IT COULDN'T be closer! Borough and Cemetery are neck and neck with just tonight's matches to finish the Darwen Hotels League season. Borough appear to have the tougher task with a match on the Punch who are in third place; Cemetery are at home to fourth-placed Top Con B.

The Top Con cost the Cem the title last season in a last-match thriller which allowed Punch to win it by a point. This season the title could be just as close with a play-off on the cards.

Cem had a chance to clinch a 6-2 win last week at Uncle Jack's but Paul Merryman slammed Andy Maudsley in the last frame and it ended 4-4. Christine Pilkington, from bottom club Anchor, snatched a point on the Borough when she beat a crestfallen Danny Slater.

It was just a few weeks ago that she took a point off the Cemetery!

One of the most amazing matches in league history ended in a win for Ian Cordingley of the Cemetery B team. He trailed Sam Singleton of Top Con A 60-4 on the last red and needed SIX snookers. "Get what you can for the aggregate," was the advice from his team. "No - I can win this," he said. And he did!

Tonight's matches: Cemetery v Top Con B, Mill Gap v Cemetery B, Anchor v Prince, Punch v Borough, Top Con A v Uncle Jack's, Alexandra open date. Tomorrow: Top Con C v Alexandra B.

The knockout starts next week with two sections from which the top four in each qualify for the play-offs.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.