The deterrent of a 400 mile round-trip from Teesside had been sufficient in previous years to prevent any entries from the North East in the Fakenham Junior Ranking Tournament. However, on this occasion they turned out in force at the Pot Black Snooker Centre, providing 29 of the 39 competitors for the one-hour matches, and many were to return happy with their performances.
The preliminary round saw Middlesbrough's Michael Price record the top aggregate of 294 in his one-hour game, while fellow Teessiders, Scott Casey and Liam O'Neill contested the closest game, Scott scraping though by eight points.
The first round produced some good performances by the "top-guns" of the Junior brigade. Jimmy Chambers made a break of 53 and Robin Wilson also exceeded the half-century with a run of 52. Martin Shutt produced a break of 41 in compiling the highest one-hour aggregate of the day with a score of 489. His luckless opponent, ten-year-old Paul Close of Middlesbrough, is still somewhat handicapped by the dimensions of a full-sized table and will no doubt give a much better account of himself in years to come. Jeff Henderson also had a forty break and was one of seven players in the round to exceed 300 points in their allotted time. In the tightest finish of the day, Norfolk's David Wells edged out Teesside's Andrew Fairley by just three points.
The clash which attracted most interest in the second round was the meeting of "old" rivals Robin Wilson and Matthew Sutton. The match appeared to be going Wilson's way for most of the time as he established a lead of over 100 points. Sutton then produced late breaks of 82, 48 and 42 to snatch victory by just seven points in a dramatic finish. Craig Murphy (Middlesbrough) and David Wells also produced an exciting conclusion to their match, with the Teessider finishing a narrow six point winner.
Twelve-year-old Daniel Beagrie from Middlesbrough had only been playing competitive billiards for two months prior to this event, and his appearance in the quarter-finals therefore represented a major achievement. At this stage however, he was given the toughest possible test as he was drawn against U-16 Champion Matthew Sutton. Not surprisingly, he was unable to overcome such a seasoned campaigner, but even so, he can be well satisfied with his performance on the day. Martin Shutt also impressed as he came though a high scoring game against fellow Teessider Steven Hassack, while Steven's team-mate Jason Robinson produced his best ever ranking tournament result by progressing to the semi-finals.
Martin Shutt, younger brother of the famous professional player, set a personal milestone by reaching his first final of a ranking competition when he overcame Junior International player Jimmy Chambers 300- 271. Matthew Sutton had a more comfortable task against Jason Robinson, winning by 93 points.
Matthew Sutton had never been seriously challenged after his victory over Robin Wilson in the first round, and justified his status as favourite in the final by completing a comfortable win over Martin Shutt. Upholding the pride of the "local" players to see off the challenge of the invading Teessiders, his reward was a winner's prize of £50. Martin Shutt took consolation with £25 as runner-up.
Fraser Adams of Northants completed a good day for the Southern players by winning the Plate, defeating Teesside's Darren Murrell 165- 80 in the 30 minute final.