Mill View A leapt up the league table with victory at home to The Avenue.
Both tables were re-covered on the Monday, so it all depended on how the teams reacted to the new cloth. The Mill View tables normally play very fast but it was to be expected that a slower table would be on offer.
Keith Johnston gave his team a f
lying start with a strong performance in the first frame and, with breaks of 23 and 21, took the frame in comfortable style against Paul Kirsop.
A scrappy second frame between Kevin Alderson and Gary Moore was decided when Alderson took green, brown, blue and pink on the colours.
A slow start to the third frame had John Burnell leading Bob Fisher 19-
9 after eight reds had been potted, before Fisher had a good red followed by a blue to take advantage of an in-off by Burnell.
It was ironic that the situation was reversed with Fisher in-off in the middle pocket, followed by a blue to restore the situation.
After a tit-for-tat period a black for Fisher had him leading 31-26.
With the game still tight it was Burnell, with a yellow and green and a long double on the brown, who grabbed an advantage to go 13 ahead.
A blue for Fisher followed by a fluked pink led to a black decider that gave Fisher the first point for the Avenue.
The players were obviously finding the new cloths difficult to read and Paul Jenkins and Colin Cruddace never found their rhythm in the early stages of the fourth frame.
It was Jenkins who eventually moved 20 ahead and a completely missed ball over the pocket by Cruddace led to Jenkins completing a clearance to put Mill View into a 3-1 situation.
The Avenue had their strong pairing of Moore and Fisher in the last frame with Adam Burnell and Peter Davies as their opponents. The first blow was struck by Davies but that was countered by Moore for a slight lead.
A period of slow play did not help either team find their form and it needed determination before Mill View took a 42-27 lead to the colours.
A snooker by Mill View after potting the first two colours saw Moore go in-off after hitting the object ball. For the second week running, Burnell found a good pot which led to a clearance and gave Mill View a 4-1 result.
In the knock-out competitions, John Smith beat Tony Hazard in the Open Singles winning the first frame comfortably but needing a clearance on the colours to recover a 23-point deficit.
A match in the pairs' first round saw Smith and Barron visit Charlton and Sayers of Steels and a dominant show by Barron, including a last frame clearance, put the Whitburn team through to the next round.
Elliot and Coogal of Seaham Cons played Stafford and McDonald of Washington and a 2-0 result ensued for Seaham.
In the Over-45s, Mick Monaghan, last year's runner-up, played away at Pennywell Comrades and was given a good match by Mick Wilson. After sharing the first two frames Monaghan faced defeat in the last but recovered to win after being 32 behind.
In the Over-55s, the prime example of one player turning up and the other not, was seen as Keith Johnston demolished Sid Bate.
Facing a deficit of 20 in the handicap, Johnston played the perfect game to clear the handicap and go 19 ahead before Bate had potted a ball. A small reply by Bate kept the frame alive before a clean pot on the blue by Johnston left too much to do.
In the second frame, Johnson was outstanding as he totally controlled the frame and, after building a lead, had a 29-break followed next shot with a 14-break to put the frame out of sight.
