ACOMB’S Mick Borg beat former champion Terry Ward to lift the York Conservative Clubs’ Hylton Foster Billiards Trophy.

A handicap of minus 120 proved too much for Fulford player Ward to overcome with Borg, playing off plus 20, in great form.

Despite Ward hitting a 31 break early on, Borg had a 32 break followed by further runs of 31 and 22 as Ward failed to make any inroads into his minus handicap.

The Acomb player won with the scores at 165 against minus 17.

In the semi-finals, 1979 winner Ward overcame 1978 champion Ken Taylor, of Bootham, who was playing off plus 20.

Ward got off to a good start, reducing his handicap deficit with breaks of 36, 22 and 37 to go to plus six as Taylor struggled to reach plus 67. Taylor then hit back with a 25 break, but Ward then built up a 53 break, the highest of finals night.

Taylor replied with a 24 break to lead 138-100, but Ward hit back with a 38 break to go ahead for the first time at 150-148. The Bootham player had chances to win, but Ward won 165-153.

Borg was a 165-130 winner over Heworth’s Darren Clark, who was playing off a handicap of minus 55. Borg soon built up an 82-0 lead, but Darren Clark hit back with breaks of 19, 27, 25, 39 and 22 to go 130-119 ahead as Borg failed to capitalise on his early advantage.

After a bout of safety play, Borg booked his place in the final with the help of a 22 break.

The awards were presented by sponsor David Appleby, owner of Hair Flicks.

ACOMB ‘A’, meanwhile, lead the York Conservative Clubs’ Carlsberg UK Snooker League by nine points after a 4-3 win over Heworth ‘B’.

Acomb’s Keith Thornhill lost his unbeaten record to Peter Rivis, whose safety play won him the game, while team-mate Mick Borg’s late rally failed to stave off defeat to Carl de Pasquale.

Acomb’s Roland Cox defeated Ian Strickland then Dan Potter, with a 33 break, kept up his sound league form in beating Heworth’s Martin Johnson. Phil Carlton overcame Andi Ireland, only for Heworth’s Simon Whitley to reply with victory over Paul Holmes.

Acomb ‘B’ moved into second place as they won 5-2 at Malton, who could only field six players.

Malton’s Simon Weatherill kept up his excellent form, despite playing off a minus 39 handicap.

Weatherill, who has only lost one match this season, beat Jeff Winter, but Steve Beal was the only other Malton victor, defeating Chris Nicholson. Wins for Steve Rodgers, Kevin Ventress and Andy Stone saw Acomb home.

Fulford ‘A’ moved into third place with a 6-1 success over Bootham ‘A’, but the result fails to reflect how close most of the games were, with five frames being decided on the black.

Tom Lewis was fortunate in winning the first frame after Bootham’s Rob Barron went in-off the black. Andy Marshall overcame Jeff Brown, clinching the win with an 18 clearance, before Dollin Mercer beat Tim Fillingham on the black.

Jamie Husband and Alan Reed were victorious over Steve Carroll and Colin Robinson to give Fulford a 5-0 lead.

Fulford’s Pete Dunmore held a comfortable lead with only green to black left on the table, but Barry Rankin hit back to clear the remaining colours with a 25 break to pinch the frame.

Sam Wass then defeated Stuart Martel on the black to give Fulford a hard-fought victory.

Bootham ‘B’ lost ground on Acomb ‘B’ in the battle for the ‘B’ team trophy as they lost 4-3 at home to Fulford ‘B’.

Bootham’s Matt Smith lost to Bob Smith and Paul Scorfield’s defeat by Andy Hurley made it 2-0.

Ian Robinson pulled one back, defeating John Adcock, but Andy Ogley added to his wins by beating Paul Mahoney to make it 3-1 to Fulford. Andy Proud and Paul Powell hit back with victories over Arthur Pegden and Jim Rollinson, but Fulford won the last frame as Dean Smith beat Lionel Barnes.

Acomb ‘A’ head the table with 53 points, followed by Acomb ‘B’ and Fulford ‘A’ on 44 points.

The Worthington player of the year race is hotting up, with Thornhill leading the way having played 11 and won ten, closely followed by Wass, who has played 11 and won nine.