After spending 35 days at the top of the Ladder, Tony Morgan was finally toppled yesterday by Patrick Ashurst. In a scrappy encounter the first two frames were shared before Tony won the third to lead 2-1. Patrick then won the next two to go 3-2 ahead, but Tony dug in to level at 3-3 and force a decider. Patrick held his nerve to win the all important deciding frame for a 4-3 victory that sees him climb from 5th position to 1st. Patrick is ony the third player to capture top spot so far this season, the others being Tony and Nav Hussain.

Sam Burton returned to winning ways with a successful defence of 29th position. Nick Lester was on a run of four straight wins going into this match, but Sam proved a little too strong for him this time. Sam won the first frame but Nick won a scrappy second to level at 1-1. Sam then won the next three to make it 4-1, but Nick found some form in the sixth with a run of 28 to make it 4-2. Sam was starting to fear a comeback, with Nick now playing well, but Sam secured a 5-2 victory by potting a long blue and then clearing the pink and black.

Ellis Abbott made it back to back wins with a 3-0 reverse of Paul Nicholas. Ellis climbs to 62nd position.