RADCLIFFE Central C edged a thrilling Arthur Dykes Knockout Cup first-round tie against Bury Snooker C.

Lester Eckersley’s fluke pot on the pink ball proved to be the decisive factor as Radcliffe beat their Bury and District Open Snooker League rivals by nine chalks.

Salisbury Con won another close game against Elton Lib B, Gary Wright taking the last frame 32-27 to seal a 247-230 match win for his side. Chris Purslove was on top form for Elton Lib C when he won 118-41 with breaks of 44 and 40 in his side’s victory over Whitefield Snooker A by a 65-point margin Walshaw entertained Walmersley Con and the newcomers to the league proved they will be a force to be reckoned with this season, running out easy winners by 73.

M Grime and P Greenhalgh both had good wins.

There was another fine performance from D Nicholson of Tottington A. He won the first game of the evening 115-24, to provide the platform for an easy 314-131 success against Radcliffe St Mary’s.

Central Snooker D staged a fightback, winning the last two frames against Huntley C, thanks largely to Andy Rogers’ 73-34 win.

Tottington B enjoyed the trip to Radcliffe where D Booth won the last frame 69-5 to take the match 225-168. Seedfield BC A and B teams won very close games.

The A team just got the better of Buchanans B. S Hodkinson’s final- frame 63-47 win gave them victory by five points. The B team gained victory by 13 against Bury Bridge. Jim Hampson won the last frame but this was not enough for the Bridge and they could not recover from losing the first three frames. Stanley travelled to Elton Lib but found the D team much too strong and were unable to win a frame. Fishpool also won all four frames when they took on Elton Lib A. Huntley B won three out of the four frames which gave them victory over Whitefield Bowling Club. Radcliffe Centre A progressed into the second round mainly due to Paul Gallagher’s fine 87-10 win in the last game at the expense of Huntley A.