BLACKBURN Mill Hill Engineering Division 2 is on fire at the moment with just a point separating the top three in the Blackburn and Darwen Snooker League.

Rishton put themselves back in the title race with a resounding 8-0 victory over Blackburn Golf B while a 5-3 win for Orchard keeps them a point clear at the top.

Mill Hill A’s 6-2 home win over Fenny keeps them level with Rishton in second spot. Rishton were never troubled throughout their match, Chris Philiben taking the opener against Golf Club skipper Mark Gorzella.

The Golfers could do nothing to stop the onslaught and were grateful when the match ended with a fabulous 78 clearance from Rishton stand in captain Tony Haworth.

At Mill Hill the first two frames were shared, new boy Ali Khan taking the first before Andy Livesey equalised for Fenny.

Mill Hill’s Darren Johnson took the next and then partnered Khan to victory in the doubles to open up a two frame lead. Mick Bufton made it 4-1 before Fenny took the last pairs on the pink to keep hopes of a draw alive.It wasn’t to be as John Ferguson and Eamon Bufton took the last two.

It was a closer match than the score suggests, five of the eight frames going all the way to black. Leaders Orchard got of to a flying start against Darwen Golf Club, taking four of the first five frames.

Golf Club skipper Ian Geogarty and partner John Haworth took the last doubles before Orchard skipper Paul Keryk gave the home side the five frames needed for victory. Anchor B were on fire in their home match against Mill Hill B.

Bernard Goulding took the opener before new signing Connor Walsh went down on the black against Lee Cooper. It was all one way traffic after that, Dave Houghton showed he is getting back to his best with a good win over Darren Heggie and then partnering Graham Melia to victory in the doubles.

The win moves Anchor up to fourth in the table and re-kindles their promotion hopes.

Premier Office Supplies Division 1 is also bubbling away nicely with three teams pulling away at the top.

Leaders VIP took a 3-0 lead in their home game against Punch before Ian Harle managed to pull one back for the visitors.

It was Harle who also helped take Punch’s only other point , partnering Franco Ponti to an easy doubles win over Haider Ali and Harle’s new England pool team-mate Murad Iqbal.

With solid performances all round VIP are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with. Second placed Longshaw B slipped up at home against Cherry Tree only drawing after holding what looked to be a comfortable 4-2 lead.

Chris Lawson and Colin Crawford gave a masterclass in tactical snooker in a 50 minute opener. Lawson took it by the flattering scoreline of 67-12 but he was made to battle all the way until Crawford was a tad unlucky to knock the black in. The foul gave Lawson the chance to develop the frame and he did it with his usual aplomb.

Craig Steele found bogey man Chris Arkwright too much in the second before taking the first doubles with Lawson. It was a comedy of errors between George Holden and namesake Baz before the Cherry Tree man got his act together to take the next and then Alan Heaton was given a fright from veteran Eric Knowles.

A couple of brilliant opening pots gave Eric a near 40 point lead before Heaton managed to chip it away. A well taken run of 40 put Heaton way ahead, Knowles needing two snookers.

Whether by luck or design he got them leaving Heaton having to pot a couple of tricky colours to eventually seal victory.

Gaz Hampson and George Holden played well to take the last doubles against Andy Stone and Steve Williams but the cricketers made amends, taking the last two frames.

Stone turned in a classy display to beat Hampson and Williams put in the performance of the night, clearing up the colours to beat a stunned Jonny Hannan.