Planet Snooker Premier League: Odd point victories were the order of the day when top met second and third met fourth, with David Lilley being the only mover when he swapped places with third placed Mike Dunn.

Dunn, World number 58 from Redcar entertained English Amateur champion, David Lilley at Hartlepool Snooker Centre in a key third against fourth encounter, with Dunn aiming to make up for the 5-2 defeat by Lilley in the first half of the season.

In the first frame Dunn was able to build his score with series of small breaks and took the first point despite a 52 break from Lilley. The Amateur champion replied in style to take the second frame with a well constructed 60 break. However Dunn used his wealth of experience to grind out the third frame and go one ahead with a 64-21 win. Lilley fired back to level the match with a 59 break and left Dunn without a point as he won 77-0.

Lilley resumed after the interval in a similar style and again left Dunn pointless as he knocked in a break of 93, only missing a total clearance of 127 when he failed on the black through a lapse in concentration. Dunn was not to be outdone in the high break building department when he knocked in a classy 87 break to take the game to the deciding frame.

The tempo of the final frame changed as both players settled into a tactical exchange battle. Dunn edged his way to a 33 points lead and then benefited by a further 20 points from repeated misses as Lilley tried to get out of a tight snooker. Dunn looked to have the game stitched up when he went into a 64-9 lead with only three reds remaining but Lilley changed his plan and went after the balls, clearing the table with a break of 56 to take the frame by 65-64 and the match by the odd frame to lift himself into third place in the table.

In the top of the table clash Michael Rhodes of Durham entertained David Craggs of Tow Law at Durham Snooker Club with both desperate for a big win to strengthen their top potential place finish. In the first frame Craggs was the first to get the potting going with 31 but Rhodes replied with 17 before going in-off, leaving Craggs to take the frame with 26.

In the second chances were n missed by both players as Rhodes made 20 and 30 with Craggs replying with 19 and 26 but then inexplicably missed the easiest of greens to loose the frame by 68-51. In a seesaw third Rhodes went ahead after Craggs had conceded a number of points via a tight snooker and the home player clinched it with a 33 break.

A series of breaks in the teens, helped along by fouls from Rhodes on the yellow and pink took Craggs into the interval level with a 67-26 win. Rhodes looked to be in good position after the restart but missed an easy black, but Craggs could only manage 22 in reply. Four misses by Craggs from a tight snooker gave Rhodes the confidence to knock in a 40 break to take the frame 70-29.

The penultimate frame was saw the biggest win of the night with Rhodes putting in a 64 break and following it with 27 to win 92-2. Craggs reduced the arrears by taking the final frame at 91-12 with breaks of 35 and 40.

Andy Craig of Stanley visited John McCallum at Ashington Northern Club, where a large group of home supporters were hoping to encourage their player to reach a top four position by the end of the season. Earlier in the season McCallum had beaten Craig 5-2 at Stanley but Craig had shown a steady improvement in form over recent weeks. The first four frames never reached any great heights although McCallum did put in a 57 break in the third and led at the interval by 4-0.

Craig stopped the rot immediately after the interval when he clinched the fifth frame with a 44 break, but McCallum came back strongly to further increase his lead with a 55 break in the sixth. In the final frame put in an early 45 break but Craig drew on his tactical skills to overhaul the lead and take the frame on the final pink at 65-57 leaving McCallum as the 5-2 victor again.

Planet Players League

There were two major shocks in Group B when the top two were both beaten at home. Gavin Robinson of Coundon crashed to his first defeat when he only took two frames from the visiting Phil Carr. This defeat pushed Robinson down to fifth spot. Scott Railton, who moved up to share top spot with Michael Grey, beat the former second placed Geoff Campbell by a similar margin.

John Bourne shares the top spot in Group A with John Astley who has a match in hand after Bourne edged through by the odd point away to Steve Orr. Steve Armstrong moved back into contention as he took over third place with a 6-1 victory over John Watson at Fishburn.

Postponed matches upset Group C but the top two places still see Stephen Craigie and David Rippon unbeaten with Craigie a point ahead.

Results: Group A: John Astley v Tony Short postponed; Steve Armstrong 6 John Watson 1; Steve Orr 3 John Bourne 4; John Shipley 2 Paul Brash 5; Carl Johnson 4 Richie Stannes 3.

Group B: Gavin Robinson 2 Phil Carr 5; Geoff Campbell 2 Scott Railton 5; Gary Parkin 4 Phil McMasters 3; Michael Grey 6 Darren Storey 1; Paul Garvin 5 Steve Healey 2.

Group C: Stephen Craigie v Stan Buckle postponed; Phil Curry 3 David Rippon 4; Robin Wilson v Colin Harrison no result; Jimmy Evans 7 Michael Barsanti 0; Mark Livingstone v Craig Brown postponed