THE return of the Three Player Competition to the Knutsford and District Amateur Snooker League calendar has been hailed a huge success.

Thrilling matches and a great atmosphere were experienced throughout the day at Mobberley Victory Hall before the home trio of Ned Flinders, Paul Adkin and Mark Newall took the honours in the final.

In the first Three Player Competition since 2018, they faced Tatton A’s Pete Blain, Freddie Rowley and David Taylor in the decider, but both sets of finalists could easily have exited the competition in their earlier rounds.

Mobberley came through a deciding frame black-ball finish in their quarter-final against Heald Green and survived a similarly tense finish in their semi-final against Wilmslow Cons.

Tatton A’s David Taylor amazingly overcame a 78-point deficit in their quarter-final and also needed to show nerves of steel in a black-ball finish in the final frame of their semi-final against Mere A.

Knutsford Guardian: Tatton ATatton A (Image: Contributed)

In the final, Tatton took the lead as Blain won against Adkin only for Newall to wrestle the advantage back Mobberley’s way by beating Rowley.

Tatton’s Taylor was unable to repeat his earlier heroics as a 45-point deficit proved too much on this occasion as Flinders cooly steered Mobberley A home.

It was the trio’s third victory in this competition, their first victory coming over 19 years ago!

Meanwhile, there was a surprise in the league games last week.

Leaders Shaw Heath lost for just the second time this season as 12th-placed Tatton C upset the form book with a fine 5-2 win, despite 107 points from Dave Mullins and a 36 break by Nick Edmondson.

Second-placed Mobberley C closed the gap with a 4-3 derby victory over their B team clubmates, for whom John Dale scored 100+ points.

Heald Green moved up to third with a 5-2 win over Tatton A, aided by 101 points from Abdul Rahimi.

Fourth place played fifth place as Mere A edged a tight encounter 4-3 against Morley Green.

Wilmslow A took the bragging rights in the Wilmslow derby. Mike Sullivan's 103 points helped his team to a 5-2 win against their B team.

In the final game, Mobberley A remained in seventh place following a 5-2 victory over Tatton B.