2007-08: Week 5

BURTON AND DISTRICT SNOOKER LEAGUE REPORT BY MICK HICKEBOTTOM After the luxury of the Presidents cup we are now back to league business and none more so than in The Premiership. What an impact Woodville Working Mens Club are making in their long awaited return back to the top flight. This young ‘A’ team are carrying on their shoulders the reputation of this established club who were in the top flight years ago before disbanding. I dare say their ambition is to take the Premiership title at their first attempt having been promoted from the third division to the premiership in four seasons and with the side they have I can see them doing it. Last week they were at home to Belmont ‘A’ and the match started with Mark Satchwell drawn against Steve Burton and as usual Burton was getting no running as he lost the first and in the second it was his turn to break and the frustration was showing as he completely missed the pack for a foul. Satchwell took it more easily than the first, On the other table it was nice to see the return of Phil Wright and he had lost none of his skills and looked the business as he took two off Shaun Gebbie. Steady Graham Bailey was too good for John Straw and before you knew it they are 6-0 up. The strength of Belmont was shown in the display by Ian Archer who on his day is as good if not better than anyone in the league. He was up against Simon Smith who on the night was the best player for Woodville but Archer was just in great form. Woodville however are happy to settle for 6-2. There was a home derby last week at Burton Cons when the ‘A’ team played host to the ‘B’ team. Perhaps the ‘A’ team thought they were in for a heavy win but perhaps it was somewhat closer than the score line suggests. Dave Budworth held Stuart Roberts and Phil Ball held Mick Simpkins. That was the ‘B’ teams only winners but Brian Alford took Jon Fletcher to the last couple of colours in each frame and he feels disappointed not to have taken one. Matt Milnes was to strong for Bill Davidson and the ‘A’ took a 6-2 win. Tutbury Institute ‘A’ with their newly promoted side are not intimidated by premiership opposition and are holding their own as last week they played host to one of the title favourites Belvedere Park ‘A’. Russ Banner held Ryan Gilmore and Lee Causer held Owen Jones for it to be all square at the halfway point. Craig Keen was to strong for Roy Walker but man of the match for Tutbury was Mark Press who saved the day by taking both off Darren Lester, for the team draw. Woodville Sports and Social Club ‘A’ if you recall are the old Spot On ‘A’ and last week they were at home to Newhall Social Club ‘A’ and on paper it looked to be an interesting meeting. John Hardy took all the glory for Woodville as he was the only player on the night to take two frames and that was off young Lee Sherratt. The best match to watch though was Tony Clements and Newhall’s Wayne Brewin both strong potters and Brewin had breaks of 29 and 31 but only took one frame. Ivanhoe ‘A’ lured Swadlincote Snk Cen ‘A’ to their fortress last week and it saw the home side pull off a great result as George Cawkwell took two off Chris Dewey and stalwart Jack Bale took both off Geoff Pritchard for a 4-0 lead. Then Richard Bithell held Steve Ayre and on the other table Tony Eyre took a frame off Neil Townsend for the 6-2 win. In the first division the Swad Cons ‘A’ team are still on the march with a superb performance away from home at Ivanhoe ‘C’. Vince Draper and Darren Noble started proceedings off with Draper taking two off Dave Marriot. However, Noble had a harder battle and was held to a draw by Warner Collins. That was it for the home side as all the other frames went to the Cons side with John Chambers beating Steve Cockeram with a 27 clearance in the first and a 38 break in the second. Mick Abbott swept up with a victory over Jason Collins. Can anybody stop them? Our star match last week was at Belmont Club ‘B’ when they played host to Alrewas British Legion ‘A’ trying to hold their own in this division and what a great start they had when Alan Wilson soundly thrashed Rich Goldby, which has never happened before especially at home. Wilson even knocked in the highest break of the night with a 32. On the other table it was a different kettle of fish with Mark Vaughan playing Roy Sherratt, playing a totally slower game with bouts of safety. Vaughan however was never threatened and took two to level it. In the second half Graeme Oates put on a great performance thrashing Paul Twigg in the first and compiling a 30 break. The second was closer and Twigg took it on the final blue. The final match saw Pete Birkin take his first to the applause of his team mates when playing Will Sherratt. The final frame of the night went to the final black and Sherratt pulled off an unbelievable pot down the rail into the bottom bag to earn the draw for the team. The highest break in this division went to Dave Shenton of Stapenhill ‘A’ knocking in a 47 when playing Tom Eggington of Burton Cons ‘C’. The match was actually a game of two tables. Steve Ford and Shenton were on the first table and took all their frames within an hour and a half. On the other table home players Paul Smith and Carl Jeffcoate both levelled their matches in a long drawn out affair that finished 3 hours 10 minutes later when all other player had to be woken up and told to go home. Another high break was a 42 made by Mitch Hughes of Rileys ‘A’ when they played Rolleston ‘A’ last week. Hughes took both off Danny Thompson as the Rolleston side went down 6-2. Belvedere Park ‘B’ had Neil Swindale to thank for their 5-3 win over Swad Snk Cen ‘D’ last week as he was the only player on the night to take two frames and it included a 30 break. In the second division, Swad Cons ‘B’ played host to Ivanhoe ‘D’ and got off to a great start with Richard Hutchings and Bob Birch taking 2 frames each. Birch was recovering from his highest break of the season – 4 metatarsal bones in his left foot. It was Craig Wilson who took the vital winning frame from Dave Watson of Ivanhoe who does not lose many. Brendon Mattley took the last two frames of the night for Ivanhoe to make the score line look respectable. Watch out for Newhall Social Club ‘B’ who I am going to tip for promotion even at this early stage. Last week they were at home to Drakelow ‘A’ and came out 7-1 winners with Dave Wain taking man of the match with a 28 break. John Ward of Rolleston ‘B’ had a couple of breaks last week worthy of a mention when they were at home to Rileys ‘B’. He knocked in a 21 and a 29 in his first frame with Adam Farrington. In the second Farrington pulled it back for the draw. The whole match ended level. In the third division the newly formed team of Swad Snk Cen ‘G’ are looking good for their first season and last week soundly beat Swad Cons ‘D’ away from home. The main strike force appears to be Danny Goodhead and Curtis Marston who took all their frames with Goodhead knocking in the highest break of the night with a 25. There was another 25 break in this division and that was made by Ben Woodward of Woodville Sports and Social Club ‘B’ when they visited Burton Cons ‘D’. Woodward played Callum Finnegan and he had the break in the first but Finnegan came back and took the frame and the second. On the other table young Luke Hudson also lost two for Cons to be 4-0 at the halfway. Then a frame each from Pat Finnegan and Paul Davies gave them a well needed 6-2 win.