TOM Millington produced two strong performances to close the gap at the top of group A in the Barrow Individual Snooker League to just one point.

Millington’s two matches against Paul Deelay saw him take a 5-1 win in the first meeting, with a highest break of 52 and two in the 30s. However, most frames went to the colours before he took victory.

It was a similar story in the second match as Millington won 4-2, pulling right up behind group leader Danny Macdonald, who kicked off his two games against Dale McLean with a 5-1 win and was then held to a 3-3 draw in the return encounter.

A break of 72 helped Macdonald establish a 3-1 lead, only for McLean to fight back in the final two frames to take a vital point and keep alive his own hopes of qualifying for the next phase of the tournament.

Tony Mason all but secured his place in the knock-out stages thanks to a 4-2 win over Ste Waddington in the match-up of two veterans of the competition and former Evening Mail Snooker champions.

But a surprise 6-0 win for Waddington in the return match at the Red River club kept him in with a chance of making the top four in group B, which included a break of 45.

At the other end of the table, a break of 50 helped Gaz Barbour pick up his first win of the competition as he defeated Matty Hill, who knocked in a 32, 4-2 in the return match. Hill had won the first game by the same scoreline.

Anthony Atkinson and Alan Eaton split their two matches, with the former winning the first 5-1 and the latter winning the second 4-2.

Kyle Brown made a run of 52 to draw 3-3 with John Tyreman, but Tyreman won the second meeting 5-1 to put himself in with a good chance of qualification.

Tyreman also defeated Jordan Park 6-0 and 5-1, with several breaks over 30, in their catch-up match.

The other catch-up game saw Neil Aspinall beat Jamie Thompson 5-1, while Jack Arnold whitewashed Brad Elliot 6-0.

The bottom eight play-offs will be played on Tuesday January 19, Wednesday January 20 and Thursday January 21 at Preston Street Club and the Soccer Bar. Matches are best of three and the final best of five, with £65 for the winner and £35 for the runner-up, and there is also a £40 highest break prize.