Durham Ranking Tournament: Tony Kay of Darlington won the final qualifying tournament of the year at Durham Snooker Club with an odd point victory over Kevin Rainbow and boosted his overall place in the Ranking List to give himself a much better placing for the end of year 'Big Money' event.

Tony was 27th in the list but now will have a good chance of moving into the last sixteen.

Kevin Rainbow began the day in fourth place and will certainly have moved higher so that he will take a highly seeded place for the end of year event. Beaten semi-finalist, Graeme Thompson, who had just moved from 31st to 22nd, will now probably go into the last sixteen and so receive a bye in the first round of the end of year tournament.

The other beaten semi-finalists, Adrian Kavanagh began the day in 60th place and really needed to win this event to have a chance of reaching the top 32 but he just lost out in the decider against Tony Kay in the semi final.

Results of the last sixteen were Nick Veuger 1 Kevin Rainbow 3; David Lowery 2 Alan Hogarth 3; Graeme Thompson 3 Andrew Mole 1; Trevor Walton 3 Colin Hutchinson 2; Geoff Bell 0 Tony Kay 3; Lee Holdsworth 2 Graeme Comerford 3; Michael Winnick 1 Rob Hogarth 3; Adrian Kavanagh 3 Rob Day 1.

Quarter finals results were Kevin Rainbow 4 Alan Hogarth 2; Graeme Thompson 4 Trevor Walton 0; Tony Kay 4 Graeme Comerford 1; Rob Hogarth 1 Adrian Kavanagh 4.

Semi finals: Kevin Rainbow 4 Graeme Thompson 0; Tony Kay 4 Adrian Kavanagh 3. The beaten semi finalists received £10 each. In the final Tony Kay received £40 for his 5-4 victory over Kevin Rainbow, who received £25.

Bishop Auckland and District League

Ithe tightest match of the week Bishop Auckland Football Club edged through to an odd point victory at Henknowle Manor. The home side had singles points from Peter Mernor, Ronnie Wright and John Collinson with Steve Webb adding two. In reply the footballers had two points from Lee Taylor and one each from Tony Lambert, Craig Lumley and Lee Diaz. The footballers went ahead when Lee Diaz and Tony Lambert took the doubles but Steve Webb took the first captain's game to put the match into the second deciding captain's game. This time Lee Taylor took his revenge on Webb to give the footballers their odd point success.

Crook Olde Horse Shoe made up their outstanding match with a five points win at home to Bishop Auckland RAFA Club. This leaves them five points behind Spennymoor Ash Tree. The gap from the Shoe to the third placed Crook Coach and Horses A is 23 points with Spennymoor Weardale a further 13 points adrift.

Results: Tow Law Station 7 Bishop Auckland Snooker Club B 6; Toft Hill Three Tuns 3 Bishop Auckland Cumberland Arms 10; Bishop Auckland Snooker Club A 4 Spennymoor Ash Tree 9; Bishop Auckland Derby 10 Bishop Auckland RAFA 3; Crook Coach and Horses A 8 Crook White Swan 5; Spennymoor Weardale 11 Crook Coach and Horses B 2; Willington Brewer's Droop 8 Witton Park Rose and Crown 5; Henknowle Manor 6 Bishop Auckland Football Club 7; Crook Olde Horse Shoe 9 Bishop Auckland RAFA 4.

Willington and District League

Willington Burn Inn looked to be with a good chance of closing the gap on the leaders, Sunnybrow Brown Trout, when they visited Willington Brewer's Droop and led after the singles. However the home side came out in the doubles with all guns blazing and took all three to make an odd point victory. The Brewer's had singles wins from Billy Wragg and Graham Hibkiss, whilst the Burn had points from John McIntosh, Joe Chatterton, Andy Irwin and Dave Griffith junior.

Results: Byers Green Royal Oak 8 Willington Cottles A 1; Hunwick Quarry 3 Willington New Inn 6; Willington Brewer's Droop 5 Willington Burn Inn 4; Willington Cottles B 4 Sunnybrow Brown Trout 5. No result; Prospect Club v Willington Lion and Unicorn.

Auckland Area League

At the October league meeting Bishop Auckland Green Tree announced that they were unable to continue to participate in the league. At the same meeting an application was made by the Earl of Warwick from West Auckland to join the league. Normally this application would be refused as the league had already started but the Earl of Warwick representatives suggested that they would just take over the Green Tree's fixtures and play as though the team had just transferred to a different venue. This was agreed by the meeting and so all fixtures against the Green Tree will be played against the Earl or Warwick instead.

In this week's matches early-season leaders Bishop Auckland King's Head were at home to last year's runners-up Bishop Auckland Manor. The home side's Malcolm Parry took the first game but wins from Peter Mernor and Jon Tomlinson gave the Manor a 2-1 lead. Mark Heward took the next for the hosts to level the game only to see Bill Turner restore the Manor's lead. Wins from Steven Taylor, Mark Heward and Malcolm Parry moved the home side 5-3 in front but John Collinson and Bill Turner won the final two singles games to level the scores. Both sides took a doubles point, with Bob Webb and Ron Wright winning the Manor's and David Baird and David Jacomb winning the Kings'. In the deciding captain's game it was the home side's Mark Heward who claimed his third win of the evening and the match for his team.

Results: Bishop Auckland Grand B 9 West Auckland Earl of Warwick 4; Bishop Auckland Kings Head 7 Bishop Auckland Manor 6; Spennymoor Hillingdon 4 Spennymoor Voltigeur B 9.

Durham County Super League

Horden produced a scintillating display to shoot to the top of the table for the first time this season when they whitewashed the visiting Willington. This puts Horden in a very strong position to repeat their Championship success of last season.

Horden's championship chances were increased when former leaders, Crook A went down by nine points at Spennymoor, who are in a threatening third position, with a match in hand of the top two. The Moors had two points each from Steve Hunter, Paul Biddle, Ronnie McAloon and Dave Bromley with Steve Jones and Dave Elliott adding one each. Neil Campbell took two points for Crook A with Michael Burke and David Haygarth adding one each.

Durham and District League

Durham Snooker Club crashed to their first defeat of the season when they entertained Horden Big Club and only picked up three points, which sent them down to fourth place in the table. Andy Seal, Chris Hutchinson and Chris Beswick took the Snooker Club's thee points, whilst John Bourne proved the Horden star with two singles victories and a win in the captain's game with an eight ball clearance. The other Horden points came from Shaun Williams Gary Deluce and James Evans with two wins each and one from Jed Evans.

Results: Ushaw Moor Catholic Club 9 Witton Gilbert White Tun 4; Coxhoe W.M. Club 5 Framwellgate Moor Marquis of Granby 8; Sacriston Daisy Hill B 10 Bowburn Cooperage 3; Durham Snooker Club 3 Horden Big Club 10; Bowburn hare and Greyhound 7 Bowburn Oak Tree 6; Consett Stateside 10 Spennymoor Voltigeur 3; Ushaw Moor Flass Inn 9 Sacriston Daisy Hill A 4. No result: Gilesgate Three Horse Shoe v Ushaw Moor Winnings.

Crook Individual League

Michael Burke moved to the top of the table after he whitewashed Doug Bowey. Neil Campbell was the only other player in the top six in action with an odd point victory over Adam Martin. Les Scott got back to winning ways after a couple of poor results when he whitewashed Richard Walker, who also lost by the odd point to Aaron Cowan.

The positions and points of the top six are Michael Burke played 13, 28 points; David Haygarth 15, 27; David Craggs 11, 25; Johnny Mason 12, 23; Neil Campbell 13, 22; David Stephenson 13, 20.

Results: Darren Tinkler 2 Lee Cullinan 1; Aaron Cowan 2 Richard Walker 1; Darren Tinkler 2 Aaron Cowan 1; Neil Campbell 2 Adam Martin 1; Michael Burke 3 Doug Bowey 0; Les Scott 3 Richard Walker 0; Darren Tinkler 1 Doug Bowey 2.