After a closely fought final at Undercliffe Cricket Club,Eccleshill WMC A defeated Laisterdyke WMC B to win snooker's Hopkinson Plate Trophy for the first time since the competition began back in 1980.

Conceding 100 points start to Laisterdyke, Hill's Lee Boocock demolished that start by winning the first two frames comfortably against Sid Shawmarsh.

In fact, Shawmarsh did very little wrong against an in-form Boocock, who had a break of 33 and clearances of 25 and 22.

A much tighter affair on the other table saw Laisterdyke's Bob Doyle edge the first frame, with opposing captain David Moran replying in similar fashion, to leave Eccleshill holding a slender 37-point lead at the interval.

Knowing that by holding their frame scores, Eccleshill's John and Eric Poynton - against Doyle and Paul Wood respectively - would ensure the trophy would be going back to their club.

All four frames were close but the aggregate total of these was 191-190 in favour of the Poynton brothers, giving Eccleshill the championship by 38 points.

Tables have now been finalised at the halfway stage for the snooker teams in the Yorkshire Inter-District League.

In Division One, Sheffield top the table with 20 points out of a possible 30, Castleford are second on 18, defending champions Bradford No 1 are third with 16, Brighouse fourth on 15, Barnsley fifth on 12 and Leeds No 2 have just nine points.

In Division Two, Harrogate, relegated last year, lead the way with 23 points out of 30 and Bradford No 2 lead the chasers with 16. Wakefield No 1 and No 2 share third spot with 14, Huddersfield are fifth with 13 and Leeds No 1 have ten.

There are no outstanding fixtures at this stage for either division, with all teams playing their fixtures on time and each completing the allocated 30 frames each.

The next round of fixtures will be at the end of January.

The draw for the Hey's Trophy is to be made over the next week.

Preliminary-round matches will be played on Thursdays January 4 and 18, 2007 and drawsheets will be sent to all clubs in good time.

Team handicaps have yet to be reviewed, but a printed list will be sent to all clubs prior to the first leg.

The Moorhouse Shield billiards competition is expected to start in February, and again all clubs will be forwarded details of the dates and draw in good time.

In the Bingley and District Pool League, Harvester A have closed the gap on leaders Throstles Nest A to two points after a 7-2 victory over Fleece.

Throstles A beat White Horse 6-3 in a tense match, but the result of the day was by Harvesters B, who made easy work of Throstles B, defeating them 8-1.

There will be a league meeting tonight at the White Horse in Bingley (8.00).