RUSSELL RUNS RIOT BUT BOLEHILL GET OVER THE LINE

WINNING players on the night for Bolehill No 1 RICKI SLACK and IAN BIRKS

THE third and concluding finals week of the season saw the grand finale of the league play offs for the Jaeger Trophy at Belper Strutt Club along with the Denis Morton Pairs trophy final at Matlock's Edgefold Club.
Contesting the team event were Joinery Joint League champions Edgefold No 1, looking for their third win in seven seasons in the competition, and third placed Bolehill Institute No 1 who were appearing in the final showdown for the first time.
In what was a thrilling encounter, Rob Muxlow (21 break) gave the Matlock cuemen an early advantage as he defeated Simon Zoppi 61-35 with a fine display of potting.
Ricki Slack (22 break) soon equalised, taking green, brown and blue to score a 64-42 success over Neil Parkinson and then Andy Russell (27 break) came from forty adrift to edge out Andrew Brough on the pink 67-58.
The game looked all but over with Duncan Harwood leading Ian Birks by thirty with two reds left in frame four but a magnificent comeback culminated with Birks fluking pink along the bottom cushion and then sinking the black to take the match into a deciding doubles frame.
And with Bolehill leading 54-7 it seemed the coveted silverware was heading Wirksworth way until danger man Russell stepped in with a superb sequence of shot-making to engineer a 47 break out of nothing and level the scores with just the black to come.
Left with a difficult pot after failing to gain ideal position, the ace marksman couldnt quite get the requisite amount of cut required to convert and after a bout of  tactical jostling, the opportunity eventually fell for Slack to despatch a straight black of middle range into the corner pocket for a historic Bolehill win.

DUAL Pairs champions DUNCAN HARWOOD and ANDY RUSSELL

The Edgefold men were back in action the following night in the pairs final, with Harwood and Russell defending their trophy against team mates Parkinson and Muxlow.
Russell continued on from his break-building mode of the previous night with runs of 43,28 and 23 as he and Harwood surged two ahead early doors.
Muxlow and Parkinson took a tactical third frame 66-45 but a run of 34 from Russell increased the champs' lead to 3-1 and they edged a tight fourth 65-50 to seal the deal.

Play off final for the Jaeger Trophy: Edgefold Matlock No 1 2, Bolehill Institute No 1 3 (at Belper Strutt Club).
Denis Morton Pairs Handicap final: Andy Russell and Duncan Harwood 4, Neil Parkinson and Robert Muxlow 1.
Breaks: A Russell 47,43,34,28,27,23; R Slack 22; R Muxlow 21.