Maritime A win final match to emerge as champions

THERE were no upsets in the final matches of the Monday Premier League as Maritime A won to clinch the title by a four-point margin.

Their last fixture saw them triumph 8-3 when hosting City Social while title rivals Porters A had to be content with runners up, despite winning their final encounter 10-1 against Prince Maurice B, while Brookside A filled the third spot.

Gary Phillips (Brookside) and Porters B’s Andy Bates finished the season joint top of the singles table with 97 points from a possible 102 but in a well-contested play-off, Phillips emerged a 3-2 winner.

CHAMPION: Gary Phillips emerged as the individual champion with 97 points after winning a close play-off against Andy Bates.

There was also a play-off for fourth place behind Mark Hatherley (Firkin Scholar) in third, and in another close encounter that went the full distance, Darren Collis (Brookside) edged Glenn Halford (Prince Maurice A) 3-2.

Bates finished the season with 29 maximum scores, seven more than Porters stablemate John Mann while no fewer than five players equalled the season’s top checkout of 160.

They were Darren Collis, Tony Reid, Alfie Ford, Mike Miller, Lewis Dare. The highest checkouts in the final week's matches were achieved by: Phil Kilpatrick (135), Brian Lumsdon (130), Tony Reid (107), Scott Hutchinson (105), Andy Bates (101), Jordan Grimshaw (100), Rich Coombs (100).