Acomb first team won the York Conservative Clubs' Ted Plant Pairs Snooker Cup for the sixth time when they defeated Bootham first team 4-0 in the final at Bootham Conservative Club.

Acomb's victory prevented holders Bootham recording a hat-trick of wins in the competition.

The match was full of tension as there was a major turn-around in two of the frames and close finished in three of the four frames.

Bootham's Nigel Thompson made a two-black 16 break as he and his father Vic progressed to a 41-16 lead against Dave Chapman and Mike Franks in the first frame. The Acomb pair then picked off the colours and gained four points from a foul to win the game 50-41.

Derek Sorby and Jeff Sykes seemed to have put Bootham on the way to levelling the match as they went 42-5 ahead in the second frame, with Acomb's Sam Bowker and Barry Fletcher having potted only one red.

However, the Acomb pair fought back to trail 47-27. Then the game changed as Bowker potted yellow, green and brown, then the blue and, helped by ten points from fouls, the Acomb duo went ahead for the first time, at 51-47. Fletcher took the decisive pink and despite going in-off after potting the final black Acomb had won the frame 57-54 to go 2-0 up.

Mike Bowker and Brian Jeffrey moved Acomb 42-19 ahead in the third frame, but with the help of 13 points from snookers Ken Carling and Peter Henderson fought back for Bootham to trail only 42-40.

Carling sank yellow and green, Henderson added brown and blue and the Bootham pair took the lead at 54-42. However, Bowker finished the game with a fine cut on pink to the middle pocket and followed with a difficult black off its spot to win the game 55-54 and move Acomb 3-0 ahead.

In the fourth frame, Ken Barnes and Colin Sanderson struggled to keep Bootham level at 19-all against Ken Knowles and Peter Tinker. The Acomb pair then went 45-19 ahead, with Tinker playing some excellent snooker.

They conceded 11 points in fouls but gained yellow, green and brown plus six points from a foul, which led to the Bootham duo conceding as they trailed 58-30 with only three colours remaining.

The trophy and mementoes were presented by Colin Robinson, chairman of York Faber Shield, on behalf of competition sponsor Robert Plant.

Updated: 09:24 Friday, March 14, 2003