WITH two games in hand, Malton ‘A’ beat Heworth ‘A’ 5-2 to get back to challenging York Conservative Clubs Carlsberg Snooker League leaders Acomb ‘A’.

Nick Dyson got Heworth off to a good start with a win over Steve Pawson but then Malton rattled off the next three frames with Dominic Spiteri, Roger Ward and Dan Pawson, who won on the black over Mark Winskill (28 break) putting Malton3-1 up.

Clive Whyte hit back with a 32 break to beat Phil Hart but Steve Beal overcame Gary Douglas then Simon Weatherill (35 break) defeated Neil Wood to clinch victory.

In the battle for the ‘B’ team championship, Acomb ‘B’ ran out 4-3 winners over Bootham ‘B’ leaving them both on the same points in the league.

Ian Robinson beat Steve Rodgers, then Matt Smith beat Jeff Winter for a 2-0 Bootham lead before Acomb responded with Kevin Ventress beating Paul Mahoney, Brian Henry winning on the black over Paul Scorfield and Chris Nicholson victorious against Paul Powell.

The last frames were shared as Adam Proud for Bootham and Nick Goodacre for Acomb finished off the match.

Leaders Acomb ‘A’ spurned a 3-1 advantage at Bootham ‘A’ to lose 4-3.

Bootham’s Mark Darley beat Richard Lillie before Dan Potter edged out John Darley on the black followed by Keith Thornhill maintaining his unbeaten record with a win over Barry Rankin (24 break). Nick Marchant cleared all the colours to overcome Colin Robinson.

Rob Barron (29 break) led the Bootham fight-back with a tense victory over Paul Holmes (36 break).

Tim Fillingham beat Phil Carlton and Stuart Martel defeated Mick Borg to crown a fine team performance.

Meanwhile, Acomb’s Jeff Keen is the new winner of the Brian Jeffrey Memorial Over-50s Snooker competition after toppling Heworth’s Keith Watkinson 45-33.

After Watkinson, runner-up 15 years ago and a three-time former semi-finalist, ran up an early lead, Keen picked off yellow and green, with only the colours remaining, before gaining four points with a snooker followed by the brown to take the lead 34-33.

After a bout of safety play he was left with an easy blue and a solid pink to take the trophy.