Success at the double for Royal Oak pool kings in Teesdale Winter League

THE finals and presentation night of Teesdale Pool League, which is sponsored by Colin Watson PVCu Windows, was held at Barnard Castle Cricket Club and was a fitting conclusion to another successful season.
The Division 1 championship was won by the defending champions the Royal Oak A, Butterknowle, who produced another solid performance with back-to-back defeats late in the season the only blemish on their record.
By then, however, they were already too far ahead of their nearest rivals to be caught.
Finishing four points behind in second place was the Diamond Inn, Butterknowle, who had effectively spent much of the season in a battle for the runners up spot with the Three Tuns Inn B, Eggleston, who endured a disappointing end to their campaign and had to settle for third place, a further four points back.
The Division 2 championship was closely contested for the first half of the season, however, in the second half  the chasing pack fell away slightly to leave it a two horse race between eventual champions Cockfield WMC, who finished strongly to hold off runners up Bowes WMC A.
Bowes WMC A spent more weeks at the top of the table than any other team but faltered late in the season to finish four point behind the leaders. A further two points back were the Royal Oak Inn B who clinched third place courtesy of a late winning run.
 The doubles knockout final was contested between previous champions Peter Todd and Mark Little, of Royal Oak Inn A, and final debutants Steve Brown and Colin MacLeod, of the Three Tuns Inn B.
Peter and Mark attacked from the outset and took the early lead despite being frustrated by good safety play from Steve and Colin.
The match continued in the same vein with Peter and Mark’s attacking style of play eventually proving too much for their opponents as they claimed the title for the second time in the last three seasons.
 The singles knockout final was an open entertaining encounter between four-time champion Martin Walton and previous champion and doubles winner Mark Little, both of the Royal Oak Inn A.
It was Martin who was quickest out of the blocks to take the early lead, before he then made a costly error of judgement to allow Mark to level the score and take the match to the deciding frame.
However, it was Martin who emerged victorious in the decider to take the match and the title for an unprecedented fifth time.
The team knockout final was an all Butterknowle derby match between Division 1 champions Royal Oak Inn A and runners up Diamond Inn.
Diamond stormed into a 3-0 lead with wins by James Teasdale, Tom Stobart, and Gary Close over Martin Walton, Peter Todd, and Martin Coll respectively to leave them within one frame of victory.
Royal Oak then responded to fight back and level the tie at 3-3 with wins by Alan Stobart, Mark Little, and John Straughan over Mark Humble, Dale Brydon, and Scott Parkin respectively.
The deciding frame was contested between Diamond’s Gary Close and Colin Watson for Royal Oak.
After some nervy play by both players it was Colin who eventually took out the clearance to win the match, and in doing so, the league and cup double for the Royal Oak Inn A.
Two further trophies were also presented for the most sporting teams in each division. These were awarded to Barnard Castle Rugby Club for Division 1 which was collected by their captain, Bernie O’Brien, and Moorcock Inn B, Eggleston, for Division 2, which was collected by their captain, David Alderson.