Snooker News

Third Division Newhouse B travelled to First Division, Brandon and pulled off a quarter final victory when David Jackson potted the final blue in the last frame against John Middleton. The unbeaten Second Division leaders, Willington visited First Division, Wheatley Hill A and came through to a good win despite giving away six points start. Ronnie Peacock gave the Hill a good start and extended their lead to 19 points. Jeremy Martin pulled Willington back into the game when he closed the gap to a three points deficit. Colin Lomax raised Willington's hopes with a win of 30 points only to see Alan Hall move the home side three points ahead going into the last frame. Paul Atkinson hit some good form for Willington and steered them to a 255-236 victory. In the all First Division clash at Spennymoor A, the home side took 17 points start from Shotton Palms. Paul Hickman gave the visitors a good start when he cut the lead to three points. The Moors staged a recovery when Eddie Rhodes moved them 49 points ahead but then outstanding performances from Dave Swindle and John Armstrong moved Shotton into a massive 80 points lead. Despite a win by John Wilson for the Moors in the final frame, Shotton went through to a 294-211 victory. Belmont had the easiest passage to the semi-final when they entertained fellow Second Division Durham City. The home side won every frame through Eric Clough, Chris Morley, Steven Armstrong, Billy McGrath and Joe Coxon to win comfortably.

Results: Belmont 304, Durham City 217; Wheatley Hill A 236, Willington 255; Brandon Newhouse B; Spennymoor A 211, Shotton Palms 294.

CIU Summer League

The meeting to organise the new league will be held at Meadowfield Club on Thursday, March 29 at 7.30pm. All teams who intend to compete must be represented, bringing with them their entry form, the competition entry forms and the handicap queries sheet.

There are vacancies for any team from CIU affiliated premises. Matches are played on Tuesday evenings with five players in each team. Besides this the league runs a Team Knock Out, Singles Championship, Doubles Championship and a Singles Handicap Championship. A new Doubles Handicap will be introduced to start halfway through the season.

Any team interested in joining can obtain advance information by telephoning the secretary on 01388 730444.

Crook League

Gerald Parkin of Crook Olde Horse Shoe won the Singles Championship by beating Phil Tobin of Crook Coach and Horses 2-0 in the Final played at Crook Spitfire Club. In the semi-finals Parkin beat David Stephenson of Crook Belle Vue Club 2-0, while Tobin beat the holder, Mark Humes of Crook Royal Sun 2-1. The Doubles Championship went to Brian Johnson and Gavin Witton of Crook Olde Horse Shoe after they beat John Warriner and David Stephenson 2-0 in the Final.

Worthington CIU Winter

Division One

P W L Pts

Old Shildon 17 15 2 60

Cockton Hill 17 11 6 50

Fishburn A 17 10 7 46

Wheatley Hill A 16 10 6 45

Brandon 17 8 9 44

Newton Aycliffe 18 10 8 42

Spennymoor A 18 8 10 41

Shotton Palms 18 8 10 41

Witton Gilbert 17 6 11 41

Stanley Central 16 6 10 36

Wheatley Hill B 17 2 15 24

Division Two

Willington 17 17 0 66

Ferryhill 17 11 6 50

Newhouse A 17 10 7 45

Belmont 17 10 7 44

Wingate 16 10 6 43

Langley Park 17 10 7 43

Sherburn Vill. 17 6 11 42

Meadowfield 16 7 9 38

Crowtrees 18 5 13 37

Durham City 18 4 14 32

Hunwick A 18 4 14 30

Division Three

Sacriston 17 13 4 57

Spennymoor B 18 12 6 57

Newhouse B 17 12 5 53

Fishburn B 18 13 5 51

Billy Row 18 10 8 48

Hunwick B 17 9 8 46

West Auckland 17 10 7 45

Tow Law A 16 8 8 38

Tow Law B 17 3 14 29

Leeholme A 16 2 14 26

Leeholme B 17 2 15 20

CIU Worthington Doubles Championship

The hopes of an all Wheatley Hill Final was shattered when both their representatives lost in the semi-finals. In the first match on the tight table at Leeholme the Wheatley Hill pair of Alan Hall and Dave Walker trailed Stephen Bennett and Charlie Blake of Old Shildon by 22 points after the first frame of the three frame aggregate total match. The second frame also went the Old Shildon way as they won by 24 points and seemed to have set up a certain victory with 46 start into the final frame. However, the Wheatley Hill pair had other ideas and Dave Walker put in an early 26 break to bring the match alive again. On the final blue, needing blue and pink, Dave Walker failed on a thin cut, which normally would have been a certainty for him. This allowed Charlie Blake to knock in the necessary points for victory. In the other semi-final David Blyth and Tony Ellison of Wheatley Hill met John Armstrong and Paul Hickman of Shotton Palms at Tow Law. Some very tight safety play dominated the first frame but the Hill lads just managed to edge ahead and go into a 16 point lead. The match changed in the second frame when John Armstrong ran in a 22 break, just falling down on the brown as he looked set for a clearance. However the Shotton pair added the remaining high colours to win the frame by 53 points. In the decider looked to be in with a chance of closing the gap, but a couple of unlucky in-offs ended the match after the last red went down. The Final between Charlie Blake with Stephen Bennett of Old Shildon and John Armstrong with Paul Hickman of Shotton Palms will be held at Billy Row Club on Wednesday, March 28 at 7.30pm.

Worthington CIU Team Plate

Fishburn recovered from a 24 point deficit to come through to beat the visiting Leeholme B by the narrowest of margins. The visitors received 91 point start but this was cut back to only 29 after George Whitelock and Wayne Oliver made good wins for Fishburn. Adrian Prest pulled off a good win for Leeholme by 17 points but then Keith Binks put Fishburn in with a chance when he closed the gap to 24 points. In the deciding frame Fishburn's, Alan Wilson managed to pull through when he took the final pink to beat Stephen Bainbridge.

In the clash between the top two teams in the First Division, the leaders, Old Shildon gave only one point start to their hosts at Cockton Hill. But managed to move 21 ahead after the first frame, won by Billy Goggins. Frank Nicholson extended their lead by a further ten points before Andrew Aisbitt reduced the arrears by eight. Cockton Hill took the last two frames through Kevin Mordica and George Chapman to move through to an 18 point victory.

Third Division Billy Row received 14 points start when they visited Second Division, Hunwick A and extended it to 36 with a win by Alan Hodgson. Trevor Cook won the second frame by 68 to push Hunwick ahead but Alan Smith fought back to bring Billy Row back to lead by 24 points. Alan Lawson won for Hunwick to reduce the arrears to only six points. In the final frame Arnold Fleming made a 44 points win to take Hunwick into the quarter finals. First Division wooden spoonists visited Third Division Tow Law A, who received 50 points start but had the gap closed to only 15 when Steve Cave and Tony Ellison won for the Hill. However Ken Robinson and Doug Watson turned the match in the Lawyers favour by 61 points. David Blyth of Wheatley Hill put up a tremendous fight to recover from this deficit and got to the point where he could force a re-spotted black if he took the final four colours. He tried for a snooker on the brown but set it up and Arthur Henderson potted it, followed with a magnificent long blue and ended the match with the pink. Crowtrees received four points start on their visit to Ferryhill in the all Second Division clash. Glynn Toas, Adrian Jones and Bernie Jones won the first three frames for Ferryhill to move them into a 35 points lead. However the tide turned as Keith McLauchlan by 77 points and teammate, Sean Johnston completed the victory by taking the final frame. In an all First Division encounter, Witton Gilbert took 27 points start from the visiting Fishburn A. The first two frames went to the visitors with wins from John Griffin and John Carter with a 35 break. Their victories moved Fishburn 18 points ahead but the home side took the last three frames through John Rooney senior, Willis Joynes and John Rooney junior to go into the quarter finals. Leeholme A entertained Tow Law B and received 26 points start, which they never needed when only Alex Ogilvie managed to take a frame for the visitors. The home winners were Lawrence Jones, Tony Clish, Anthony Forster and Gordon Douthwaite. Stanley Central visited Meadowfield and edged through to victory when Harold Grimes potted the final blue.

Results: Cockton Hill 285, Old Shildon 257; Hunwick A 272, Billy Row 234; Witton Gilbert 291, Fishburn A 205; Tow Law A 282, Wheatley Hill B 244; Ferryhill 261, Crowtrees 306; Leeholme A 252, Tow Law B 190; Meadowfield 219, Stanley Central 233; Fishburn B 295, Leeholme B 284.