2013-14: Week 14

Owen Jones writes on the Just Wood Premier Division
The second half of the season started with a bang for champions Burton Cons A after they defeated Alrewas A 8-0. John Shilton began proceedings with a comprehensive victory over Ian Hiley which included breaks of 34 and a 55 clearance in the second frame. Mat Milnes potted convincingly on the other table, beating Dave Trueman to put the Cons 4-0 up at the break. Darren Coady and Owen Jones, who knocked in a 34 and a string of 20 plus breaks, then completed the rout beating Colin Kinsella and Carl Poulton respectively.
Nearest rivals Ivanhoe A were held to a draw by Swadlincote Snooker Centre A. Andy Marriott was unfortunate to meet Andy Goldingay in the mood he was in as the Swadlincote man showed no mercy taking both frames, aided by breaks of 40 and 37. Ian Rennocks then continued his impressive season, taking both frames from the visiting side’s captain Chris Dewey helped by breaks of 36 and a lovely 61 to leave the scores all square at the break. Mick Kirk then lost his game with Steve Ayre to put the away side in the driving seat. Ivanhoe captain Ant Moore came to the rescue, defeating John Davis to end the match as a well contested draw.
Willington A defeated Belmont A 5-3 in a closely fought encounter. Jan Pawlazych started the match against young Josh Gebbie. Both players took a frame each with Gebbie knocking in a 25. Daz Lester then potted well in taking a frame from the Belmont talisman Ian Archer. Dean Johnston and Mark Press then continued the pattern of the match, drawing their game with Press grabbing a 25 break. The decisive factor proved to be Gaz Barker yet again for Willington as he beat Fran McInulty with a break of 43. McInulty also knocked in a 25 break but it was to no avail. 
Alrewas B hosted Willington B in what proved to be a fruitful night for the visitors. John Sharpe was first up against Steve Gaunt and his opponent played very well in taking both frames, aided by breaks of 37 and 34. Alan Wilson drew with Tony Clements to leave the score at 3-1 at the break. Phil Marklew was then held to a draw by John Hardy, despite knocking in a 36 break. Will Sherratt then met Andy Jenkins needing to take both frames to force a draw. Unfortunately that did not materialise as Jenkins potted well throughout to take both frames, which included a 41 break to leave the final score as 6-2.
Rileys A and Tutbury A shared the points in a well contested match. Tom Elliot knocked in a 35 but it didn’t stop his opponent Dave Mabbott taking both frames to put the away side in front. Andy Spiers then made a draw with Chris Mabbott and Ade Harper and Dave Powell followed suit. Mark Stirling forced the draw by defeating Steve Hathaway, helped by a 44 break.
Belmont B and Ivanhoe B also shared the spoils on the night. Micky Morris defeated Jerry Cook to put the Belmont side ahead, but back came Ivanhoe with Steve Cockerham taking both against an out of sorts Arron Vaughan. Mark Vaughan was then unlucky to lose the first against Gaz Dolman but was well beaten in the second. This meant that Brett Craddock needed to take his frames against Daz Wilson to force a draw. He did it in some style, knocking in a 35 and playing some great snooker to leave the match all square.
Mark Vaughan writes for David Wain Division 1
The restart of the league campaign brought together two sides fancied for promotion in the shape of Newhall B at home to Ivanhoe C who had lead the division for much of the first half and had recently slipped to fourth place, the match was played in great spirit and witnessed some excellent snooker from all players, Newhall’s Adam McInulty went on first against Jason Pickering and knocked in a good 35 break which helped him take the frame, Jason was not finished and came back to win a scrappy second frame, on the other table Mark Anslow was up against Ashby’s Brendon Mattley, and in two classy frames the Ashby man came out on top to give his side the upper hand. Next up for Newhall was Martin Hicks against John Skellet and this match was another classic with great potting from both players which rightly ended in a draw. The last game proved to be the closest with Carl Glover for Newhall winning the first on a black ball to give his team the chance of a draw, the second frame was also very close and went down to the final black, Ashby’s Stu Tagg getting it to give his side a 5-3 away victory that sends Ivanhoe back to the top of the league.
Burton Cons C hosted Swad Cons A in a mid-table clash with Swad Cons welcoming back Andy Grainger who took on Burtons Steve Castledine in a high scoring game which saw Andy take both frames, on the other table Swad’s Simon Mansfield took on Burtons Mike Buckland both games going to the wire and ending in a draw, Burton captain Ian Shrive played Paul Slater and played some of his best snooker winning both to leave the result hanging on the last match between Swad’s Mark Hadley and Burtons wily campaigner Jim Jennings, both games were close and ended in a draw to leave a drawn match.
Stapenhill A have also lead the division and must fancy themselves for promotion as did this week’s opponents Swad Snooker Centre C. Carl Jeffcote faced Swad’s Brian Bloor and Brian won two frames to give his side an early advantage which was matched by his team mate Simon Orpwood who made two 31 breaks in the two frames he took off Mark Waldron to leave the Swad side 4-0 up, Stapenhill’s John Richardson then went on against Garton Bloor and duly won two frames aided by a good 38 break, on the other table team mate Steve Ford took the first frame leaving the result hanging on the last frame, Andrew Bloor took control of it and knocked in a great 44 break to give his side victory and keep them in with a good chance of promotion.
Two teams who find themselves at the wrong end of the table are Swad Cons B and Stapenhill B with both teams having talent in their ranks, The game got off to a cracking start with Andy Tomlinson making a decent 44 break which proved not to be enough against Rob Hadliegh who came back to take a frame, Swad’s Bob McInulty on the other table took the first frame against Greg Britton who bounced back in the second to keep the scores level. Paul Hollis then went on against Stapenhill’s John Sheriff and it was the Stapenhill man who came away with the points while in the last match between Swad’s Ross Hollis and Stapenhill’s Tim Knopik Hollis unluckily went in off on the black to lose the first and then just lost the second to give the away side a valuable 6-2 victory.
Swad Snooker Centre D played Burton Cons B with both teams in the hunt for promotion in what is the leagues tightest division, Swad’s David Wain was first up against Burtons Simon Smith with Smith coming out on top in both games, Wayne Brewin brought the sides back level by beating Dave Plunkett, Andy Rice then lost two to Burtons Tom Egginton to give the Burton side the edge but Swad’s Ryan Gilmore defeated the talented Jason Anguish with the help of the divisions highest break of the week 46 and earn his team a draw.
Tony Coleman writes for Rileys Division 2
Willington D increased their lead at the top of the Division with a crushing defeat of Rolleston B with a 7-1 away win. Willington were given a very good start thanks to the in-form David Budworth who played extremely well in both the potting and safety department of his game giving Steve Atkin little opportunity to show off his talents in both frames. Neil Cheadle saved Rolleston’s blushes as he won their only frame of the night in a shared match with Simon Malpass. Bill Davidson then clinched victory with an assured performance in winning both frames against John Ward who at times did not appear to have much good running. Trevor “hot shot” Heath was once again in a dominant mood potting some lovely balls as he rolled back the years to win his match fairly comfortably with David Bentley.
Ivanhoe D must have fancied their chances of beating Belmont D after Barry Fieldsend made it a winning return to the snooker league as he took both frames off the most consistent Terry Bosworth with quality snooker being played by both players in a most entertaining two frames. Belmont’s Dougie Lees played out of his skin to take a frame off Ivanhoe’s highly rated Jason Collins in a match where both players missed opportunities to win. Warner Collins fresh from his Veteran Come Dancing Competition in which he and his partner came runners up had to be content with a share of the honours with Brian Cutting where both players made vital contributions to a most entertaining match with a draw being the fairest result. Dave Press was Belmont’s star of the night as he took both frames off Tim Bale in two very nail biting frames to give Belmont a well deserved draw.
Rolleston C kept their promotion challenge on track with a good home win against SDSC F winning 6-2. Ken White for SDSC did very well to take a share of the spoils in two close frames against the talented Joe Docksey in a match where both players failed to make the most of their opportunities when they arose. For Rolleston Lionel Lewis was in cracking form as he easily won both frames with Henry Carlton which included a 23 break. With Rolleston being 3-1 ahead at the turn they carried on the good work in the second half of the match with Richard O’Dell playing some extremely good and postive snooker as he won both frames against Ashley Beard with something to spare in both frames. Kev Norris and Alex Glover shared two highly entertaining frames with both players making fine contributions to the match. This win keeps Rolleston in second place.
Tutbury B did very well to beat Alrewas D 5-3 after being 1-3 down at the turn. Alrewas was given a great start thanks to Tom Smith who played some great snooker with some lovely pots from distance to which John Peto had no answer with Tom taking both frames in some style. Brian Aldridge did his best to back up Tom’s performance as he shared the frames with Colin Bell. After the turn the Tutbury boys got going first with Paul Atterbury using his previous experience gained in the Premier division last season to take both frames off a determined but unsuccessful John Hill with some fine safety play. Jeff Siddalls coped very well with the pressure as he played out two steady frames of snooker in which the talented Brian Eccleston had no answer. This excellent comeback win keeps Tutbury in with a shout of a promotion slot.
In a very close and tense match between SDSC E and Woodville S&S A it was Woodville who came away with a 5-3 hard earned win. The master cue man Jim Marcer got the team off to a fine start as he took both frames fairly easily off Ray Bancroft. In the second frame Jim really turned on the style with some superb potting every time he went to the the table which included a swiftly made 23 break. Ray conceded with one red left and only scoring 8 points 4 of which was by a foul. On the other table we had two contrasting frames between Nick Harcombe and Alan Orpwood. Nick won the first frame fairly comfortably with some fine potting and safety play then in the second frame it was roles reversed with Alan missing very little. This put the Woodville lads 3-1 ahead at the turn. In a very tight first frame between Ray Stretton and Pat Ryan. It was Ray who came and stole the frame from Pat. Pat had a straight pink into the middle bag for the frame but became distracted and left the pink on which a grateful Ray duly accepted and potted the black for the frame. Pat put this mistake behind him and played some good safety play and pots for a share of the spoils. The final two frames between Andy Jeffries and Tony Coleman was a slow and dour affair with Andy winning the first frame on the pink and Tony winning the second also on the pink thus giving Woodville the win. Woodville are the only team in the division to have beaten SDSC E this season.
Burton Cons D had their best win of the season as they beat bottom of the table Swad Cons C 7-1 away although the match score was not a true reflection of the match itself a number of frames was only decided on the last few balls. For Swad Cons it was down to Jon Petcher who took a frame off Nathan Brooks to prevent the dreaded whitewash. Burton’s Ian Protheroe played well in a most entertaining match with Pete Fearn with the outcome in doubt until the last few colours. Barry Bentley with a little bit more running could easily have shared his game with Paul Brookes. Al Munnien finished off a great night for Burton Cons with a highly entertaining win against John Griffin with both players making some fine shots.