Willington are winners

Willington landed the trophy after they beat Fishburn B by 62 points in the Final played at Tow Law.

Gordon Parkin gave Willington a great start against Dave Wilson of Fishburn B. The Fishburn side received only two points start but Gordon Parkin wiped this out and moved Willington into a twenty-five points lead with a combination of sound safety play and some inspired potting. Dave Wilson was disappointed with his performance, which was well below his best.

Alan Buist was the second player for Fishburn against Arthur Goldsborough. This game proved a nail-biting affair as neither player managed to open out any substantial lead. Both players potted some good balls until the scores were level with only the black on the table and here Buist pulled Fishburn seven points back into the game with a fine shot.

The third frame saw a very nervous start between Fishburn's Michael Bell and Jeremy Martin with neither played past the twenty mark when ten reds had gone down. However Martin settled in the later stages and went on to win by Twenty-five points to give Willington an overall lead of forty-three points.

After the supper break, the fourth frame saw the battle of the captains with George Whitelock in action for Fishburn against Tom Parkin. The safety play from both players was very tight but when an opportunity did appear neither was able to take the fullest advantage. Whitelock had established a lead but then Parkin pulled out two remarkable shots to sink both the pink and black to win by eight points.

Alan Wilson of Fishburn went into the last frame against Stan Bennett facing an almost impossible task of conceding fifty-one points. However he made a very good start and raised the Fishburn hopes but these were soon dashed as Bennett found his range and went on to win the frame by eleven points and take the cup to Willington with a sixty-two points winning margin.

The match as used as a referees examination and the successful candidates were Alan Greener of Sherburn Village, Ken Rider of Crook Belle Vue, Denis Payne of Coundon and Arnold Fleming of Crook Belle Vue.

Worthington CIU Handicap Singles Championship

Ithe first semi-final Jimmy Evans of Shotton Palms faced Dean Bryden of Wheatley Hill A at West Auckland in a best of five frames match. Bryden received fourteen points per frame.

The early stages of the first frame were dominated by some very good safety play until Bryden built on his start to move twenty-three ahead with 25 left on the table. Evans made successful attempts at snookers but, after failing to cover the green, Bryden went in to clear green, brown, blue and pink to go out as the 81-40 winner.

The second frame was very one-sided as Bryden hit top form and scored heavily at every opportunity to have the frame conceded with two reds remaining on the table and the score at 67-6.

In the third frame Evans still did not manage to reach anything like his normal form and Bryden completed a whitewash victory with a score of 83-25. The match was used as a referees examination with Frank Nicholson of Coundon, Charlie Donaghy of Tow Law and Joe Robinson of Coundon successful candidates.

In the other semi-final played at Hunwick, Andrew Sugden of West Auckland was conceding four points per frame to Kevin Sample of Brandon. Sugden, who had just been named as the top played in the Third Division with only two defeats in twenty matches, lived up to his title by taking the first frame with ease.

The second frame was much tighter as Sample improved and edged slowly into a lead that left Sugden needing a snooker with blue, pink and black left. His effort on the blue looked good as the white slipped in behind the pink but the blue moved across the table and fell into the pocket. He then manoeuvred the white behind the black but was again unfortunate when the pink found its way into a pocket.

This reversal seemed to have an affect on Sugden as he started to strike the cue ball much harder and often found the jaws of the pockets unforgiving. Sample steadily stuck to his task and took the final two frames to book his place in the final against Dean Bryden at Spennymoor.

South West Durham Association

The organisation was upset when Barnard Castle Folly's could not turn out a team to visit Hopetown and resigned from the league. Their results have been removed from the tables but a very strong team has taken their place from Darlington Railway Institute, who have agreed to play their outstanding matches as quickly as possible.

Harrowgate Hill's defeat at Barnard Castle Glaxo has meant that Darlington Snooker Club A were able to move up to share top spot in the First Division with a two points advantage over both Hopetown and Darlington Cricket Club.

Shildon Elm Road opened up a three points gap at the top of the Second Division with the B and C teams from Darlington Snooker Club sharing the second position, but only one ahead of Bishop Auckland Cricket Club, Rileys and Old Shildon.

Results: Tindale Crescent 2 Darlington Cricket Club 2; Darlington Snooker Club A 3 Northgate 1; Barnard Castle Glaxo 3 Harrowgate Hill 1; Shildon Elm Road 4 Darlington Rileys 0; Bishop Auckland Cricket Club 3 Old Shildon 1; Darlington Snooker Club C 3 Bishop Auckland Gents A 1; Bishop Auckland Gents B 0 Darlington Snooker Club B 4.