Worthington CIU

Winter League

The last unbeaten record in the league remained intact but only just when the visiting Colin Lomax of Willington potted the final black to beat Eric Wright of Durham City in the decider. Jeremy Martin gave the visitors a good start but Michael Pratt levelled by sending Paul Atkinson to his first defeat this season. Arthur Goldsborough restored the Willington lead only to see Barry Stoddart snatch the black to beat Tom Parkin and set up the decider.

Old Shildon moved four points clear at the top of the First Division after they only dropped one point to the visiting Stanley Central, who had Jim Dufton, with a 65 break as their winner. The home side had wins from Charlie Blake, Frank Nicholson, Jossie Aldworth and Michael Pratt.

It was upset time in the Third Division when two of the leading teams could only manage one point each. Newhouse B, at home to Tow Law A, had Brian Eltringham as their only winner, while the Lawyers took points through Doug Watson, who made a classy debut, Arthur Henderson, Bill McCluskey and Tommy Williams.

Third Division leaders, Spennymoor B only managed one point at Hunwick B when Alan Shaw won. The home side had points from Neville Blenkinsop, Ian Richardson, Barry Fleming and Norman Kirkley. These two results leave the Moors top by two points but Newhouse have slipped to fourth behind Sacriston and Fishburn B.

Cockton Hill won by the odd point at Witton Gilbert to stay one point ahead of Wheatley Hill A in the First Division. John Rooney senior put Witton in front but then the Hill took three in a row through Kevin Mordica, Harold Lomax and Andrew Aisbitt with a 38 break, before Malcolm Peart took the final frame for the home side.

Wheatley Hill A moved into third place after whitewashing their B team with wins from Dave Walker, Jack Wright, Dennis Clish, Ronnie Peacock and Alan Hall.

Newton Aycliffe pulled off a good away win over Fishburn A when Billy Barrigan fluked the black to beat John Griffin in the decider. John Briddick put the visitors ahead with a 35 break but then John Carter and Charlie Hirst won for the home side. Stuart Neil put in a 43 break to set up the decider.

Brandon had to wait until the final frame at Spennymoor A before they took a point. Gary Easen, Eddie Rhodes, Dennis Dodd and Kevin Riley won for the Moors before Brian Graham broke the duck for Brandon.

Langley Park took the first and last frames on their visit to Belmont through Dixon Turnbull and Robert Roche but the home side went to victory with wins from Chris Morley, Billy McGrath and Steven Armstrong.

Newhouse A, second placed in the Second Division, were brought down to earth with a bump when they failed to score a point at Wingate. The home side's winners were Pat McCoy, Steve Allen, Geoff Howe, Dean Jones and Dave Hammond. These two now share third place, three points behind Ferryhill, who whitewashed the visiting Crowtrees with wins from Les Lewis, Bernie Jones, Dale hebdon, Glyn Toas and Mark Wilson.

Billy Row made a good home win over West Auckland when Alan Smith beat Andrew Dent in the decider. Ernie McEleavey put the home side ahead but then West had wins from Paul Vickers and David Geraty with Ken Rider squaring the match.

In the first ever Leehome derby the B team only managed one point when Ian Catterson won. The A team's points scorers were Tony Clish, Barry Shaw, Ian North and Lawrence Jones.

Sacriston moved to second place in the Third Division after they whitewashed their hosts at Tow Law B with wins from Ronnie Bradley, Trevor Brown, Alan Richardson, Willy Nixon and Steven Bradley.

Results: Witton Gilbert 2, Cockton Hill 3; Wingate 5, Newhouse A 0; Old Shildon 4, Stanley Central 1; Newhouse B 1, Tow Law A 4; Spennymoor A 4, Brandon 1; Tow Law B 0, Sacriston 5; Wheatley Hill B 0, Wheatley Hill A 5; Fishburn A 2, Newton Aycliffe 3; Leeholme B 1, Leeholme A 4; Hunwick B 4, Spennymoor B 1; Belmont 3, Langley Park 2; Billy Row 3, West Auckland 2; Durham City 2, Willington 3.

Snooker Exhibition

Tow Law Club was full to capacity for a best of nine frames match between David Craggs, the Tow Law professional and Paul Atkinson of Willington, the winner of the prestigious Norman Fowler Memorial Trophy played earlier in the year, also at Tow Law.

Atkinson received 21 points start in the first frame with a seven points penalty going to the winner of each frame. Craggs got away to a god start and knocked in a 35 break before slipping an inch out of position and failing on a very thin cut on the black along the top cushion. Atkinson retaliated with a 41 break and took the frame at 85-51.

The start in the second frame was reduced to 14 but was dominated by Atkinson with a best break of 24 to win 67-18. A further seven was reduced from Atkinson's start but, with Craggs uncharacteristically missing chances, Atkinson knocked in breaks of 36 and 24 to win 64-29.

The fourth frame was played off level with Craggs getting the first chance and he knocked in 49. Atkinson replied with a 38 break but Craggs got among the colours to win 70-43. It as back to seven start for Atkinson, who put in a 28 break but then Craggs hit 41 and went out the winner at 67-40. The fifth frame went to Craggs with a 52 break, while Atkinson put in a 21 and lost 74-52.

With Atkinson back to 21 start in the seventh frame Craggs hit a decisive 44 break to win 82-36 an go ahead for the first time. Atkinson, with 28 start, took the next frame at 68-45 to level the match. In the decider Craggs wiped out the 21 start with an early 25 and then added a 40 break to win the frame 92-40 and the match 5-4.

During the interval, Daniel Blake of Middleton-in-Teesdale, made his public debut and played two frames against players whose names were drawn from a hat. In the first he beat Barry Atkinson of Willington and in the second he beat Arnold Fleming of Crook in a very impressive display.

Crook League

Second Division leaders, Crook Olde Horse Shoe B went down to their first defeat of the season when they visited Crook Mill House and only managed to pick up two points. This was the last unbeaten record in the league. The home side had singles wins from Mark Nicholls, John Howe, Alan Saville, Ian Bibby and Stephen Heyes. The Shoe's only singles winner was Gary Bainbridge and their other point came when Peter Clement and James Ivil won the doubles.

This win pulled the Mill House to within six points of the Olde Horse Shoe B with a match in hand. Crook Jelly's Bar are a further nine points behind the Mill in third place.

The top match in the First Division saw Crook Travellers Rest B go one point clear at the top after they beat their second placed hosts at Crook Olde Horse Shoe A by the odd point. The third placed Crook Royal Sun are nine points adrift of the Olde Horse Shoe A.

Results: Crook Olde Horse Shoe A 3, Crook Travellers Rest B 4; Crook Coach and Horses A 3, Willington Market 4; Crook Queen's Head A 3, Crook Spitfire Club 4; Crook Travellers Rest A 5, Crook Royal Sun 2; Crook Mill House 5, Crook Olde Horse Shoe B 2; Crook Jelly's Bar 4, Crook Queen's Head B 3; Crook White Swan 6, Crook Golden Fleece 1; Crook Crown 3, Crook Coach and Horses B 4.

Durham Branch CIU Singles Championship

Second round draw: R Coatman (Witton Gilbert) v M Pratt (Chilton & Windlestone); W Joynes (Witton Gilbert) v I Renwick (Witton Gilbert); J Carter (Fishburn) v M Green (Grange Villa); A Todd (Stanley Central) v C Turner (Grange Villa); B Shaw (Chilton & Windlestone) v K Davison (Witton Gilbert); W Robson (Murton Victoria) v J Rooney sen (Witton Gilbert); R Roche (Langley Park) v R Court (Cockfield); P Biddle (Spennymoor) v F Nicholson (Coundon).

l Results to be into the Branch Office by January 20.

Cleveland League

At the half way stage of the season Redcar WMC A lead their nearest rivals by nine points in the Bass Brewers sponsored league.

In week 11 they played hosts to Ennis Square and Gary Beckett kicked off the match for the home team by beating David Leadbitter by 2-0, frame scores were 58-24 and 85-23.

Richard Beckham continued the sterling work when taking the next two frames from Kevin Moon. The scores finished 92-21 and 85-35, Beckham compiled a 42 break in his second game. Not to be out done by his team mates David Beckett also won both of his frames but went one better than Beckham when he knocked in a 53 break in his initial frame. The frame scores ended up 99-23 and 59-37. The end result was a 6-0 victory for the WMC.

Other results: New Marske 5 ( R Sivills 51 break ), Lakes A 1; Marske WMC 5, Grinkle Park 1; Carlin How 6, Redcar WMC B 0; Redcar Cons 2, Lune Street 4; Redcar Lakes B 1, Guisborough Cons 5 (C Buckton 43 break).

P W D Pts

Redcar WMC 11 10 0 55

Marske WMC A 11 7 2 46

Carlin How A 11 5 6 42

Guisborough Cons. A 11 5 3 37

Lune Street A 11 5 5 36

New Marske A 11 3 5 33

Redcar Cons. A 11 3 5 32

Lakes A 11 1 5 28

Lakes B 11 2 5 26

Ennis Square A 11 1 4 24

Grinkle Park 11 0 5 23

Redcar WMC B 11 0 3 14

In the Second Division Saltburn Cons. A lead the table by eight points with Guisborough TA and Lakes C closely contesting second place. Lakes C did their bid for promotion no harm at all when beating Saltburn Cons. B 5-1. T Frank of the Lakes started off by sharing the spoils with J Hudson with frame scores of 52-40 and 30-48 respectively. D Grange then turned up the heat for the home team when taking two frames from D Tait with scores of 68-51 and 52-36. J Crossman took the next two frames for the Lakes when beating C Wilson with scores of 52-44 and 63-32.

Other results: Saltburn Cons. A 5, Carlin How 1; Guisborough TA 3, Redcar Cons. 3; Guisborough Cons. 2, Marske WMC 4; Redcar Unionist B 3, New Marske 3.

Saltburn Cons. A 10 9 0 46

Guisborough TA 10 7 2 38

Lakes C 10 5 4 37

New Marske B 10 4 3 34

Carlin How B 10 5 3 33

Marske WMC B 10 4 3 33

Redcar Cons. B 10 1 6 27

Redcar Unionist A 10 1 6 27

Redcar Unionist B 10 1 3 22

Guisborough Cons. B 10 2 1 20

Saltburn Cons. B 10 0 1 13

l The league resumes on the January 10