NEIL Wood (Heworth) won the York Conservative Clubs' Tayrol Scruton Cup for the fifth time in six years when he defeated Gerald Mackenzie (Acomb) 3-1 in the final at Bootham Club.

Mackenzie, playing in his first final, took on a difficult red at his second visit in the first frame and built a 23 break. With Wood struggling to score, Mackenzie increased his lead to 45-9.

Wood fought back with 13 points and gained four points from a snooker to trail 34-45. He took the last red but failed on an easy yellow and Mackenzie cleared yellow, green and brown and picked off blue to win 59-35.

Mackenzie earned eight points from snookers to lead 13-8 in the second frame, but then went in off. Wood scored 16 from the opening and followed with a 31 break to lead 59-13.

Mackenzie took the last two reds and a blue got four points from a snooker to trail 24-59 with the colours left. He potted yellow and was forced to sink green when Wood pushed it over a pocket to trail by 30 points. Wood won the frame by clearing brown, blue and pink.

At his second visit in the third frame, Wood compiled a 56-break and followed with a 43-break to win the frame 99-0 and take the lead.

Wood went 17-0 in front in the fourth frame then made a 20-break to lead 37-0. Mackenzie replied with 15 points but let in Wood who built a 68-break and just failed on the final black for a clearance to win the frame 105-15 and the match 3-1.

The match referee was Bob Ventress and the trophy and mementoes were presented by Keith Taylor of sponsors Tayrol Ltd.

Heworth 'A' celebrated their ninth successive championship of the York Conservative Clubs' Carlsberg-Tetley Snooker League with a 7-0 thrashing of Bootham 'B'. Neil Wood continued the excellent form he demonstrated in the Scruton Cup to win his game with breaks of 47 and 45.

The other successful Heworth players were Steve Burdett, Keith Lawrence, Jason Milner, Brian Shipley, Dave Taylor and Clive Whyte.

Second-placed Bootham 'A' went 3-0 down to the much improved Heworth 'B' before fighting back to win 4-3. Captain Mick Frampton gave four points away to Ken Taylor before going 59-4 ahead and secured the first frame. Brian and Dave Birch made it 3-0 then Colin Robinson, John Darley (20 break), Brian Coulson and Barry Rankin (27 break) rescued the win for Bootham. But Heworth 'B' had done enough to win the John Smith's 'B' team award which they last won in 1997.

Acomb 'A' held on to third spot despite losing their fifth successive match, 4-3 against Fulford 'B'. The teams shared the first six frames with wins by Arthur Pegden, George Toone and Bob Smith for Fulford and Ian Gillies, Gary Robinson and Trevor Ventress for Acomb. John Addock defeated Gerald Mackenzie in the decisive seventh game to earn Fulford 'B' a 4-3 victory.

Fulford 'A' moved up one place to fourth with a 5-2 defeat of Acomb 'B'. Fulford's winners were Wayne Puleston, Jeff Brown, Richard Stroughair (29 break), Wayne Hartley and Alan Reed.

Clive Whyte (Heworth) is Willsden Steel Player of the Year for the third successive year having won 13 out of 14 games. Brian Coulson (Bootham) and Jason Milner (Heworth) finished joint runners-up with 12 wins from 14 games. Only six other players achieved double-figure wins.

Neil Wood leads the North Wolds Highest Break competition with 71 with only one qualifying match remaining.

Updated: 11:06 Thursday, April 08, 2004