2011-12: Week 20

In the Just Wood Premier Division, last year’s champions, Burton Cons, are making it difficult for anybody to take their crown, just ask Tutbury B, who lost 6-2 having put up a great fight. Owen Jones, again in good form, with breaks of 33 in the first frame, and 48 in the second, gave Dave Mabbott very little opportunity to get his cue arm in action, but for the Tutters, Steve Mabbott made a superb 58 break in drawing his match with Stuart Roberts, who had been in good form recently. Chris Mabbott played very well to take a frame off one of the Cons top players, John Shilton. Jonathan Fletcher was also in the big break frame of mind with a 59 break in the first frame, and a 42 break in the second frame against Dave Powell, who spent quite a bit of time sitting and watching in admiration.

In the inter club derby between Ivanhoe A and B teams it was, as you would have expected, a win for the A team, 7-1. Andy Marriott, who is in a rich vein of form at the moment, beat Brendon Mattley fairly easily, with breaks of 33 and 31 in their respective frames. Ian Rennocks took both frames off John Skellett, but not without a fight. Ian won the first frame, after requiring two snookers on the colours, but in the second, wasted very little time in knocking in a well constructed 40 break. Mick Kirk cleared up well to take the first frame. In the second frame, there was a loud thud, and Jason Pickering had broken off, smashing the reds all over the table. Mick Kirk was so surprised that he missed a cut back on a black, and let Jason in with a 35 break, earning the B team a frame to prevent a whitewash. By all accounts, the B team have a rising star within their team, in the shape of Mark Muir, who gave Antony Moore two good frames of snooker, before losing them both.

In the relegation area battle between Tutbury A and Rileys A which ended in a draw, Rileys went 3-1 up thanks to Zaheer taking both frames off a complete out of sorts Craig Keen, while Tutbury’s Paul Atterbury took a good first frame off Michael Lomas, who came back to win well. It was left to the experience of skipper, Alan Davies, to grind out a draw against Martin Riddell. It was a long overdue win for Daz Lester against Michael Dewsbury, to earn Tutbury a draw.

Willington A had a full head of steam against Stapenhill A, who they beat 7-1 with a lot to spare. For Stapenhill, Andy Tomlinson got them off to a good start by taking the first frame off Bill Stewart, but after that it was all downhill. Bill won the second frame, then Jan Pawolych did a bit of a job over Carlos Jeffcoate with breaks of 28 and 25 in the respective frames to win. Dave Halmon was in good form taking both frames off Tim Knopik. Gary Barker was again in outstanding form, this time against Steve Ford, who put up a gallant fight, but on the night, Gary, with a 45 break, was too strong. Although Steve knocked in a 27 break, it was all to no avail.

Newhall A kept up the pressure on Burton Cons with a convincing win against SDSC A 7-1. Martin Hicks played some lovely snooker, and in doing so, he beat Chris Dewey. Adam McInulty wasted little time in beating Mark Pauly. Newhall’s Mr Consistent, Wayne Brewin, was playing superb snooker against Steve Ayre, which included a well constructed 43 break, as he took both frames off Steve Ayre. John Davis, for SDSC did very well to take a frame off Mark Satchwell to prevent the whitewash.

A good win for Belmont A against a depleted SDSC B 6-2 away. Graham Bailey was in impressive form, making light work of beating Andy Butler, and also making a 31 break. Sturmy Archer was his reliable self, by again winning both frames against Brian Bloor, and reliable stand-in, Steve ‘the speed’ Burton came back well to win the first frame, and should have won the second, but he missed a simple blue, which allowed Carl White to pot the last three colours for the frame. Shaun Gebbie won the first frame against Garton Bloor. Garton potted the last three colours for a re-spotted black, and won it with a superb black.

In the David Wain Insurance Division, a hard earned draw by Rileys B against the league leaders Rileys D. Ade Harper played very well to draw with Rileys best player, Mike Flanagan. Adam Bridges also drew with new player, Rich Foster. Rileys D Mark Stirling, got them on course for a win by beating Mark King, which does not happen too often. Mark Stirling knocked in a break of 49 also. It was left to Andy Speirs, the B team skipper, to take both frames off Micky Tonks, with some very good snooker to deny the D team victory.

As Private Fraser regularly said to Captain Mainwaring “we’re doomed”, and it looks like that for Drakelow as they lost 7-1 to Burton Cons D. The Cons got off to an excellent start 4-0 at the turn, thanks to Steve Castledine taking both frames off Mark Baxter. Steve won the first frame with a bit to spare, and in the second frame, Mark put up a good fight, and with a little bit of good running, could have won the frame but unfortunately, he lost on the pink. Jim Jennings and Pat Ryan had two slow frames, with Jim taking the first frame, with Pat requiring snookers on yellow. On the second frame, Jim did not have it all his own way, as Pat needing pink and black to win, failed on an attempted pot to leave the pink asking to be potted, and it was. Two extremely tight frames between Mick Buckland and Alan Orpwood where both frames were decided on the pink and black respectively. Tony Coleman took the only frame for Drakelow against Ian Shrive. In the first frame, Ian required pink and black, and potted them. In the second frame, Ian required snookers on the blue.

Belmont C are gradually moving up the table, with an excellent 3-5 result away to Stapenhill B. Stapenhill got off to a pretty good start, with Greg Britton winning two close frames against Dickie Davies. John Richardson then drew with Lee Turner, despite making 30 breaks in both frames. Stan Piechowicz of Stapenhill, lost to Paul Eaton fairly easily, as Paul made a 32 break in the first frame, and a 28 break in the second. Belmont’s Mark Sherratt beat Barry Sherratt to give Belmont a victory.

In the match between second placed Ivanhoe C and Rolleston A, who are in fourth place, unsurprisingly, ended in a draw. Ivanhoe started well with Gaz Dolman making a very well constructed break of 46, and taking both frames off Bob Sanders. Darren Wilson then chipped in with a frame against Kieran Waddell, who was playing his first ever league game tonight, did very well to win a frame with a 20 clearance. Graham Measures and Bob Tubey then drew. It was left to Rolleston captain, Tony Rushton to salvage a draw with some very good potting to win both frames.

A good win away from home for SDSC C against Woodville A 6-2. Adam Harrison started well for SDSC by winning both frames in a very entertaining match. Ben Davies also did well, making a 49 break against Andrew Grainger, but the talented Grainger came back well to take a frame. SDSC players Lee Wright and Henry Tomas did the damage to Woodville by winning all of their frames against Paul Slater and Lee Wood respectively.

SDSC D had a good win against Burton Cons C 7-1. For SDSC, Lee Sherratt knocked in breaks of 30 and 28 against the unlucky Neil Brookes. For the Cons, Ian Protheroe played some good snooker to take a frame off Andy Rice.

A little bit of a surprise result with Rileys C defeat at home to Burton Cons B 3-5. The Cons started off well with Simon Smith coming out of snooker retirement to beat Greg Mayne. With Simon making a great return to the game, it appeared that he was taking a colour every time he potted a red. In the second frame, he made breaks of 34 and 22 to win it fairly easily. Tom Egginton and Adam Farrington drew. In the first frame, Tom potted better than Adam, and lost mainly because he gave away 43 points in fouls for example, five times on the black and twice on the reds. Tom made up for it in the second frame, with some good pots. Ryan Gibbs and Dave Plunkett also drew, with Ryan potting well, he won the first frame, and in the second frame, Dave Plunkett felt a little bit lucky to win it after trailing Ryan, managed to clear up all the colours for a Cons victory. Dave Shipton lost the first frame to Paul Fox, but Dave Shipton made a great start in the second frame, establishing a 30 point lead, and never lost it.

In the Rileys Division Two, Alrewas D maintained their position at the top of the division by beating SDSC E 7-1 at home. The Raptors were in the pink after this win, with Colin Kinsella in very good form, beating Phil Maddocks, with Phil making a 24 break, but Colin did even better with a superb 53 break, which had the home team in Raptors! Ian Hiley, again in good form, to beat Ray Bancroft with Ian knocking in a 24 break. Dave ‘Fiery’ Trueman was also in good form on the table, and also his poetry on the result card, made a solid 32 break to beat Tony Mitchell. Ray Stretton for SDSC, took a frame off Carl Poulton to prevent a whitewash. Carl made a 21 break in the frame he won. The Raptors commented by saying that SDSC were a good set of sports.

In the middle of the table clash, Tutbury C drew with Alrewas C. Alrewas were given a good start by Robert McMeecham, by winning two black balls games against the unlucky Mark Storr. John Peto and Karl Hancox had two good frames of snooker, ending in a draw. Karl made a break of 29 in the first frame, and a 20 in the second. Graham Fisher was in fine form, taking both frames off Gary Bower in some style. The two frames between Graham Smith and Colin Wood ended all square although, Graham made a 22 break match result a draw.

Belmont D beat Woodville C 7-1. The score line flattered Belmont a little as there was a couple of close games. Terry Bosworth took both frames off Alan Shuttleworth in two scrappy frames. John Gebbie was in excellent form, taking both frames off the experienced Terry Eyley. Brian Cutting had two close frames against Jim Gardner, which could have gone either way, but went in the favour of Brian. Well done to Ben Woodward for taking a frame off Dave Press.

A good win for Swad Cons C against Alrewas B 5-3, keeps them in a useful position for promotion. The Cons did not get off to the best of starts, with Matt Newbold losing to John Hill, who was in good form. Richard Brown got the Cons level by beating Brian Eccleston in some style. Craig Wilson and Tony Trueman drew in a rather dour battle. As has happened a lot this season, Bob Birch came to the Cons rescue by taking both frames off wily Brian Aldridge, for a victory to Swad Cons.

Another good win for Newhall B away to Rolleston B 5-3, just about keeps them in the promotion hunt. Rolleston got off to a good start with Lee Cooke in good potting form to beat Callum Gray. Steve Atkins and Jonny Laud had a good tussle with honours even, with Jonny having a 24 break. After the turn round, it was all change, when Newhall got their act together with Joe McInulty beating Aaron Doyle. It was left to Carl Glover to beat Jim James for a Newhall victory. Carl made a break of 20 which, no doubt, helped his cause.

Alrewas A and Willington C fought out a tight match, which ended in a draw, which is to Willington’s benefit more than Alrewas’. All the players in the match won a frame, but for the second match running, Phil Marklew dropped a frame, this time to Steve Lane, whose confidence is increasing with every game.

A good win for Woodville B against Swad Cons D 6-2. This win keeps them well in the promotion hunt. Bill Davidson, for the second week running, won both of his frames against big Dave Bodie. Trevor ‘the hit-man’ Heath was not firing on all cylinders, and dropped a frame to Marc Egan. David Budworth and Nig Duggins had two extremely close frames, with both of them having a share of the spoils. Brian Alford was in excellent potting form, and comfortably winning both frames off Scott Gee.