David Lilley of Hebburn, The English Amateur Champion, proved too strong for his host, Paul Davison at Durham Snooker Club when he recovered from a two frames deficit to take the remaining five points to boost his standing in the table.

Davison opened in good, confident form and took the first frame with a 40 break. Lilley showed signs of finding some of his real form in the second but Davison raced away with a 52 break to snatch the point with a 69-60 victory.

The two frames before the interval were dominated by Lilley, who had tightened up his safety play and began to pot confidently with the cue ball control he is noted for. A 44 break in the third frame opened his account, which was increased in the fourth when he put in a very good 87 break. The first frame after the interval proved to a heart-breaker for Davison. He opened out with a well-constructed 71 break and looked to have the point well within his grasp. However, Lilley, despite needing snookers, kept plugging away but still looked doomed when he needed a snooker on the pink. However a careless shot from Davison put him in deep despair when he went in-off the pink, leaving Lilley the gift of the two final balls.

This unexpected point lifted Lilley's confidence and had the reverse affect on Davison as the visitors took the remaining frames at 67-41 and 80-4, with a 55 break to clinch this final frame and repeat the scoreline from his earlier home victory.

Mike Dunn, the world number 54 from Redcar, recovered from his defeat at Tow Law against David Craggs last week, when he beat Michael Rudd of Hartlepool in Hartlepool Snooker Centre for the loss of only one frame. Dunn, who always gives himself a time out from practice at the end of the professional season, is only now thinking of getting back to the practice table to build up to the start of the new season. This result will have lifted his resolve as well as moving him up to joint second place in the table with David Craggs.

Craggs, who had hit the high spots with the home win over Dunn, found a complete reversal of form when he visited English international, Gary Wilson at High Howdon Club, Wallsend. Craggs took the first frame with a 32 break and moved 38 in front with 52 on the table when faced with a plant. He took it on half-heartedly and made it but did not get the position needed so he laid a very tight snooker. Wilson had to go for a 'hit and hope' shot, which saw the cue ball contact and red and flash it into the pocket leaving perfect position on the blue. With this boost Wilson went on to level.

There was no doubt about the third as Wilson hit top form with a 72 break and he improved further when with a tight snooker creating an opening, he knocked in an 86 clearance to reach the interval with a two frames advantage.

After the re-start Craggs established an early lead in the fifth but uncharacteristically missed an easy chance, which gave Wilson the opportunity to put in a 63 clearance. Wilson was now firing on all cylinders and took the sixth with 74 break and followed up with a 65, after Craggs had missed two early chances, to win 6-1.

Planet Players League

John Astley went down to his first defeat when he played the vastly experienced John Bourne and suffered from a series of successful snookers, where Bourne took advantage of the points accrued to win by the odd point. Despite this young Astley still leads the Group A by four points.

Gavin Robinson brought off the best result in Group B when he beat the vastly experienced Phil McMasters for the loss of only one frame at Coundon. Phil Garvin, who has established himself as a possible winner, suffered from another postponement and now has two matches in hand. Group C is very tight but young Stephen Craigie established himself at the top when the only dropped one point to the visiting Michael Barsanti.

Results: Group A: John Astley 3 John Bourne 4; Steve Armstrong v Paul Brash postponed; John Wilson 0 Tony Short 7; John Shipley 1 Richard Stannes 6; Carl Johnson 1 Steve Orr 6. Group B: Gavin Robinson 6 Phil McMasters 1; Geoff Campbell 7 Darren Storey 0; Scott Railton v Phil Carr and Michael Grey v Steve Healey postponed; Paul Garvin 5 Gary Parkin 2. Group C: Stephen Craigie 6 Colin Harrison 1; Phil Curry 6 Michael Barsanti 1; David Rippon v Stan Buckle postponed; Jimmy Evans 2 Craig Brown 5; Mark Livingstone 1 Robin Wilson 6.