Hunwick in thrilling win

A final frame comeback saw Hunwick B defeat the Second Division visitors from Langley Park by just 19 points. The home side received 21 points start but Paul Nord changed this to a lead for the visitors by 15 after the first frame. The lead changed to a 23 advantage for Hunwick after a good frame from Barry Fleming. The Park fought back with Paul Morgan moving them 19 ahead only to see Tom Ward take the fourth frame to close the gap to just a six points deficit for the Hunwick team. In the final frame Trevor Lomax became the Hunwick hero when he won by 25 points to take his team into the Fourth Round.

Newton Aycliffe just failed to recover in the final frame and went down by 19 points on their visit to Fishburn B in the Third Round.

Newhouse received seven points start on their visit to West Auckland but had this reduced to four after Paul Vickers won the first frame. Jimmy Hassen then moved Newhouse 29 ahead only to see Andrew Sugden make a big win for the home side and go 23 ahead. The see-saw continued as Newhouse's Ian Dinsdale pushed his team six ahead and Kevin Allison completed the visitors victory when he clinched the final frame.

Second Division, Wheatley Hill B visited First Division, Witton Gilbert and received 34 points start, which was extended to 58 after Dave Blyth and Ken Johnson won the first two frames. The home side then had two good frames from John Rooney senior and junior to push Witton into a 22 points lead. However the Hill recovered as Jack Frost put in a sterling performance to take then through by 22 points.

Durham City had ten points start on their visit to Sacriston and widened the gap to 67 points after Michael Pratt, Barry Stoddart and John Davies won the first three frames. Alan Richardson and Steven Bradley both had wins for Sacriston in the final two frames but they could not close the gap with Durham City going through by 33 points.

Hunwick A caused a major shock when they visited Spennymoor A and took four of the five frames. Only John Wilson managed to win for the Moors, whilst Ian Richardson, Des Mason, Paul Atkinson and Neville Blenkinsopp took Hunwick through to a 153 points win.

Cockton Hill gave away 26 points start when they visited Wheatley Hill A but Andrew Aisbitt put in a 40 break to move the visitors 34 ahead. Dave Walker won for the home side by 66 points and then Ronnie Peacock and Harold Lomax drew the third frame. Dean Bryden then moved Wheatley Hill with a 34 break and despite the best efforts of Lee Taylor in the final frame he was unable to make up the leeway.

Leeholme B had a massive 157 points start when they entertained Fishburn A, renowned knock-out cup fighters. Brian Quest, John Carter, John Griffin and Charlie Hirst all won their frames for Fishburn but were only able to reduce the Leeholme lead to 52 points. In the final frame Mark Brown played one of his best frames as captain to win for Leeholme B and put them comprehensively through.

Crook Belle Vue received 36 points start on their visit to Willington but only managed to win one frame through Derek Potts. The home side had wins from Arthur Goldsborough, Tom Parkin, Gordon Parkin and Jeremy Martin to go out as the 77 points winners.

Crook League

Final tables:

DIVISION ONE

P W L Pts

Olde Horse Shoe A 16 13 3 82

Travellers Rest B 16 14 2 72

Belle Vue Club 16 8 8 61

Olde Horse Shoe B 16 9 7 56

Mill House 16 7 9 54

Coach & Horses A 16 6 10 51

Royal Sun 16 6 10 48

Queen's Head A 16 7 9 47

Travellers Rest A 16 2 14 33

DIVISION TWO

P W L PTS

Spitfire Club 14 12 2 65

Willington Market 14 10 4 60

White Swan 14 9 5 54

Jelly's Bar 14 6 8 53

Golden Fleece 14 7 7 48

Surtees 14 7 7 46

Coach & Horses B 14 5 9 40

Queen's Head B 14 0 14 26

Worthington CIU

Summer League

Entry forms will be handed out for the Summer League at the Annual General Meeting to be held in Meadowfield Club on Thursday, 28 February at 7.30p.m. There are vacancies for new teams from C.I.U. Affiliated premises and advance information can be obtained from the secretary on 01388 730444.

Team Plate

Belmont pulled off a very good win at Shotton Palms, where they received 38 points start. The visitors got away to a great start with wins from Billy McGrath and Steven Armstrong so that their lead was extended to 72. Barry Hall then won for Shotton by 47 points to close the gap but Chris Morley then won for Belmont to give them a 48 points lead going into the final frame. Shotton captain, Paul Hickman put up a sterling fight but Mick Short held his game together to take Belmont through.

Wingate look to have overcome a very poor start to the season as they made progress at home against Coundon, who were giving away three points start. Wingate won by 37 points. Stanley Central took revenge for a defeat at Tow Law two seasons ago when they travelled back, gave away 19 points start and then handed out a thrashing. Bill McCluskey won the first frame for the Lawyers to extend their lead to 32 but then Walter Cornell, Harry Grimes and Jim Dufton stormed Stanley into a lead of 120. Doug Watson won the final frame for Tow Law, but never had any chance of making up the leeway.

Old Shildon were in awesome form when they gave away 65 points start to the visiting Sherburn Village. Billy Goggins with a 31 break, Jossie Aldworth with 31 and 29, Michael Pratt with 67 and 35 and Steven Bennett with 30 put the match completely out of reach of the visitors. John Bower won the final frame for Sherburn but never had a hope of getting close to the Old Shildon total. Ferryhill had a similar home success over Spennymoor B, who received six points start.

Meadowfield opted out of the final frame when they entertained Leeholme A, who received 120 points start. The home side won all four frames through Ray Stout, Norman Smith, John Jackson and Stephen Hughes but they never managed to win by a big enough gap. Crowtrees entertained Bearpark in a fairly close match, which the visitors came out on top. However the home side have lodged a protest about the eligibility of one of the visiting players. The protest will be discussed at the next league meeting.

Billiards

South West Durham League

Peter Laverick of Crowtrees made a good start to his game at Hunwick against Tom Ward by breaking of and potting a couple of reds. However Ward quickly got into his stride with some good in-offs and cannons to move into a good lead. Laverick was pushing his score along with some good potting but his in-offs were leaving much to be desired. Eventually Ward finished as the 49 points winner.

Jimmy Evans of Shotton Palms visited John Hall of Crowtrees and maintained his unbeaten run in the league with a 56 points victory.

Lawrence Jones of Witton Gilbert visited Heppell Hodgson of Tow Law hoping to repeat his win earlier in the season on his own table. However Hodgson had other ideas and, after trailing in the early stages found his best form to run out as the 46 points winner.

The matches arranged for next Thursday are Heppel Hodgson (Tow Law) v John Hall (Crowtrees); John Bate (Hunwick) v Jimmy Evans (Shotton Palms) and Charlie Donaghy (Tow Law) v John Hall Crowtrees).

Worthington C.I.U. Individual Championship

In the first qualifying semi-final round robin at Crowtrees, Norman Lowson of Hunwick was a late withdrawal leaving three players looking for the two places on offer for the Final round robin. In the first game of the night Arnold Fleming of Crook Belle Vue met Charlie Donaghy of Tow Law and moved 25 points ahead before the visiting lawyer had scored. However the pattern of the match changed as Donaghy began to run in a number of breaks in the teens and steadily moved into the lead. The game continued in this vein with Donaghy going out as the 40 points winner.

In the second match Fleming was back at the table to play Heppell Hodgson of Tow Law, who was aiming to reach his first final place in his seventh attempt. There was never anything to choose between the players and they both reached the point of wanting 20 for victory at the same time. Fleming moved ahead to need only ten with Hodgson replying to need only eight. The closing stage was dominated by nervous scoring attempts with Hodgson eventually knocking in the necessary points to win by eight points.

In the third match of the night Hodgson met teammate, Donaghy and never had the run of the balls. Donaghy was able to put in runs of 29 and 20 to steadily edge ahead and go out as the 43 points winner.