Michael Rhodes of Durham clinched a win in the decider against John McCallum of Ashington at Durham Snooker Club with a classy 132 clearance in the final frame to hold on to his top place in the league table.

The opening stages of the first frame were tight but when McCallum went in-off the final red Rhodes moved in to clear the table and win 57-32. The tables were turned in the second when McCallum made an early 36 break and then clinched the frame when he capitalised on a missed long red by Rhodes to knock in a 35 break, leaving Rhodes to concede with a red remaining.

McCallum looked to be on his way to a very big break but he jumped the black on 36. However mistakes followed from Rhodes with the Ashington visitor going ahead with a 74-32 win. Rhodes levelled before the interval when he overhauled McCallum's early lead with a 37 break and then laid a tight snooker on the final blue, which brought two miss calls before Rhodes sealed the frame at 61-36.

In the fourth frame McCallum was the only player to trouble the scoreboard as he went to an 87-0 victory with runs of 30, 25 and 19. However Rhodes replied with a 62 break and took the frame to level at 70-19 and set the scene for his brilliant showing in the decider.

Andy Craig of Stanley visited Michael Rudd at Hartlepool Snooker Centre and pulled off victory in the bottom of the table clash by winning the decider. Both players realised that they needed a big frame score to avoid the threat of relegation from the many promising players in the Planet Snooker Players Leagues. Rudd took the early advantage and put the first point on the board with a 63-15 win but Craig adjusted to the speed of the table and took the second at 79-42. The third went to Craig on a fluke from the re-spotted black but Rudd levelled the match with an 82 break and then moved ahead by adding the fifth. Craig put in a solid workmanlike frame to square the match and then won it with breaks of 40 and 48 in the decider.

Anthony Parsons of Guisborough entertained the top ranked player in the league, Mike Dunn of Hartlepool. Currently Dunn is well down the table but has games in hand of all the leading players and looks to be the most likely to challenge Michael Rhodes for the first Premier championship.

Dunn's pedigree was quickly on show as he stroked in a 51 break to take the first frame. However Parson showed he was prepared to fight and, with a controlled approach, levelled the match. Dunn came back and again showed that the slightest error by his opponent would mean some heavy scoring, put in breaks of 88 to win the third and 40 to clinch the fourth. After the interval, Parsons again ground out a solid frame win without any breaks of note but by an accumulation of small scores followed by tight safety. Dunn was not to be kept quiet, however, and he made breaks of 45 to take the sixth and 44 to in the last to clinch a 5-2 victory.

Chris West of Whitley Bay has withdrawn from the league after agreement with Planet Snooker to end his contract with them. All his results have been removed from the records, resulting in the table shown below. The effect has given Michael Rhodes a slight advantage as he just beat West, whilst Mike Dunn whitewashed him. This means that Rhodes has a slightly better frames per match average than Dunn. However the players meet at Hartlepool Snooker Club on Monday in a match which could well go a long way to deciding the championship.

Fixtures: Monday: Gary Wilson v Anthony Parsons at High Howdon Social Club, Wallsend; Mike Dunn v Michael Rhodes at Hartlepool Snooker Club; Paul Davison v Michael Rudd at Durham Snooker Centre.

All fixtures commence at 7.30pm. Anyone wishing to watch any matches should check with the respective venue that the matches are going ahead as scheduled. Additional information can be obtainied by calling 07830 101228 or 07830 101186.

* Whilst England are trying to beat France in Euro 2004, two young men from this league will be representing England in the under-14s snooker international at the Terry Griffiths Matchroom Snooker Centre in Llanelli, Wales.

John Astley of Gateshead and Stephen Craigie of Walkerville will be in action against Wales on Saturday and Sunday and carry the best wishes of all the North-East's snooker enthusiasts. These two young lads are playing in this league against players sometimes four times their age but both have unbeaten records to date.

The standard set in this league for these young lads to emulate is shown by the unbeaten David Rippon's 110 clearance when he played Craig Brown at Cowpen Social Club. Also notable is the fact that Steve Armstrong has only dropped one frame to date, whilst Phil McMasters is getting back to match play with a current unbeaten record and will be a force to be reckoned with.

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

Group B: Phil McMasters 4 Phil Carr 3; Steve Healey 4 Scott Railton 3; Gary Parkin 4 Geoff Campbell 3; Michael Grey 2 Gavin Robinson 5; Paul Garvin 7 Darren Storey 0.

Group C: Colin Harrison 4 Stan Buckle 3; Craig Brown 1 David Rippon 6; Robin Wilson 6 Phil Curry 1; Jimmy Evans 3 Stephen Craigie 4; Mark Livingstone 5 Michael Barsanti 2.