Pool News

Paul Morgan was the club's hero when he took two points from Gavin Witton, who had only dropped one frame throughout the season. Ian Hodkinson also scored two for the club, with Stephen Mould, John warriner and David Stephenson adding one each. The Shoe had two points from Gerald Parkin and one each from Cliff Owens, Brian Johnson and Stephen Liddle.

This reversal for the Shoe allowed the second placed, Crook Travellers Rest B to cut the lead at the top to six points after they won their local derby by four points. These two teams are certainly dominating the First Division for the third team, Crook Olde Horse Shoe B are 20 points adrift of the Travellers following their four points home win over Crook Jelly's Bar A.

In the Second Division, Crook Surtees lost their top spot when they went down by two points at Crook Golden Fleece, are now in third place just three points behind the Surtees. Crook Spitfire Club jumped to the top of the table after they only dropped two points on their visit to Crook Jelly's Bar B.

Results: Crook Coach and Horses B 8, Croft Social Club 6; Crook Jelly's Bar B 2, Crook Spitfire Club 12; Crook Golden Fleece 8, Crook Surtees 6; Crook Queen's Head B 2, Crook White Swan 12; Crook Belle Vue 8, Crook Olde Horse Shoe A 6; Crook Olde Horse Shoe B 9, Crook Jelly's Bar A 5; Crook Mill House 9, Crook Queen's Head A 5; Crook Royal Sun 6, Crook Coach and Horses A 8; Crook Travellers Rest B 9, Crook Travellers Rest B 5.

Spennymoor League

Spennymoor Quinns Inn were able to stretch their lead at the top of the table to 12 points over Spennymoor Pit Laddie, who failed to send in their result card against Spennymoor Football Club. The Quinns whitewashed Coxhoe Red Lion, who have re-established their team after going through a sticky patch. Spennymoor Ashtree looked to be on course for a whitewash win when they visited Spennymoor Railway but the home side managed to take the captain's game at the end. The singles winners for the Ashtree were Mark Ramage, Neil Petch, Andrew Thompson, Chris Pennal and Gareth Jackson. The visitors then took both doubles but Brian Longthorne of the Railway saved the whitewash when he beat Andy Gaskeill in the captain's game.

Results: S'moor Quinns Inn 8, Coxhoe Red Lion 0; S'moor North Eastern 2, S'moor Voltigeur 6; S'moor Half Moon 5, S'moor Wheatsheaf 3; S'moor Hillingdon 2, S'moor Black Horse 6.

Tow Law League

Even in the early stages of the new season the league looks to be dominated by Tow Law New Market B and Tow Law Station Inn. The Market pulled level with the Station at the top when they only dropped one point to the visiting Billy Row Royal George, whose success came when Paul Shepherd beat Jim Day. The Station dropped two points on their visit to Sunniside Comedian when Dave Ferguson beat Malcolm Umpelby and Chris Cavagin beat Tommy Sloan. This leaves the two teams four points clear of Tow Law Black Horse A and Tow Law Football Club.

Esh Winning Football Club edged through to an odd point win by taking two of the doubles points after the singles had been shared in their home match against Tow Law New Market A. The footballers had singles points from Alan Brown, John McCormick and Ken Brown, whilst the visitors replied through Shaun McGrath, John Hodgson and Bill Goodall.

Tony Brown of Tow Law Black Horse had a most unusual experience in the home game against Tow Law Rose and Crown for he never got a shot in either the singles or the doubles. In his singles Lee Mowbray broke off and cleared the table, while in the doubles Tony's partner, Howard Spoors broke off and cleared up.

Results: Tow Law Black Horse A 6, Tow Law Rose and Crown 3; Tow Law New Market B 8, Billy Row Royal George 1; Esh Winning Football Club 5, Tow Law New Market A 4; Sunniside Comedian 2, Tow Law Station Inn 7; Tow Law Football Club 8, Tow Law Black Horse B 1; Hamilton Row Black Horse 1, Lanchester King's Head 8.

Durham Ranking Tournament

The sixth Ranking Tournament will be held in Durham Snooker Club on Sunday, June 17, when players must register by noon.

The event scores ranking and merit points to qualify for the Grand Final at the end of the year and is open to anyone over the age of 18 at a cost of £6 each.

The prize money is £80 for the winner, £40 for the beaten finalist, £20 each for the beaten semi-finalists and £10 for the Plate winner.

The May event proved a greater success than the earlier events as five tables were used to provide better continuity of play so that contestants were not waiting long for their next match.

It also made it possible to play the Plate matches, for players knocked out in the first round, to play their games as the best of three frames, thus giving newcomers a better chance to acquaint themselves with the current EPA rules.

Late entrants to the Ranking system still have the chance to qualify for the Grand Final because the top 32 over the year will be included.

The seeding format for the Final will be that players ranked 17 to 32 will play each other to meet players 9 to 16 in the next round, the winners will then go through to meet the top 8 in the last 16.

Current positions, with Ranking and Merit Points: 1 Michael Rhodes 26 ranking points, 62 merit points; 2 Andy Seal 23, 43; 3 Alan McCluskey 20, 36; 4 Dave Harrop 19, 38; 5 Colin Hutchinson 19, 34; 6 David Jackson 18, 27; 7 Chris Bowran 17, 34; 8 Paul Brockway 17, 30; 9 Gavin West 16, 27; 10 Darren Grainger 15, 23; 11 Gee Cheng 14, 25; 12 Wayne Watson 14, 16; 13 Andrew Morley 13, 21; 14 Gavin Hudspith 13, 14; 15 Dave Wilkinson 12, 22; 16 Ian Bertram 12, 14; 17 Helen Littlewood 12, 12; 18 Terry Barker 11, 18; 19 Adrian Kavanagh 11, 13; 20 Dave Harrison 10, 15; 21 John Mavin 10, 11; 22 Shahin Hussian 10, 6; 23 Dave Lowery 10, 4; 24 Leigh Mavin 9, 12; 25 Jason Johnson 8, 10; 26 Frasier Powell 8, 8; 27 Jim Bainbridge 7, 9; 28 Leigh Patterson 7, 3; 29 Michael Burke 6, 11; 30 Eddie Rhodes and Sue Seal 6, 7 each; 32 Peter Jackson 6, 4; 33 Johnny Roland 6, 2; 34 Kevin Allison 6, 1; 35 Aaron Cowan and Brian Dunn 5, 3 each; 37 Matt Hillier 4, 2; 38 Alice Rhodes 4, 1; 39 Claire Tritton 4, 0; 40 Paul Dalziel 3, 5; 41 Dave Baines 3, 3; 42 Steven Armstrong, Steven Dawson, Ankur Nangpal and Kevin Wilkinson 2, 2 each; 46 J. P. Clarke, Martin Mann and B. Smith 2, 1 each; 49 D. Anderson, A. Grant, Gary Henderson, Ian King, Dave Laws, J. Owens, Nichole Pate and T. Snowden 2,0 each; 57 Neil Campbell 1, 1; 58 Gary Emerson 1, 0; 58 Derek Perry 1, 0.

Durham County Super League

At the midway point of the league there is only one outstanding fixture: Bishop A v Chester-le-Street, while Durham still have two frames to play against Aycliffe.

P W D Pts

Crook B 8 7 0 69

Ferryhill 8 4 3 67

Shildon 8 4 1 67

Durham 8 5 1 65

Crook A 8 3 1 53

Bishop B 8 3 1 49

Bishop A 7 3 1 47

Chester 7 1 0 38

Aycliffe 8 0 0 33

CIU Individual Championship

The League Singles Championship first qualifying rounds were played at eight venues with one winner from each moving forward to the second stage. The players to qualify were Trevor Race of Cockton Hill from the Newfield matches; Colin Joyce of Chilton from the Byers Green matches; Steve Webster of Ferryhill from the Crowtrees matches; Paul Morton of the Victoria from the Ferryhill matches and Dave Lithgo of Cockton Hill from the Cockton Hill venue. No results were forwarded from the venues at the Victoria or Crook Belle Vue.

Bishop Auckland League

Bishop Auckland Cumberland Arms came within a hair's breadth of winning their third match of the season and only failed when their captain, Paddy Loughran failed to take both points against his opposite number at St. Helens Wheatsheaf, John Whyman. John managed to share the captain's points and so take his team to an odd point victory.

In the singles the Wheatsheaf had two points for Billy Gargett and one each for David Bradshaw, Darren Denham, David Ebdon and Alan Young, while the Cumberland Arms replied with one point each for Ian Lowes, Gerry Errington, Paddy Loughran and Geoff Proud.

The Cumberland kept their chances of a win alive when Ian Lowes and Gerry Errington took the doubles.

Crook Olde Horse Shoe lead the table by 18 points following their win for the loss of only three points at Bishop Auckland Football Club. Bishop Auckland Derby are in second place, ten points ahead of Spennymoor Ashtree, who have a match in hand.

Results: Spennymoor Hillingdon 3, Spennymoor Ashtree 10; Spennymoor Weardale 5, Bishop Auckland Derby 8; St. Helens Wheatsheaf 7, Bishop Auckland Cumberland Arms 6; Bishop Auckland Football Club 3, Crook Olde Horse Shoe 10. Bishop Auckland King's Head v Witton Park Rose and Crown - postponed.

Willington League

The two leading teams both made seven point victories when leaders, Oakenshaw Club beat the visiting Prospect Club and Howden Australian B won at Willington Commercial. While this result leaves Oakenshaw Club one point clear at the top with a match in hand the matches had immense bearing on the Player of the Year award.

Tony Leighton of Oakenshaw went down to Phil Blyth of the Prospect to allow Michael Burke of Howden Australian B to move one point clear at the top of the Individual Wins Table after he beat Craig Young of Willington Commercial.

Leighton has an extra game to play and the trophy winner could well be decided by a play-off.

Hunwick Quarry Burn went down by the odd point after their hosts at Willington Market came through to win by taking the last two doubles points. The singles were shared when Tommy Barrass, Brian Clough and Gary Trow won for the home side with Ray Johnson, Dale Edmundson and Alan Swain replying. This win lifts the Market up to the third from bottom spot in the table.

Results: Howden Australian A 8, Sunnybrow Brown Trout 1; Willington Commercial 2, Howden Australian B 7; Hunwick Club 8, Willington Burn 1; Willington Market 5, Hunwick Quarry Burn 4; Oakenshaw Club 7, Prospect Club 2; Willington Brewers Droop B 0, Willington Black Horse Tavern 9.

Durham County

The Durham County teams travelled to Mosconi's in Hull to play East Yorshire in a top of the table clash in the A division of the Region One Inter-Counties Championship. Things didn't go right for the Durham teams for all three were beaten. In the men's A team match, East Yorkshire won 26-18 with none of the Durham players managing an unbeaten run. The best results for them came from Steve Wray of Ferryhill, John Bourne from Horden and Paul Armstrong from Shildon with three wins from their four matches. The Durham B team lost 25-19 but had the satisfaction of having two unbeaten players in the team. They were Phil Cox of Newton Aycliffe and John Mason of Chilton. Both won all their four games.

In the Ladies section the Durham team were beaten 26-18.

Ferryhill and District League

Ainagural meeting has been held to form a new pool league in the Ferryhill area. The response was very good for the first meeting and so the first annual meeting will be held at Ferryhill Greyhound on Monday, July 2 at 8pm. Any team wishing to join the new league must be represented at the meeting, while any team requiring advance information should contact Steve Wray on 01740 655591.