POOL LEAGUES

Bishop Auckland produced one of their best displays of the season to pull off a draw with the visiting Ferryhill. The home side two points each from Kevin Watson and Ronnie Wright whilst Ferryhill had two from Sonny Hann and Alan Blakey. The Bishops edged ahead to lead by one point with one to play but Simon Corbridge moved up to take the point and give Ferryhill a draw.

Crook A moved to the top of the table after they only dropped four points to the visiting Newton Aycliffe. The home side had two points from Doug Bowey, Dave Haygarth, Stephen Burke and Michael Burke. The visitors points came from Richie Bellwood, who won two, and one each from Gary Spooner and Kevin Green.

Durham A went down by two points at home to Horden. The visitors took the first half by 5-2 and could not pull back in the second half despite the two points from Chris Bowran. The league champions had two points each for James Evans and John Bourne.

Tow Law produced their worst display since joining the league when only John Beveridge managed to score their single points against the visiting Shildon A. The visitors' points came from Michael Hoggart, Paul Willey, Peter Coates, Paul Armstrong and Alan Tennant with two each, whilst Rance Richardson added one

Bishop Auckland and District League

Crook Olde Horse Shoe made easier progress to the semi-finals of the League Knock Out Cup than they anticipated when they entertained Bishop Auckland Snooker Club B The Shoe had two singles wins from Cliff Owens and Dave Leighton with John Mason, Dave Walker and Stephen Liddle adding one each. The Snooker Club's three points came with one each from Paul Willey, Michael Hoggart and Steve Balanaves.

Henknowle Manor A beat their hosts at Bishop Auckland Football Club by the same score. The footballers had points from Tony Lambert, Mark Quinn and lee Taylor. The Manor's points came with two from John Collinson and Bill Turner, whilst Steve Webb, Ronnie Wright and Peter Mernor added one each.

In a re-arranged league match Spennymoor Ash Tree raced ahead at the top of the table after they beat the visiting Crook White Swan by nine points.

Results: Team Knock Out quarter finals: Bishop Auckland Cumberland Arms 2 Crook Coach and Horses A 7; Bishop Auckland FC 3 Henknowle Manor A 7; Crook Olde Horse Shoe 7 Bishop Auckland Snooker B 3; Willington Brewer's Droop 7 Bishop Auckland Snooker Club A 1.

League match: Spennymoor Ash Tree 11 Crook White Swan 2.

Crook League

Crook White Swan produced their best result of the season when they only dropped three points to the visiting Crook Belle Vue. The Swan had two points from Lee Airey, Andrew Finch, Dave Stewart and Stephen Murphy with Kenny Lucas scoring one to add to the two doubles. The Club's points came from Brian Wright with two and one from Ian Hodkinson.

Howden Australian only dropped three points on their visit to Crook Spitfire Club, who had two points from Mark Callaghan and one from Gordon Walker. The Aussie's points came from Ian Williams, Stephen Burke, Andrew McCabe and Stephen Heyes with Peter Johnson adding one to go with the two doubles.

Crook Olde Horse Shoe A lead the First Division by eight points from Crook Travellers Rest B despite having their match postponed. Crook Belle Vue slipped nine points behind the Travellers B.

Crook Coach and Horses B lead the Second Division by a massive twenty-five points from Crook King's Head, who are 11 points ahead of Howden Australian.

Results: Crook Coach and Horses B 12 Croft Social Club 2; Crook Spitfire Club 3 Howden Australian 11; Crook Travellers Rest A 12 Crook Queen's Head A 2; Willington Market 4 Crook Travellers Rest B 10; Crook Mill House 7 Crook Jelly's Bar A 7; Crook Olde Horse Shoe B 6 Crook Coach and Horses A 8; Crook Golden Fleece B 7 Crook Surtees 7; Crook Jelly's Bar B 3 Crook Golden Fleece A 11; Crook Queen's Head B 4 Hunwick Club 10; Crook King's Head 8 Willington Brewer's Droop 6; Crook White Swan 11 Crook Belle Vue 3. Crook Royal Sun v Crook Olde Horse Shoe A postponed.

Spennymoor League

Spennymoor Hillingdon B pulled off a very good away win when they visited Spennymoor Black Horse and clinched the victory by taking the deciding captain's game. The Horse had singles wins from Dave Miller and Jamie Oliver whilst the Hillingdon went ahead with wins from Ian Smith, John Bulmer and Barry Walton. The Horse levelled the match when Greg Porter and Jamie Oliver win the first doubles. The Hillingdon restored their lead when John Bulmer and Steven Burgess won the second doubles. In the deciding captain's game the Hillingdon's Barry Walker beat John McIver.

Spennymoor Voltigeur are steadily increasing their lead at the top of the table. After only losing one point on their visit to Spennymoor Pit Laddie, the Volti moved eight points clear at the top. Spennymoor North Eastern are in second place, three points ahead of Spennymoor Quinns Inn and Spennymoor Football Club.

Results: Spennymoor railway A 4 Spennymoor FC 4; Coxhoe Red Lion 3 Spennymoor Ash Tree 5; Spennymoor Half Moon 2 Spennymoor Salvin Arms 6; Spennymoor Hillingdon A 6 Spennymoor Crown 2; Spennymoor Pit Laddie 1 Spennymoor Voltigeur 7; Spennymoor Black Horse 3 Spennymoor Hillingdon B 5; Spennymoor North Eastern 4 Spennymoor Railway B 4; Ferryhill White Horse 6 Low Spennymoor Victoria 2; Spennymoor Quinns Inn 4 Spennymoor Victoria 4.

Tow Law Scottish Courage League

Sunniside Comedian made a positive move up the table when they beat the visiting Tow Law new Market A by three points. The Comic had singles wins from Michael Thompson, Morgan Errington, Dave Thompson and John Hildreth with the visitors' replying with wins for Ian Turner and Bill Goodall. The New Market closed the gap by taking the first doubles but the home side took the remaining two doubles to complete a good win. Tow Law New Market B got back to winning ways when they took all six singles against the visiting Hamilton Row Black Horse with wins from Tom Hauxwell, John Beveridge, Tony Carter, Gavin Tennant, David Spencer and Ray Weir. However things changes completely in the doubles when the Horse won all three to make a seemingly whitewash result into a respectable score.

Results: Tow Law Rose and Crown 2 Tow Law Football Club 7; Tow Law Station 5 Tow Law Dan's Castle B 4: Tow Law New Market B 6 Hamilton Row Black Horse 3; Tow Law Dan's Castle A 3 Newhouse Club 6; Sunniside Comedian 6 Tow Law.

Durham Super Knock Out Cup

Durham B landed the Knock Out trophy when they beat Shildon in the final played at Sacriston Daisy Hill after some classy play throughout the day.

In the quarter finals Crook A disposed of Durham A but the match went to the decider. With the teams locked at seven each, Michael Burke stepped up to represent Crook against Andrew Morley of Durham with Burke snatching victory.

The second quarter final again produced a deciding match when Shildon B finished level with Horden. Shildon went through when Nigel hall beat Horden's James Evans.

The other two quarter finals were also close but did not quite go to the decider when Spennymoor beat Shildon A by two points and Durham B beat Ferryhill by three.

Shildon B had the edge on Crook A throughout their semi-final wne went to the final with a three points victory. Durham B had a similar success against Spennymoor and then went on to beat Shildon B in the final by three frames. The successful Durham B team was Steve Thompson, Michael Rhodes, Nick Veuger, Andy Seal, Trevor Walton, Ian Dinsdale and Dave Hodgson.

Crook Individual League

Adam Martin recorded his first win in the league beating Stephen Burke 2-1 after not having the best run of the balls in the league so far. Martin probably thought his bad luck would continue after Burke got down to his last ball and Martin snookered him only to see Burke masse round the red to pot his ball and finish perfectly on the black. Martin then used his experience to win the next two frames in a tactical battle.

Lee Scott continued his good run and remains the surprise package in the league when he beat Richard Walker 2-1. Scott was unlucky not to win all three after Walker bounced the white off the table from the break and Scott went in to pot six balls on his first visit then set the seventh up and potted it on his second visit only to snooker himself on the black. Having missed the black from the snooker Walker went one better and cleared the table with his two visits.

Richard Walker then played Darren Tinkler in a rearranged game and won a tactical battle 3-0. Johnny Mason leads the table by five points from David Craggs, who is one ahead of Lee Scott and David Haygarth. However Craggs and Michael Burke remain unbeaten and have three games in hand.

The matches scheduled at Crook Coach and Horses for Monday are Michael Burke v Stephen Heyes; Aaron Cowan v David Craggs; James Ivil v David Haygarth; David Stephenson v Les Scott plus any re-arranged games from previously postponed matches.