RISHTON Con Club came through a tricky tie at Mill Hill A to keep their hopes of a fourth successive Danny Hogan Cup triumph alive.

Chris Lawson had a stinker in the opener against George Haig, almost giving his frame away! Lawson was awarded a free ball on green while trailing by some 15 points.

He nominated pink and then promptly snookered Haig behind the nominated ball! The Mill Hill man couldn't take advantage though and it was soon another tick in the win column for Lawson. Craig Steele was too much for Mick Bufton in the next but Lawson and new partner Alan Heaton didn't gel at all and crashed to a 70-17 beating against Bufton and Ian Newton. Heaton was still thinking about the pairs in the next and soon found himself in deep trouble against Newton.

At 45 behind with only two reds left, Heaton looked dead and buried. Suddenly though the light came on and 2 reds and blacks and a snooker later Heaton ran out the colours to record an amazing comeback win. At 3-1 acting Mill Hill skipper Eamon Bufton faced Rishton counterpart Shaun Pendlebury.

For the second match in a row Pendlebury threw away a winning chance. After keeping Bufton at bay for most of the frame blue and pink would secure the win. After potting the tricky blue with the rest Pendlebury cued awfully at a simple mid range pink to leave Bufton the easiest two balls to nick the frame by a single point.

It was Steele again in the next who galvanised partner Gaz Hampson and restored the two frame Rishton cushion to set up an unexpected grand stand finish from Jonny Hannan.

Opponent Craig Turner arrived from his big tables match and eagerly broke off. The white ball caught the blue and Turner sat enthralled as Hannan produced one of the breaks of this or any season. With the white ball on a string Hannan cleared the lot with a break of 102. It could easily have been a maximum but the maturing Hannan settled for a certain pot on the last red rather then a trickier one to stay on black.

They are celebrating up at Potters after both the A and B teams battled their way into the semis. The A team travelled to the Fox and were never troubled as they cantered to a 5-1 victory. Jake Fuller showed he's returning to form taking the opener against Lee Entwistle.

Murad Iqbal is shortly off to the European Pool Championships and left opponent Simon Ashe with a 58 break against him as a going away present! The two then paired up to make it 3-0 in the doubles before the always steady Dion Holcroft put them on the brink of victory. Fox's only point of the night came in the next, a stunning 70-6 win for Jake O'Horo over Haider Ali. Holcroft and Ibby Khan sealed the win in the very next frame with victory over O'Horo and partner Ged Patton. The B team entertained Longshaw and had to battle all the way after going behind 3-1.

Tom Whittle took the opener for Longshaw but Darren Johnson levelled immediately. Whittle and Paul Stanhope made it 2-1 Longshaw and Stanhope stayed at the table to inflict a rare defeat on Shabaz Ditta. Carl Boothman made it 3-2 in the next and then partnered Danyal Hussein to victory over Lee Whittle and John Gaul to level the match. Hussein took on the vastly more experienced Lee Whittle in frame 7 and didn't look out of place as he secured a good win. At 4-3 Potters it was Elawi against Longshaw's Paul Walsh and frame and match went to the Potters man on the black. Dark horses Blackburn Golf A complete the semi final line up after their 5-1 win over Wilpshire A.

John Wilkinson got the ball rolling for the Golf Club and Steve Bunyan won a close one against Ian Nixon to make it 2-0. Wilkinson and Bunyan were made to sweat by Wilpshire's John Harrison and Matt Taylor eventually winning on the black and Pete Sagar showed a welcome return to form to make it 4-0 when he beat Taylor. The Golf Club's new president Gordon Stobbart suffered the only loss of the night going down against Craig Dullenty but victory was wrapped up in the next with a comfortable doubles win for Sagar and golfers skipper Chris Nutter.