A POOL player suffered head injuries after rival pub teams clashed in a city snooker club.

The incident took place at Riley’s, in Between Towns Road, Cowley, jurors at Oxford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Edmund Aldworth, who plays for the Blackbird pub, in Blackbird Leys, denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Matthew Challen, who represents the Catherine Wheel in Sandford.

Prosecutor Robert Spencer Barnard said Aldworth, 46, struck Mr Challen over the head more than once with his metal cue case on September 17 last year.

He told jurors the alleged victim and his friend Rhys Freemire had exchanged insults with four men from the Blackbird team.

Mr Spencer Barnard said: “There followed some abuse and references to different people’s skills and abilities. This may have come from Matthew Challen and his friend.

“Things escalated into an exchange of blows.”

Giving evidence, Mr Challen said Aldworth hit him “four or five times” with the cue case and told jurors the defendant “said he was going to kill me”.

The trial continues.