Lee Whittle won two matches in one night in the Blackburn And Darwen Individual Snooker League and looks to have sealed his place in the knockout stages of the tournament.

Whittle took on Neil Payton in his first match and some solid matchplay gave him a convincing 3-0 win. After a short break Lee was back at the table to tackle George Holden.

Holden gave him all he could handle and it was nip and tuck all the way.

The match see-sawed dramatically and could have gone either way but it was Whittle who prevailed and eventually ran out a 3-2 winner.

Andy Lancaster recovered from his shock 3-0 defeat last week to see off an unlucky Ed Holgate by the same margin.

Mark Slattery continues to impress, a 3-1 win over Neil Payton keeping him in the top 4.

The second loss of the week for Payton means he is now out of the tournament.

Elmo Bellusci joins him after going down 3-2 in a titanic battle with Jimmy Brookens.

Payton had a chance to influence the top 8 in his final game against Ricky Hardman. Neil showed some flashes of former glories but it was not to be, Hardman taking the honours 3-1.

With the knockout stages of the tournament starting next week all eyes will be on this weeks matches to see the final league table and who plays who in the quarter finals.