Worthington Durham County Team Knockout: Second Division Wingate will meet First Division Willington in the Final after they came through their respective semi-finals against Wheatley Hill A and Brandon. Wingate were successful at Fishburn, whilst Willington made their victory at Hunwick.

Wingate received forty points start from Wheatley Hill A at Fishburn and made a good start when Dave Hammond moved into an early lead in the first frame. However Alan hall laid some very good successful snookers to claw his way back and eventually went on to win by 31 points. Wingate regained their forty points lead in the second frame when Geoff Howe kept Jack Wright under tight safety shots but was always willing to take his own opportunities. Howe put in a 27 break to clinch a good win. Things got even better for Wingate as Jimmy Mason put in a 21 break to open a gap on Dennis Clish and then never allowed the Wheatley Hill man to play his normal game and won the frame by forty-four points.

Wheatley's Hill's hopes were revived in an excellent frame played by Ronnie Peacock. Steve Allen was never given a clear cut chance as Peacock steadily built up a lead with small breaks followed by good safety. The last three colours proved costly when Allen tried to squeeze the blue into a small gap in a pocket almost covered by the pink. The blue failed to drop and Peacock stepped in to take the three balls and reduce the Wingate lead to eighteen points.

John Bourne took the early lead in the final frame against Dave Walker of Wheatley Hill. Bourne put in breaks of 32 and 21 to drain Walker's confidence and kept him out of the frame to record a seventy-seven points frame victory and take Wingate to the final with a win by 327-232.

Willington received twenty-two points start against Brandon and had an outstanding performance from Jeremy Martin in the first frame when he put in breaks of 28 and 22 to beat Brandon's John Hall and move the Willington lead to ninety-three points. Tom Parkin further extended the Willington lead after beating Kevin Sample in a tight safety encounter by eight points.

Graham Jackson won Brandon's first frame when he came through another very tight frame against Stan Bennett, but he only managed to win by nineteen points and so only reducing the deficit to eighty-two points. Brian Graham of Brandon and Gordon Park of Willington were very close until Parkin put in a vital 22 break to take the frame and put Willington into a lead of one hundred and four points. This was too much of a mountain to climb and Brandon's John Middleton conceded against Arthur Goldsborough without a shot taken.

Worthington CIU play-off

Sacriston failed in the Worthington CIU Third Division play-off when two unfortunate in-offs allowed Coundon to come through and take the title in the match played before a packed audience at Tow Law.

The first frame saw both players playing ultra cautiously although Dale Evans from Sacriston was edging steadily into the lead. However Graham Goulbourn found his potting form late in the frame and closed the gap until it became a black ball decider. Evans pulled off a good shot to clinch the first point for Sacriston.

Colin Moore was next up for Coundon against Jeff Evans, who edged ahead with a 14 break but Moore pulled level with 12 and then steadily went further ahead. Eventually Evans was left needing a snooker on the blue and managed to achieve it successfully but Moore took the pink and black to level the match.

Mark Appleby made an excellent start for Sacriston in the third frame and his early 18 pushed him ahead of Frank Nicholson. Nicholson got into double figures twice but was still well behind when the last red went down. Appleby potted the green, which would have left Nicholson needing a snooker, but the cue ball ran on into the pocket. Nicholson took the green, brown, blue and pink to take Coundon ahead.

Willy Nixon took Sacriston into an early lead against Willy Shoulder by potting a ball and then playing very tight safety. Shoulder never had a reasonable shot at the balls for most of the frame and looked likely to go down. However Nixon was unlucky when he potted the brown and went in-off, leaving Shoulder needing all the balls for victory. He potted the brown and played good position off his pot on the blue to take pink and black to give Coundon the Third Division title.

Worthington CIU Team Plate

Ithe semi-finals Leeholme A reached their first final since joining the Association when they beat Stanley central at Crowtrees. Spennymoor A, the First Division champions, also qualified for the final by beating Ferryhill at New Durham.

The first frame at New Durham was safety dominated with Spennymoor's Karl Welsh just getting the better of Ian Fawcett of Ferryhill to cut the seventy points start by sixteen. In the second frame, Ferryhill's Bernie Jones failed to capitalise on some early chances whilst the Paul Biddle always seemed to be able to add a colour to a red to steadily build up a 49 points win.

Glyn Toas kept Ferryhill in touch in the third frame against Eddie Rhodes. However Rhodes managed to fluke the blue and followed up with pink and black to take the Moors into the lead for the first time with a seventeen points advantage. The fourth frame brought the best of the match with Steve Wray of Ferryhill and Paul Atkinson of Spennymoor going point for point in a very tight start. A slight mistake by Wray gave Atkinson half a chance, which he turned into a 32 break. However Wray potted some good balls to keep himself in the frame. After Atkinson took green and brown he failed on a long blue, allowing Wray to come to clear the table and only lose by six points.

John Wilson took a 23 points start into the final frame against Ferryhill's Mark Wilson, who was well below his best and slipped to needing a snooker on the final red. He potted the red but missed the pink allowing the Spennymoor man to take the yellow, green and brown to record a victory of 322-253.

South West Durham Association

Bishop Auckland Gents Club started the new season in great form as both their teams won without dropping a point - a feat not equalled for years. The A team saw off the visiting Darlington Snooker Club B team whilst the R team, who had not won a match last season, whitewashed their hosts at Tindale Crescent.

Bishop Auckland golfers changed their clubs for cues and showed they are a force to be reckoned with when they whitewashed the visiting Newton Aycliffe Southerne Club with Andrew Aisbitt making a 49 break.

Results: Darlington Cricket Club A 4 Bishop Auckland Cricket Club 0; Darlington Snooker Club A 2 Darlington Cricket Club B 2; Bishop Auckland Golf Club 4 Newton Aycliffe Southerne Club 0; Old Shildon 2 Barnard Castle Glaxo 2; Bishop Auckland Gents A 4 Darlington Snooker Club B 0; Tindale Crescent 0 Bishop Auckland Gents B 4; Shildon Elm Road 1 Northgate 3. Hopetown v Riley's postponed.

Worthington CIU Summer League

The new season will begin on Tuesday, 6 May with the following fixtures in Division One: Spennymoor A v Newton Aycliffe; Fishburn A v Shotton Palms; Witton Gilbert v Wheatley Hill A; Sherburn Village v Willington; Brandon v Newhouse.

Division Two: Ferryhill v Crook Belle Vue; Durham City v Spennymoor B; Wheatley Hill B v Langley Park; Wingate v Crowtrees; Meadowfield v Stanley Central.

Division Three: Leeholme A v Sacriston; New Durham v Coundon; Tow Law A v Tow Law B; Hunwick v Fishburn B; Bearpark v Leeholme B.