It was third time lucky for Wayne Cooper, who overcame his jinx against Paul Hunter Open winner Matthew Couch in the English Amateur Championship qualifiers at the Northern Snooker Centre.

Cooper had earlier made breaks of 101, 95, 88 and 65 in easing past Thomas Sadding-ton 4-0, followed by a 4-2 victory over Shaun Wilkes, in which the highlight was a break of 100.

For qualification to the North of England section of the tournament, Cooper had to overcome Couch - a former Main Tour professional - once again, the two players seeming to be thrown together at every major competition this season.

Cooper had already lost twice but on this occasion, the Yorkshire and Bradford champion came away with a 4-1 win to ease into the next stages.

There was no such joy for Bradford team-mate Sajid Khan, who had beaten Matt-hew Samples 4-0 in his first game following a bye in round one, but then came up against former professional Jeff Cundy in the qualifying match, with Cundy running out a 4-2 winner.

Gareth Green came unstuck in round one with a 4-0 defeat to James Murdoch, while another Bradford-based player, Philip Blackburn, also exited 4-0 at the first stage against England international Adam Duffy.

Green was in action in Bradford No 2's 3-3 draw at Sheffield No 2 in the Yorkshire Inter District League.

Boover Singh lost a scrappy first frame but won his next easily and Hanif Rafiq also had a comfortable frame to put Bradford 2-1 up before his opponent made a 64 break to level. Green then lost his first, with his opponent clearing the colours, but did exactly the same in the final frame to tie the match.

In the Bradford Championships, Cooper eased into the quarter-finals with a 4-1 victory over Tanveer Mohammed, while John Wellham beat 2004 champion Howard Mawson 4-2.

Defending pairs champions Simon Bedford and Chris Brannan progressed thanks to a 3-0 victory over Charlie Leeson and Jim Britton.

Cooper and Donald Proctor defeated John McCeachran and Damien Bentley by the same score, as did Simon Jackson and Darren Goy against Andy Hodgson and Chris Smith.

With several players falling ill recently, the deadline for matches to be completed has been extended to Saturday, February 2.

As reported over the last few weeks, a one-day snooker knockout will be held on Sunday at Cue Gardens, Odsal, with the two finalists set to compete against John Parrott or Mark Williams at the T&A Snooker Classic at Richard Dunn Sports Centre on February 23.

Entry is free to the competition, with registration taking place between 9.30 and 10am. All matches will be played off level and are the best of three frames.

Players must be 18 or over and the overall winner will choose which professional to play. Contact 01274-815832 for more details.

Tickets at £12 are still available for the T&A Classic (7.30pm start) either from the T&A front office or on 01274-705289 between 9.30am and 5pm (Monday to Friday).