The first six matches in the competition played at the Kingsway Club, Bishop Auckland featured some good break building from attacking potting but the two matches played this week featured some very tight safety play, mixed with missed chances.

The draw brought together two players from the home club against two from Crowtrees Club.

Vickers Bell of the Kingsway Club met Sonny Hann of Crowtrees with Hann taking the first frame. The second frame followed a similar pattern with both players missing some good chances but again two reds with two blacks provided Hann with enough points to go to victory by 50-29.

The third frame saw Bell find something like his true form as he put in a 22 break to take a good lead as Hann missed almost every ball he went for. However the frame was completely changed as Hann Found his form and ran in a decisive 45 break to take the frame by 65-41 and the match at 3-0.

Scoring on the other table was slower when Stuart McKenzie of the host club met Peter Laverick of Crowtrees Club. McKenzie took the first frame but the second proved very tight but again McKenzie took the frame.

Laverick pulled back to 2-1 in the third frame. The fourth frame was nip and tuck until only the last two reds remained. It was here that Laverick made a mistake when he split the two, allowing McKenzie to make the top break of the match with 23 to run out the winner.

The matches at the Kingsway Club, which is situated on the first floor above the Lightfoot Institute (formerly the Library) in Kingsway, Bishop Auckland, next Thursday are John Armstrong of Shotton against Ronnie Peacock of Wheatley Hill and Alan Grieve of Darlington against Paul Hickman of Shotton. The matches begin at 7.30pm and are the best of five frames. Spectators are welcomed with no entry fee.