Heworth ‘A’ opened up the York Conservative Clubs’ Carlsberg UK Snooker League title race after defeating leaders Malton ‘A’ 4-3.

The teams shared the first four frames as Tim Foggin (28 break) and Phil Hart won for Malton and Mark Winskill (26) and the still unbeaten Steve Burdett (32) replied.

Clive Whyte (39) moved Heworth ahead only for Malton captain Dave Coulthard (28) to level but Chris Thompson secured the match for Heworth.

Fulford ‘A’ reduced Malton’s lead to two points as a result of thrashing Acomb ‘B’ 6-1. Acomb’s Kevan Ventress won the first game then Tim Lister, Justin Morris, Simon England, Jeff Brown (with a black ball success), Mike Walsh and Steve Bradley (black-ball win) made it 6-1.

Bootham ‘A’ stumbled to a 4-3 defeat of their ‘B’ team with wins by Mark Darley, Brendan Ledgeway, Tim Fillingham and Barry Rankin against replies by John Wortley, Ian Robinson and Chris Dawson.

Fulford made it four wins over Heworth this season and the latest 5-2 success saw them move above Heworth to the top of the Slater Cup snooker pairs league.

Bootham’s reaction to the 6-1 defeat by Heworth in the last match was a similar trouncing of bottom-placed Acomb.

Fulford entertained defending champions Heworth knowing they needed a big win to give them any chance of overtaking the leaders of the Faber Shield Billiards League.

Wayne Puleston gave them an early advantage, but Richard Stroughair (21, 26) found that giving Mark Winskill (21, 23, 28) a 40 start was just too much.

Gary Rogers (28, 32, 33, 46) overcame Terry Ward (24, 33) by 108 points only for Jeff Brown to level for Fulford as Jason Milner could only add 22 points to his handicap.

Heworth’s Vic Gamble made it 3-2 but Tim Lister levelled before Heworth took the aggregate for a 4-3 victory and the title.

Bootham ‘B’ went 3-0 up against Acomb through Chris Granger, Paul Mahoney and Tony Lambert and created an aggregate advantage of 70 points. However, Jeff Keen, John Ashwell and Ken Bowser levelled and overturned the aggregate deficit for a 4-3 win.

Mark Winskill (H) is the Cameo Engraving Player of the Year as Tony Lambert (B), his nearest challenger, has completed his matches with Bootham ‘B’.