Tuesday May 24th: ANBA tournaments announced

  The ANBA faces a busy calendar over the next 6 weeks as 2 new tournaments were announced. In addition to the 3 remaining weeks of the Spring League over the next 3 Mondays, and the Spring League Cup over the following 2, the final 2 US Open qualifiers will be held, as well as a SAPPA Masters qualifier in between.

  The SAPPA Masters qualifier will be held at Rileys, Chapel street on Tuesday June 14th; entry fee is £10, and the winner secures a place in the 16-player SAPPA Masters in Falkirk on Sunday June 19th, at which £1500 in prize money will be played for.

  Tournament Schedule:

Monday May 30th, June 6th & June 13th: ANBA Spring League weeks 8, 9 & 10 (£5 each, The Golden Break)

Tuesday June 14th: SAPPA Masters qualifier (£10, Rileys Chapel Street)

Sunday June 19th: SAPPA Masters final (Pennies, Falkirk)

Monday June 20th & June 27th: ANBA Spring League Cup (£10, The Golden Break- quarter finals onwards in 2nd week)

Monday July 4th: US Open qualifier (iii) (£5 The Golden Break)

Wednesday July 6th: US Open qualifier (iv) (£4, venue TBC)

Monday May 23rd: ANBA Spring League week 7

  Anthony Yau fulfilled some of his obvious promise by capturing the week 7 event in the ANBA Spring League at The Golden Break. The 18-year old was impressive all evening in what was a first success in an ANBA ranking event. Yau, runner-up to Mark Oaten in the previous weeks final, gained revenge with a 6-5 first round victory; Yau then hit top form to beat Kenny McPherson and Philip Craig, and withstood a Steve Mitchell fightback from 3-0 up to reach the final. In the final, Anthony went 3-0 up against Jim O'Hare, but was pegged back to 4-3 before reasserting. The win pushes Yau to 7th place in the table.

  Results: Quarter finals: Jim O'Hare beat Gary Esson 6-4; Michael adams beat Martin McIntosh 6-2; Anthony Yau beat Philip Craig 6-3; Steve Mitchell beat Pat McCarron 6-4 Semi finals: O'Hare beat Adams 6-1; Yau beat Mitchell 6-4 Final: Yau beat O'Hare 6-3

  Standings: 1.Darren Matthew 450 points; 2.Mark Oaten 315; 3.Steve Mitchell 311; 4.Martin McIntosh 294; 5.Kenny McPherson 259; 6.Jim O'Hare 230; 7.Anthony Yau 229; 8.Pat McCarron 219; 9.Andy Pirie 200; 10.Bruce McGill 189

Monday May 16th: ANBA Spring League week 6

  Mark Oaten captured his first win of the season to emerge as the main challenger to Darren Matthews lead in the ANBA Spring League at the Golden Break. Oaten beat Anthony Yau in the final despite falling 2-0 behind to move to 2nd in the league. With 4 weeks to play, the top 5 appear to have gone clear of the field; Martin McIntosh ties for 3rd with Steve Mitchell, who has had 4 appearances in at least the quarter finals. Holidaying Kenny McPherson slips to 5th, and a gap of some 50 points separate him from 6th place.

Monday May 9th: ANBA Spring League week 5

  Martin McIntosh won his first ranking event since the Autumn 2004 season to deliver a challenge in the current Spring campaign.  McIntosh won the week 5 event at The Golden Break with victory over recent snooker convert George Mitchell in the final. As a result, McIntosh leaps to 4th in the league table, within touching distance of 2nd place. Darren Matthew remains nearly 200 points clear at the top, despite suffering an early defeat to Brian Craig.

  Results: Quarter finals: George Mitchell beat Terry King 6-2; Brian Craig beat Chris Harper 6-5; Martin McIntosh beat Marc Davis 6-4; Mark Gravener beat Gary Esson 6-5 Semi finals: Mitchell beat Craig 6-4; McIntosh beat Gravener 6-4 Final: McIntosh beat Mitchell 6-4

  Standings: 1.D.Matthew 410 points; 2.K.McPherson 233; 3.M.Oaten 205; 4.M.McIntosh 194; 5.S.Mitchell 194; 6.G.Mitchell 182; 7.P.McCarron 167; 8.B.McGill 155; 9.B.Craig 148; 10.G.Aitkenhead 135 Cash fund: £335

Monday May 2nd: ANBA Spring League week 4

  Darren Matthew hit his best form of the campaign so far to extend his lead at the top of the ANBA Spring League at  the United Services. In the final of the week 4 event, Matthew beat Autumn champ Mark Oaten 6-2 in a blistering display. Following a push out in the first rack, Matthew doubled the 1 onto the 2 to launch the clearance which made it 1-0, and then proceeded to break and clear for 2-0. Oaten pulled it back to 2-2, but a "dry" break in the next proved to be Oatens last shot, as Matthew cleared for 3-2, then broke and cleared twice for 5-2, and completed a polished display with a "golden break" in the next.

  Matthew is now on course, even at this early stage, to beat the record points haul for a season of 683, which Mark Oaten achieved in the Summer 2003 league. With 19 wins from 20 matches so far, Darren has had the best start to a season since John McCanns successful Winter 2002/3 campaign, in which he won the first 4 tournaments.

  Results: Quarter finals: Kenny McPherson beat Scott Baxter 6-1; Darren Matthew beat Steve Mitchell 6-1; Mark Oaten beat Anthony Yau 6-3; Pat McCarron beat Andy Pirie 6-1 Semi finals: Matthew beat McPherson 6-4; Oaten beat McCarron 6-2 Final: Matthew beat Oaten 6-2

  Standings: 1.Matthew 380 points; 2.McPherson 223; 3.Oaten 176; 4.S.Mitchell 168; 5.Bruce McGill 149; 6.McCarron 141; 7.Gary Aitkenhead 126; 8.Pirie 120; 9.George Mitchell 103; 10=Jim O'Hare & Martin McIntosh 94 Cash fund: £254

  There will be a qualifying event for the 2005 World Nine Ball World Championships on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th May at Pennies, Falkirk. The event will determine who represents Scotland at the championship in Taiwan, and first prize includes flights and accomodation. Entry fee is £25; 16 qualifiers from the Saturday face the top 16 seeds on the Sunday in a straight knockout event.

Sunday May 1st: League Cup format to change

  The committee of the ANBA decided this week that the format of the League Cup will change as of June this year. Traditionally held at the end of the season, and seeded based on the newly published rankings, the tournament has been held on a weekend since the end of last year. However, the Spring 2005 version will now be held on the 2 Monday evenings immediately after the League season ends. The Spring 2005 League ends on Monday June 13th. The Spring League Cup will take place the following week, and will be played down to the quarter finals. The event will then be played to a conclusion on Monday June 27th.

  This will be the first League Cup to carry triple ranking points, and is sure to attract a big entry. Playing the event over 2 weeks means that matches will be at least a race to 8 or 9 as opposed to the staple fair of races to 5 or 6 in League events. Entry fee remains at £10 with all monies paid out.

Monday April 25th: ANBA Spring League week 3

Monday April 18th: ANBA Spring League week 2

Sunday April 17th: SAPPA tour, 3rd leg

  Michael Valentine (Falkirk) remains on course for an unprecedented clean sweep of SAPPA tour events, as he won the 3rd event of the season at Rileys Bridge Place, Aberdeen. Valentine beat Stevie Capaldi (Glasgow) to open up an unassailable lead in the rankings. Of the local players, Jim O'Hare reached the quarter finals, before being shut out by Valentine, whilst Brian Craig reached the last 16 for the first time in a SAPPA event before losing to experienced campaigner George Fagan (Glasgow).

Monday April 11th: ANBA Spring League week 1

Monday April 4th: Spring "Flyer" event

Saturday April 2nd: ANBA prizegiving evening / US Open qualifiers

  A healthy turnout attended the ANBA's first ever prize giving evening, on which all ANBA title winners past and present were rewarded with a permanent keepsake. Also, the finals of the 2 recent US Open qualifiers were held, resulting in places in the SAPPA 32-player finals for Mark Oaten and Jim O'Hare, who both enjoyed 6-2 victories over Darren Matthew and Pat McCarron respectively.

Oaten in happy mood after receiving his trophy.            O'Hare in happier mood after swapping his for something he wanted.

"Come on bruv. Drink up and let's hit The Vic!"    "What? I won fair and square! I didn't just buy this for a Budweiser. Honest!"

The Mitchells' deadly rivals.....The Kray-gs"                             Phil Craig jubilant after Oaten gets a round in. Possibly.

"Yes, I AM wearing my glove. Let me just show you..."                          "No, Jim...it's not down there!"

             "Gimme a beer! I'm thirsty!"                                          "Will someone PLEASE pick Chalmers up off the floor!"

"Smile if you're paying attention!"                                                 "Pretend your IQ's under 50 if you're paying attention!"

Tuesday March 30th: Where does the money go?

  After 6 months of competitive American pool action at The Golden Break, it is interesting to look at how prize monies have been distributed in that time. A total of over £5000 has been collected by no fewer than 35 players. Mark Oaten heads the list after a league title and 2 league cups, whilst Michael Valentine is 2nd despite entering only 2 events. 11 players have won a 3 figure sum.

 For a comprehensive list of ANBA ranking event winners from the first tournament to the present day. Click here.

Monday March 29th: ANBA US Open pre-qualifier (ii)

  Another excellent field of 24 entered the latest US Open qualifier at Rileys, Chapel Street on Monday. Up for grabs was a place in the SAPPA US Open qualifier at Falkirk in August, the winner of which wins an all expenses paid trip to play in the US Open 9-ball championship in September.

  The 24 were drawn into round-robin groups of 3, each producing 2 to advance to the knockout. Amazingly, 2 groups finished in a 3-way tie in which the players could not be separated by points or rack difference, and therefore the highly charged "penalty shoot-out" came into being. This has only been used in ANBA tournaments twice before- a player has 5 attempts to pot the 9 from the breaking position-normally an everyday pot for a 9-ball player, but with a curious vocal crowd gathered round, it becomes less so.Malcolm Burt and Michael Wood were the unfortunate victims of their respective shoot-outs on this occasion, whilst Sally Lim became the first female to reach the last 16 of an ANBA tournament since Karin Burt reached the quarter finals of a Spring League event 11 months ago by surviving her shoot out, only to run into ANBA number 2 Pat McCarron in the next round.

  McCarron won 5-2, before beating last weeks surprise semi-finalist Michael Kelly to reach the semis. There he met visiting Andy Morris (Stirling), SAPPA ranked 21st, and recorded another 5-2 win after Morris missed a chance to go 3-3, and McCarron broke and cleared. In Saturday evenings final, as part of The Golden Breaks prize-giving evening, McCarron will meet ANBA number 3 Jim O'Hare, who survived a decider against fellow Westhill player Chris Harper, and then ousted Phil Craig to advance.

  Results: Quarter finals: Pat McCarron beat Michael Kelly 5-0; Andy Morris beat Brian Craig 5-1; Jim O'Hare beat Connor Stuart 5-1; Phil Craig beat Gary Esson 5-0 Semi finals: McCarron beat Morris 5-2; O'Hare beat Craig 5-2 Final: McCarron v O'Hare to be played at The Golden Break on Saturday April 2nd, race to 7

Tuesday March 22nd: ANBA Rankings update

  Mark Oaten now has a healthy 496 point lead in the ANBA rankings as a direct result of his capture of a 7th League Cup title at the weekend. The only other significant changes see Darren Matthew swap 4th place with Martin McIntosh, and Kenny McPherson move within touching distance of the top 10. League Cup runner-up Phil Craig moves into the top 20 for the first time.

Monday March 21st: ANBA US Open pre-qualifier (i)

Sunday March 20th: ANBA Winter League Cup

Wednesday March 16th: ANBA Rankings

  The ANBA ranking list received it's quarterly update following the conclusion of the Winter League. Mark Oaten takes over as ANBA number 1 by 213 points from winter champion Pat McCarron-who drops to 2nd despite winning the title. The rankings are calculated using 1 full years points from ANBA events, therefore any points earned in the Winter 2003/4 season are removed and replaced by points earned in the Winter 2004/5 season. Since Oaten played no part in the winter 03/4 season, he had no deductions to his points haul, and was therefore able to climb to the top. Oaten will now be top seed for Sunday's Winter League Cup (Golden Break, 20th March, 11:30 am, £10 entry).

  There are top 10 climbs for Jim O'Hare (4th to 3rd), Darren Matthew (7th to 5th), Anthony Yau (13th to 7th), Andy Pirie (10th to 8th) and Steve Mitchell (11th to 9th). Within the top 20, Brian Craig, Graham Reid, Craig Park and Kenny McPherson are all upwardly mobile, whilst Gary Esson and Malcolm Burt are newcomers to the top 32 at 27th and 29th respectively.

  Sean Croll is the highest climber (136 to 81). Other rapid strides were made by Bruce McGill (68 to 38), Roy Rimmer (93 to 60) and Adam Fletcher (123 to 91). Barry Edmond is the highest of 7 new entries at 45th.

Tuesday March 15th: ANBA announces date and venue change

  Of the 4 places awarded to ANBA players in the SAPPA US Open qualifiers, 2 will be decided over the next 2 weeks as ANBA holds it's first 2 qualifying events. Qualifier 1 will be held on Monday 21st March, and qualifier 2 will be held on Monday 28th March. Please note, both these events will be held at Rileys, Chapel Street, with a 6:30pm start and a £5 entry fee. The final of both events will be held over until Saturday April 2nd, when both matches will showpiece the ANBA Prizegiving evening at The Golden Break. There will be no prizemoney for these events, but a place in the 32-player SAPPA qualifier will be guaranteed for both winners. Tickets are still available for the prizegiving evening (£10), which also features entertainment and a buffet meal. Contact Ean Jones (01224 595969)for details.

Monday March 14th: ANBA Winter League week 10

  Pat McCarron took full advantage of a rare Darren Matthew slip to record a second ANBA League title at The Golden Break. Matthew had a tough first round draw in the week 10 event, and in losing to Kenny McPherson, opened the door for McCarron to win the league- providing he reached the semi finals, and won at least 1 rack. Consecutive victories over Scott Baxter and Andy Pirie put McCarron within reach, and was confirmed champion after taking the opening rack against outgoing champion Mark Oaten.

  Oaten then went on to win the event and secure 3rd place in the league for himself, denying beaten semi-finalist Jim O'Hare. Scott Gilbert held onto 5th despite Kenny McPhersons late bid.

  Results: Quarter finals: Kenny McPherson beat Martin McIntosh 5-3; Jim O'Hare beat Ean Jones 5-0; Pat McCarron beat Andy Pirie 5-3; Mark Oaten beat Sean Croll 5-1 Semi finals: McPherson beat O'Hare 5-1; Oaten beat McCarron 5-4 Final: Oaten beat McPherson 5-4

  Final Standings and cash: 1.Pat McCarron (£472.50) 2.Darren Matthew (£236.25) 3.Mark Oaten (£141.75) 4.Jim O'Hare (£70.87) 5.Scott Gilbert (£23.63) 6.Kenny McPherson 7.Gary Esson 8.Bruce McGill 9.Brian Craig 10.Steve Mitchell

Monday March 7th: ANBA Winter League week 9

  Darren Matthew is odds on for a first ANBA League triumph after victory in week 9 of the ANBA Winter League at The Golden Break. Playing assured, flowing pool all evening, Darren knocked leader Pat McCarron from the top spot for the first time since mid-January to take the reins with a week to go.

  In the week 9 final against Kenny McPherson, Darren saw a 2-0 lead disappear as Kenny started to control the safety exchanges. At 2-2, Matthew cleverly laid a snooker, leaving a 4-9 combination for himself after the resultant miss, but McPherson refused to let Matthew run away after that, and forced a deciding rack at 4-4. Matthew cleared, as he had much of the evening, with his first chance in the decider, to reach the league summit.

  With 1 week to go, only Matthew and McCarron can win the title; if Matthew reaches next weeks final, he is champion regardless. McCarron needs to finish 38 points better than Matthew in next weeks event to win what would be a second title. With cash paid down to the top 5, it looks a 4-way battle for 3 places between Jim O'Hare, Scott Gilbert, Mark Oaten and Gary Esson. If any 2 of these players go out early next week though, McPherson-along with Brian Craig or Bruce McGill, still has a faint hope of a top 5 place.

  Results: Quarter finals: Darren Matthew beat Graham Reid 5-1; Jim O'Hare beat Scott Gilbert 5-4; Bruce McGill beat Justin Balment 5-2; Kenny McPherson beat Barry Edmond 5-3 Semi finals: Matthew beat O'Hare 5-2; McPherson beat McGill 5-0 Final: Matthew beat McPherson 5-4

  Standings: 1.Matthew 489 points; 2.McCarron 452; 3.O'Hare 392; 4.Gilbert 360; 5.Oaten 352; 6.Esson 329; 7.McGill 290; 8.Craig 289; 9.Steve Mitchell 287; 10.McPherson 280 Cash fund: £882

Monday February 28th: ANBA Winter League week 8

  Darren Matthew chose the right time to gain momentum in the race for the Spring League title, as he won the week 8 event at The Golden Break. Matthew beat Graham Reid in the final to go second in the table with just 2 weeks left. Pat McCarron still leads, but by only 31 points after a first round exit. Matthew has now reached at least the semi-final in all of his last 5 starts. Mark Oaten (3rd) and Jim O'Hare (4th) will both need good performances in the remaining 2 weeks to challenge, whilst Gary Esson, Scott Gilbert and Brian Craig are all in the running for a place.

  Results: Quarter finals: Darren Matthew beat Barry Edmond 5-2; Gary Esson beat Brian Craig 5-3; Graham Reid beat Roy Rimmer 5-3; Mark Oaten beat Jim O'Hare 5-3 Semi finals: Matthew beat Esson 5-3; Reid beat Oaten 5-2 Final: Matthew beat Reid 5-2

  Standings: 1.Pat McCarron 420 points; 2.Darren Matthew 389; 3.Mark Oaten 351; 4.Jim O'Hare 349; 5.Gary Esson 329; 6.Scott Gilbert 316; 7.Brian Craig 288; 8.Steve Mitchell 287; 9.Bruce McGill 253; 10.Barry Edmond 218 Cashpot: £815

Monday February 21st: ANBA Winter League week 7

  Steve Mitchell put himself in the picture for a Winter League payday by jumping from 11th to 7th in the league, thanks to his victory in the week 7 event at The Golden Break. Mitchell beat Ryan Law in the final to potentially rescue his season. Leader Pat McCarron and 2nd placed Darren Matthew were absent due to 8-ball commitments in Malta, but the chasing pack failed to take advantage, as Jim O'Hare, Mark Oaten and Scott Gilbert all exited at the quarter final stage.

  Mitchell now finds himself within 50 points of 2nd place in what is shaping up to be a tight finish for places. McCarron carries a 101 point lead into week 8, and only 66 points separate the next 8 players.

  Results: Quarter finals: Chris Harper beat Mark Oaten 5-3; Steve Mitchell beat Jim O'Hare 5-4; Ryan Law beat Scott Gilbert 5-4; Stevie Watt beat Malcolm Burt 5-2; Semi finals: Mitchell beat Harper 5-3; Law beat Watt 5-0; Final: Mitchell beat Law 5-3

  Standings: 1.McCarron 407 points; 2.O'Hare 306; 3.Gilbert 304; 4.Oaten 299; 5.Matthew 289; 6.Gary Esson 276; 7.Mitchell 256; 8.Brian Craig 246; 9.Bruce McGill 240; 10.Law 209 Cash fund: £739

Sunday February 20th: SAPPA Tour, 2nd leg

  Michael Valentine continued his domination of the Scottish game with victory in the latest SAPPA event in Dunfermline. Valentine beat Darren Raine in the final of an event in which no oppnent took more than 3 racks off "The Yeti".

  Of the ANBA hopefuls, Mark Oaten was sent to the losers side by Brian Hunter (Falkirk), and then beaten by Stevie Westwater (Edinburgh) in controversial circumstances after an incident in rack 5, in which Westwater claimed to glance the 1 ball in escaping a snooker to Oatens disagreement. Westwater progressed from 2-2 to a 5-2 win and came all the way through the losers side to meet ANBA's Jim O'Hare in the knockout.

  In the race to 7 encounter, Westwater moved from 1-0 to 4-0 without an O'Hare shot, but O'Hare clawed back to 4-4, and should have led 5-4 but missed a distant 9 from under a cushion. That was his last shot as Westwater potted, then ran the next 2 racks.

Monday February 14th: ANBA Winter League, week 6

  If Pat McCarron, as seems likely, goes on to win the ANBA Winter League, then he can point to this weeks performance as the most telling of the campaign. In a lop-sided draw for the week 6 event, McCarron defeated his 3 nearest rivals for the title on the way to the final. McCarron firstly dented Mark Oatens (2nd at start of play) hopes with a 5-3 win, then saw off Jim O'Hare (4th) and Darren Matthew (3rd) in the quarters and semis respectively to open up a 118 point lead. These 3 players may yet thank Scott Gilbert for bringing McCarrons run to a halt in the final however, as he ran out a 5-4 winner.

  Gilbert won the first after McCarron over run from 6 to 7, but 2 typically flamboyant clearances made it 2-1 McCarron. Gilbert missed a chance to draw level as a 9 stuck in the jaws, but dug deep to win 2 in a row for 3-3. The next 2 were shared, and in the decider, when McCarron finished short on the 2, he had no option but to lay a snooker; unfortunately for him, just enough of the 2 ball was visible for the pot, and Gilberts impressive finish thereafter propels him to 4th in the table.

  Results: Quarter finals: Pat McCarron beat Jim O'Hare 5-3; Darren Matthew beat Gary Stein 5-0; Scott Gilbert beat Bruce McGill 5-1; Ryan Law beat Graham Reid 5-4 Semi finals: McCarron beat Matthew 5-4; Gilbert beat Law 5-4 Final: Gilbert beat McCarron 5-4

  Standings: 1.McCarron 407 points; 2.Matthew 289; 3.O'Hare 262; 4.Gilbert 260; 5.Oaten 256; 6.Gary Esson 244; 7.McGill 221; 8.Brian Craig 214; 9.Kenny McPherson 187; 10.Barry Edmond 162 Cash fund: £672

  There is a Scottish ranking event this weekend at Rileys Dunfermline. Players intending to travel should assemble at the Holburn Bar car park at 9:15am.

Monday February 7th: ANBA Winter League, week 5

  At the halfway stage of the ANBA Winter League, Pat McCarron became a firm favourite for the title as he won the week 5 event at The Golden Break. The final against Darren Matthew could not have started worse for McCarron as the balls broke nicely to leave Matthew an easy 1-9 combination. However, McCarron recovered to take the next with a clearance, and took advantage of a clustered bunch in the third to extract three fouls for a 2-1 lead. This proved to be key, as 2-1 quickly became 4-1, and although Matthew pulled 1 back, McCarron closed it out in the next to go 90 points clear in the league table.

  Results: Quarter finals: Darren Matthew beat Mark Gravener 5-2; Jim O'Hare beat Paul Will 5-4; Barry Edmond beat Bruce McGill 5-1; Pat McCarron beat Gary Aitkenhead 5-2 Semi finals: Matthew beat O'Hare 5-1; McCarron beat Edmond 5-3 Final: McCarron beat Matthew 5-2

  Standings and Cash: 1.McCarron 333 points; 2.Mark Oaten 243; 3.Matthew 235; 4.O'Hare 219; 5.Gary Esson 212; 6.Brian Craig 183; 7.McGill 180; 8.Scott Gilbert 160; 9.Kenny McPherson 154; 10.Edmond 148 Cash fund: £596

Monday January 31st: ANBA Winter League, week 4

  In terms of formbook upsets, Brian Craig's capture of an ANBA ranking event at the Golden Break on Monday ranks alongside Greece's surprise Euro 2004 success. It's not that Craig does not possess the ability to win such events, but more a case of nobody, not even Craig himself, saw the result coming!

  Lying 18th at the start of play, and having finished an unspectacular 32nd in the previous league, Craig demonstrated bottle, good safety play, and a rarely seen delicate touch around the table to propel himself to 4th in the table. Having survived a decider against Justin Balment in the first round, Craig scored an excellent win over Craig Malcolm, and followed up by knocking out ANBA no.5 Mark Gravener in the quarters. "The Glove" then shot into a 3-0 semi final lead over Darren Matthew, and showed admirable composure as Matthews' expected comeback materialized, potting 8 and 9 at 4-4 to clinch a final place.

  In the final against Jim O'Hare, Craig led 2-0, but was pegged back to 2-2. At 3-3, tension took over as safety exchanges dominated proceedings. Craig potted 7, 8 and 9, showing great calm under pressure to lead 4-3, and looked set to do the same in the next, but missed the 9 to a tight middle pocket to set up a decider. O'Hare was first in after Craig scratched on the break, but overscrewed from 6 to 7 to leave a do or die cut. The 7 stayed in the jaws, and Craig cleared to record his first ANBA ranking event success.

  Results: Quarter finals: Darren Matthew bt. Martin McIntosh 5-3; Brian Craig bt. Mark Gravener 5-3; Scott Gilbert bt. Mark Oaten 5-4; Jim O'Hare bt. Gary Aitkenhead 5-0; Semi finals: Craig bt. Matthew 5-4; O'Hare bt. Gilbert 5-2; Final: Craig bt. O'Hare 5-4

  Standings: 1.Pat McCarron 233 points; 2.Oaten 211; 3.Gary Esson 190; 4.Craig 169; 5.O'Hare 168; 6.Matthew 163; 7.Gilbert 147; 8.John McCann 144; 9.Bruce McGill 139; 10.Kenny McPherson 130 Cash fund: £484