EAST Ward Labour Club have won Bradford snooker's prestigious Hey's Trophy team competition after beating Eccleshill WMC A at Undercliffe Cricket Club.

Yet the matches throughout the final were evenly balanced and the result could have gone either way.

Eccleshill received a 50-point start on the handicap and stretched that lead after the first frame as Paul Young beat Paul Storey 82-35.

But parity was soon restored, with Storey turning the tables in the second frame with an impressive 82-16 success.

East Ward captain Aidan Rhodes found life tough against a determined Eric Poynton and, despite a 58-29 first-frame win for Rhodes, the Eccleshill player took the second 75-37 to leave his side with a slender 40-point lead at the interval.

Jim McMahon and Eddie Ratcliffe fought out two good frames, with East Ward player Ratcliffe edging their first 59-51, while clubmate Steve Moore earned an overall advantage with a solid 79-31 victory over Eccleshill captain Dave Moran.

Ratcliffe pushed his side further in front by defeating McMahon 56-39, which meant Moran needed to win the final frame of the night by 33 or more to turn the tables.

Early signs were good for Eccleshill and Moore found himself just 28 points behind going into the last few reds.

But a significant break of 22 by Moore meant that Moran needed all the colours to tie the match and take it to a respotted black.

It was not to be and the frame ended 47-46 in Moore's favour, with East Ward duly lifting the trophy.