Massive congratulations this week must go to Southport Conservative Club after sealing a superb fifth successive First Division title in the Ormskirk & District Amateur Snooker League.

The title was clinched on Monday evening as they played their rearranged match, carried over from last week, with St Cuthberts were they needed just three points. At the end of the evening the Southport side recorded a 5-1 triumph to capture the crown and achieved this with a match to spare.

The match saw the superb Gareth Hibbott in superlative form with a wonderful break of 82 in his frame win. Also in top form was Southport's Jon Holmes as he constructed a terrific break of 54 in his frame success.

The following evening, Southport Conservative Club completed another memorable campaign for themselves with yet another victory as they overcame Aughton Institute E 4-2 to clinch the title by an excellent eight points. This match saw Southport's Paddy Tyndall in wonderful nick with a high class, tremendous break of 83 to seal this week's 'Break of the Week' prize.

Paddy's break began after his opponent missed his colour and left Paddy a fairly easy opening red. Paddy potted that red and gained ideal position on his colour and then proceeded to dispatch a further two reds, both with blacks, but needed pinpoint positional play as it was very congested around the black spot area. After potting his next red, Paddy didn't quite gain good position on another black ball so potted a fine yellow to continue this terrific contribution. Shortly after, he found himself in the same situation and produced another superb pot by taking a long blue into the yellow pocket and screwing back for his next red. A further red and pink followed but more problems for him as this meant the pink ball had to be re-spotted below its own spot, tying up more red balls. With Paddy producing this excellent play, it continued as he potted a superb black punching it in to stun off the cushion and into the pink opening up the reds. He then took all bar one of those reds, all with blacks, with his continued solid potting and exquisite positional play. Paddy was now faced with a very difficult final red down the side cushion but, unfortunately, he rattled it and this brought an end to an exceptionally good break on eighty three with a century well and truly possible and this would have been richly deserved!

Crosby Village SC must be given enormous credit after such another terrific campaign, as once again, having finished runners-up and have now done so on each of the five seasons they have competed in the Ormskirk League and will certainly be looking to finally go one better next term. They ended this term with a very solid 5-1 win at the expense of Stanley Club A to finish those eight points adrift of the winners. All the Crosby side should be congratulated on a fine season. The Burscough outfit will end their season no worse than a creditable sixth place depending on next week's final match to be played.

Many congratulations must go to Crosby's Paul Williams, on a personal level, as he captured the Division One Highest Ranked Player award, for an amazing second successive season, after another superb campaign but went one better this time around as he has also clinched The Graham Fairclough Memorial Trophy for the most league successes in either Division of our league. Knowing Paul like I do, he will obviously be very disappointed as his team came close again to winning their maiden Division One title and would happily give up some of his many superb personal achievements to win that crown. Paul's season is far from over as he is, unbelievably, in the semi-finals, yet again, of all three Individual & Pairs competitions he entered which will be contested over the next two weeks.

The new-look Maghull RBL A finished in an excellent third position after a terrific season for them which ended with yet another win as they defeated Upholland Social 4-2. The Maghull A side recorded a fantastic twenty two wins from their twenty six matches played losing only two matches in the process. The match saw Maghull A's Robbie Radford in good form with a nice break of 37 in his frame victory.

A special mention must go to Maghull A's Mark Evans as this term was his debut campaign in the Ormskirk League and has reached the semi-finals in all of our three Individual competitions, the Championship, the Handicap & the J F Wills Handicap he entered which he will be competing in over the next two weeks.

Upholland Social can be proud of their season whatever the outcome and still have a lot to play for this season. After this week's match, despite defeat, the two points earned puts them in a very strong position to go one better than last term and capture the Division One Merit League title. Next week they contest their final match, postponed from a few weeks back, and it has an intriguing feel to it as two points from that match will clinch the title for the Upholland outfit. Also, a 4-2 triumph or better would seal fifth spot in the final league table, a superb result for them but their priority, by far, will be trying to grab the Merit League crown.

Quarry Green TAC ended their second campaign in the Ormskirk League with a seventh or eighth place finish depending on the result of the final league match in the Division next week. Their season rather petered out as they gave up their final matches of the season due to not being able to field a full team for either match.

Aughton Institute A were due to contest their penultimate match this term with Quarry Green TAC but were given the match by their Kirkby opponents. As per the league rules, the Aughton A outfit were awarded a 6-0 victory. Next week they play that final exciting match and three points from that game will see them finish in a very solid seventh slot in the league standings. Much more importantly, if they avoid defeat in that final match with Upholland Social that will guarantee them, at worse, the runners-up spot in the Merit League final table and a very heavy win could see them win or share the title with their opponents so a possible, very interesting encounter looms next week.

St Cuthberts signed off for the year playing two matches this week and after their defeat on Monday evening to the title winners, completed their fixtures with a 4-2 reversal at the hands of bottom team, Scarisbrick NSC. Despite these two defeats the Halsall outfit ended by sitting in a creditable ninth in the league proceedings. The Scarisbrick side finished in last place but completed on a high with just their second success of the campaign.

The final two matches played this week saw the final four teams all complete their seasons. Firstly, Maghull RBL B came up against Olympic BC and it saw a 4-2 win for the Maghull B team to lift themselves out of the relegation places at the final hurdle. The Walton-based Olympic BC side finished in a respectable tenth.

Skelmersdale Wardens A produced a strong end to their campaign with a very solid 5-1 away win at the expense of Rainford X SSC and this outcome sees them lie in eleventh with seven successes this term. The Rainford side completed two places below them in the final table.

Other notable breaks this week were – C Hoare (Southport Conservative Club) 47, G Canning (Aughton Institute E) 34, N Barber (Maghull RBL A) 34 & D Hartley (Southport Conservative Club) 32.

The Division One merit table sees Upholland Social as firm favourites to lift the title despite defeat this time around. They require just two points from next week's showdown to clinch the crown, they sit on 123 points. In second position are Southport Conservative Club after sealing the league crown with their two victories this particular week but can still be caught for that runners-up berth after the final match of the whole season is contested next week, they ended on 121 points. The team lying in fourth spot, Aughton Institute A, can still have a big say in the destination of the title as they play the leaders in this outstanding match next week. A very big win for the Aughton A team could see them grab the crown or a possible share but realistically if they avoid defeat can at least finish as runners-up.

Division 2

This week saw Stanley Club but themselves into a relatively strong position to take the Second Division crown with the final round of matches to be played next week. They ended their evening with a very solid 4-2 triumph at the expense of Aughton Institute C to extend their advantage to two points and they clash with the second placed side in a title decider were two points will be enough for them to capture the coveted title. That will surely be an exciting and tense showdown. The Aughton C outfit drop into fourth place in the league standings.

Aughton Institute D will no doubt be disappointed with their performance this time around after they went into battle with Farmers Club and this saw the spoils shared with a 3-3 scoreline. This outcome sees the title chasing, Aughton D team sit those two points behind the pace-setters and, as mentioned above, they go into battle with the leaders for the final match of the campaign. They need to produce a very strong display in that encounter needing to seal a minimum of five points to capture the Division Two crown. The Ormskirk side lie in sixth in the table.

Aughton Institute B moved back into third spot in the proceedings, a position they have occupied for most of the campaign, after recording their eleventh success this term with a 4-2 victory over Lathom & Burscough RBL. This result sees them three points clear of the side directly below them and a positive outcome in their final match next time should see them maintain that slot and, with it, a productive campaign.

The other match played this week saw Skelmersdale Wardens B overcome club compatriots and cup specialists, Skelmersdale Wardens C 4-2 to move up into fifth slot in the table. This win was even more impressive as they found themselves 2-0 down in the early exchanges of the clash.