.

Derek Potts levelled the match but Alan Spence took the home side to victory by beating Gordon Sample in the decider.

Only Frank Nicholson managed to take a point for Coundon when they entertained Durham City.

The visitors had wins from John Davies, Eric Wright, Gary Ward and Michael Pratt.

The Leeholme derby ended with a whitewash success for the A team with wins from David Fletcher, Barry Shaw, Ray Gill, Carl Brown and Anthony Forster.

Results: Meadowfield 3 Sherburn Village 2; Tow Law 3 Crook Belle Vue 2; Fishburn A 2 Old Shildon 3; Newhouse 5 Wheatley Hill B 0; Spennymoor B 3 Stanley Central 2; Leeholme A 5 Leeholme B 0; Cockton Hill 2 Spennymoor A 3; Langley Park 3 Hunwick A 2; Wheatley Hill A 3 Witton Gilbert 2; Hunwick B 1 West Auckland 4; Willington 1 Newton Aycliffe 4; Shotton Palms 5 Ferryhill 0; Wingate 2 Crowtrees 3; Bearpark 4 Fishburn B 1; Coundon 1 Durham City 4.

Worthington CIU

Winter League

First Division top breaks: 1st Paul Biddle (Spennymoor A) 101; 2 Michael Pratt (Old Shildon) 65; 3 Stuart Neil (Newton Aycliffe) 56; 4 Ian Renwick (Witton Gilbert) 54; 5 John Carter (Fishburn A) 51; 6 Dennis Clish (Wheatley Hill A) 48; 7 Dave Walker (Wheatley Hill A) 45; 8 equal Mark Howe (Newton Aycliffe), Dave Walker (Wheatley Hill A) and Billy Goggins (Old Shildon) 40 each.

Second Division top breaks: 1st equal Brian Graham (Brandon) and Craig Hughes (Meadowfield) 45 each; 3 Ian Roddam (Ferryhill) 42; 4 Paul Nord (Langley Park) 41; 5 Gary Ward (Durham City) 40; 6 Scott Mallaburn (Sherburn Village) 36; 7 equal Harold Lomax (Crook Belle Vue), Scott Mallaburn (Sherburn Village) and Gordon Sample (Crook Belle Vue) 35 each; 10 Steve Mountain (Newhouse) 33.

Third Division top breaks: 1 Lawrence Jones (Leeholme A) 46; 2 Aandrew Sugden (West Auckland) 45; 3 George Whitelock (Fishburn B) 41; 4 Barry Shaw (Leeholme A) 39; 5 equal Andrew Sugden (West Auckland), Sonny Hann (Crowtrees) and Kelvin Fletcher (West Auckland) 37 each; 8 Paul Vickers (West Auckland) 35; 9 Mickey Anderson (Spennymoor B) 33; 10 Andrew Dent (West Auckland) 31.

Jack Jobson Memorial Handicap Singles

The Final of this year's competition will be between Eddie Rhodes of Spennymoor and John Hall of Crowtrees after both came through their semi-finals successfully, but in very different fashion. They will meet at Tow Law in the Final on Thursday, November 1 (7.30pm) when Joan Jobson, Jack's widow, will present the memorial trophy to the winner.

In the semi-final played at Leeholme, Rhodes trailed by two frames against Graham Jackson of Brandon, who was receiving eight points start per frame. The first frame went to a re-spotted black, which Jackson gratefully potted. The second seemed to be going in favour of Rhodes but Jackson took yellow, green, brown and blue to only need one of the two remaining colours. Rhodes tried a speculative pot on the pink, missed and Jackson sunk it to win.

In the third frame, Rhodes tightened up his safety play to win a in a tight finish. He then put in a 30 break to level the match. In the decider, things were going level until Rhodes ran in a 29 break to go ahead and then clinched victory when he took the green, brown and blue.

In the other semi-final at Hunwick, Hall received 16 point start against Ray Coates of Langley Park. Hall built up a good lead in the first frame and finally clinched it by potting the brown.

In the second frame Coates ran in an early 22 break to move ahead but Hall fought back until he needed one of the last two balls. He decided to take on a speculative long pink, which proved a brilliant choice when it went straight into the pocket.

The third frame was very tight with Hall needing blue and pink. Luck proved to be on his side when he tried a long blue which rattled the jaws of the green pocket but slid along the rail into the yellow pocket whilst the white ran round the table for perfect position to pot the pink and complete a whitewash victory.

Worthington CIU

Singles Championship

Sonny Hann of Crowtrees lost his third consecutive league final when he saw the cue ball disappear into the pocket as he tried to pot the final black in the deciding frame against Dave Walker of Wheatley Hill at Durham City.

In the first frame Hann started well with breaks of 24 and 27 to run out a comfortable winner. However the tables were turned in the second when Walker hit breaks of 25 and 45 to level the match.

The third frame was scrappy by comparison but when Walker needed three snookers it was Hann who laid a successful one to restore his lead. The match was level again after Walker took the fourth when Hann needed all the colours to tie but fouled the blue.

The finish in the decider proved nail biting. Hann needed a snooker with three balls left but the blue was hanging over the pocket. He took the blue then pulled off a snooker behind the black. Walker tried to swerve past the black but missed the pink, which Hann potted. He then tried a very thin snick on the black but hit the jaw and put it safe. A safety exchange followed until Hann had a chance with the black near the pink spot and the white in baulk. He made the effort but missed the pot and went in-off to give Walker victory.

Crook League

High breaks were the order of the day with James Ivil of Crook Olde Horse Shoe B setting the target for the rest of the First Division when he knocked in 60 against the visiting Crook Queen's Head A. Simon Boughey put in a 53 break for Crook Royal Sun Inn, John Warriner 48 for Crook Belle Vue and Michael Burke 37 for Crook Travellers Rest B. Kevin Carter of Crook Jelly's Bar set the Second Division's high mark with a 39 break.

Crook Olde Horse Shoe A lead the First Division by 13 points from Crook Travellers Rest B and Crook Royal Sun, who share the second spot. The Second Division is much tighter with the Spitfire Club one point ahead of Willington Market and Crook Jelly's Bar, with Crook Golden Fleece just another point adrift.

League secretary, Les Scott with his fellow officials and all the players in the league send their best wishes to Stephen 'Potter' Heyes, who was seriously injured in a car accident. They all look forward to seeing him back in action quickly.

Results: Crook Belle Vue 3 Crook Travellers Rest B 4; Crook Travellers Rest A 0 Crook Olde Horse Shoe A 7; Crook Royal Sun Inn 2 Crook Coach and Horses A 5; Crook Olde Horse Shoe B 6 Crook Queen's Head A 1; Crook Surtees 2 Crook White Swan 5; Crook Queen's Head B 2 Willington Market 5; Crook Coach and Horses B 4 Crook Jelly's Bar 3; Crook Spitfire Club 5 Crook Golden Fleece 2