2013-14: Week 6

Owen Jones writes about the Just Wood Premier league.

Belmont A moved up to second place with a 5-3 win at Rileys A on Week 6 in the Premier Division of the Burton and District Snooker League. Ian Archer gave the visitors a great start by defeating Ade Harper, aided by a break of 30. Harper also knocked in a 31 but it was to no avail. Mark Stirling then came up against Josh Gebbie. Stirling compiled a 44 break to take the first frame but Gebbie responded with a 32 to take the second. Mark Press continued his good start to the season with the defeat of Tom Elliott to give the Belmont side the 5 needed for victory. Andy Spiers gave the score some respectability by beating Shaun Gebbie.

A tight game at Ashby where Ivanhoe A took the match against a spirited Alrewas A. Andy Marriott played out a draw with Colin Kinsella. Mick Kirk then fluked the final black to pinch a draw with Carl Poulton. Ant Moore also drew with Ian Hiley in another tight game. Daniel Blunn did the damage for the home side beating Dave Trueman to hand the Ivanhoe side the 5-3 victory.

Burton Cons A continued their dominant start to the season with an 8-0 whitewash of Willington B. Owen Jones opened proceedings with a convincing victory over Rich Turner, which included a string of 20+ breaks. John Shilton then defeated Steve Gaunt in two tight frames. Jonathan Fletcher kept up his 100% record beating John Hardy, who had chances to pinch the second frame. Finally, Darren Coady played lovely snooker to beat Tony Clements to give the champions a great victory.

Belmont B got another solid home result defeating Swadlincote Snooker Centre A 6-2. Young Michael Lomas knocked in breaks of 35 and 27 to beat Steve Ayre to put the home side in front. Rich Goldby returned to the side with a victory over Carl White to double the advantage. Arron Vaughan played out a draw with Andy Goldingay and Mick Morris tidied up the match with a draw against John Davis.

Alrewas B hosted Tutbury A and it was the away side who went home with the victory. Steve Hathaway came back from 30 points down in his first frame against John Sharpe. He then knocked in two 20+ breaks to take command in the second and Sharpe never looked like recovering. Dave Mabbott then took the first frame against Alan Wilson but Wilson responded well to knock a 38 in and win the second frame which left the score at 3-1 at the half way stage. Two skilful players then faced off against each other with Phil Marklew playing Chris Mabbott. True to form they cancelled each other out to take a frame each. Dave Powell then pinched the frame needed for victory against Will Sherratt.

Swadlincote Snooker Centre B hosted Ivanhoe B in the final match of the night. Harry Farrell showed what a good player he can be by beating Gaz Dolman to give the home side the perfect start. Henry Thomas drew with Steve Cockeram and Adam Harrison and Jerry cook followed suit. Pete Maguire closed out the match by drawing with Daz Wilson to give the home side the points.

Mark Vaughan writes for David Wain Insurance Division 1

Stable mates Burton Cons C played the B team and straight away the C team took an early lead through the classy play of Jim Jennings who took the first frame off the B team captain Dave Plunkett,  no mean feat in itself, and lead in the second only to see it snatched away by some excellent play by Dave, on the other table practice partners Mick Buckland played Tom Egginton and the c team emerged victorious with Mick beating Tom comfortably in the first and then snatching the second to give the C team a half time 3-1 lead. Steve Castledine was twenty points in front and faced the dilemma of taking the shot after a foul or asking his opponent to play again, his choice proved costly as Simon Smith accepted and duly cleared the table and then went on to take the second for the B team to leave the match drawn going into the last game between the C team captain Ian Shreeve and the B teams Dave Shipton, Dave took the first leaving Ian needing to win the final frame which he duly did to earn the C team a well deserved draw.

Stapenhill A hosted league leaders Ivanhoe C and immediately went behind, John Sherriff losing two frames to Ivanhoe captain John Skellett, Chris Sheldrake on the other table got the first frame for the home team from Brendan Mattley but couldn’t take the second and the game ended with a deserved draw giving the Ashby team a 3-1 half time lead. Stapenhills Steve Ford pulled another frame back beating Jason Pickering with the help of a 30 break but couldn’t stop Jason winning the second to put Ivanhoe on the brink of an excellent away win, sadly for The Ashby side Stapenhills John Richardson had other ideas and in two closely fought frames came out on top against Mark Pickering for an excellent draw.

Newhall B had a good win at home against Rolleston A, Adam McInulty making a 50 break in the two frames he won against Adam Farrington which could have been more had the difficult pink he took on dropped instead of rattling in the jaws of the pocket and staying up. Newhall’s Mark Anslow lost his first frame to Ryan Gibbs but came back strongly to take the second, Martin Hicks is proving his worth beating Gary Mayne which included a 38 break playing some excellent snooker which was needed as Gary also played very well.

I am surprised to see Alrewas C propping up the table with such a talented squad, but they came up against a team who are vying for promotion in the shape of Swad Cons A, the home team sent out Karl Hancox who can certainly play, which he showed by making breaks of 29 and 34 in the two frames he lost to Mark Hadley who proved he could handle the pressure by coming back from forty points behind to take the first frame and playing solidly to take the second, the home team fared better in the other match Rob Mcmeechan winning his first against Paul Slater in two tight frames that ended in a draw. Ian Bradford for the home side went on against Simon Mansfield and Ian is certainly finding his form, winning both to leave the match all square going in to the final match. Colin Wood for Alrewas came up against a man in fine form, Andy Grainger who is putting some good results together this season and sadly for Colin continued by taking both frames with breaks of 31 and 27 to give the Swad side a great 5-3 away win.

Swad Snooker D who have an excellent squad took Stapenhill B apart 7-1 with Bryan Sherratt the only Stapenhill player to take a frame.

Tony Coleman Reports on Rileys Division 2

Tutbury B drew with current leaders Willington D in a tight match played with good spirit.  Colin Bell of Tutbury maintained his 100% record with a fine win against Simon Malpass which included a well constructed 32 break.  Paul Atterbury then drew against the in-form Trevor Heath with both players getting some good pots.  This put Tutbury 3-1 ahead at the turn.  The experienced Bill Davidson won his two frames with Graham Smith by playing some very good safety play thus putting the match scores level at 3-3.  Jeff Siddalls with the help of a 20 break in the first frame put Tutbury ahead but Brian Alford came storming back to take the second frame which include a 32 break for the team draw.

Alrewas D had a fine away win beating Swad Cons C 6-2.  Dave Riley got them off to a good start with a stylish display to beat John Griffin.  Dan Petcher got them back on level terms in an entertaining match in which he managed to take both frames off Brian Aldridge but that was the best it got for the Cons. Brian Eccleston and Pete Fearn had two close frames but in both Brian just had the edge.  Tony Trueman who is playing some fine snooker this season capped a good night for the A38 boys by taking both frames off Jon Petcher.

In a rather tight match between Rolleston B and Belmont C with the draw being a fair result as there was a number of black ball games for both sides.  First match on was between Rolleston’s Steve Atkin who has been in good form of late and Belmont’s stalwart Dougie Lees.  The first frame went to Dougie on the black and the second to Steve also on the black after a bout of safety play.  Neil Cheadle put the home side ahead as he won both frames against Dave Press.  The first frame Neil won it on the blue with one or two good pots but in the second it was nip and tuck all the way to a re-spotted black which Neil won with an outrageous fluke much to Dave’s disappointment.  Brian Cutting for Belmont won his first frame in a canter with John Ward but fair play to John he came back well in the second frame to win it on the black.  Terry Bosworth Belmont’s captain marvel got the draw for his side by taking both frames fairly comfortably against David Bentley.

Ivanhoe D drew with Woodville S&S A in a very close match with the final result in doubt until the final pink was potted.  Jack Bale and Alan Orpwood had two close frames with Jack winning both on the pink.  The only difference between the players was Jack had the more fortunate running.  The long awaited match between two old campaigners Warner Collins and Jim Marcer never materialised because Warner had a previous appointment he was tap dancing according to his son Jason!  It was then left to Alan Richardson to take on Jim but on the night his game was too strong as Jim took both frames fairly comfortably.  Tim Bale shared the frames with Pat Ryan in a rather tight match.  In the first frame Tim potted a very difficult black into the right hand top pocket.  In the second frame Pat came back well after being behind to win it on the pink after potting a cracking blue.  Jason Collins and Tony Coleman also shared their frames.  Jason came back well after being 17 points behind with only 18 on to steal the frame.  In the second frame Tony was always behind until the high colours when going for a frame levelling pink into the yellow bag fluked it into the left hand top bag leaving Jason disappointed.

Rolleston C were the only team in the top six to win as they beat Burton Cons D 6-2.  What a fine acquistion Lionel Lewis has been for the Rolleston boys this season and he showed it again as he beat Nathan Brooks playing some fine snooker which included breaks of 28 in both frames.  Joe Docksey played well in drawing with Paul Brooks putting the home side 3-1 up at the turn.  Another player in fine form this season is the captain Kev Norris who despite winning both frames against Al Munnien found it difficult to get over the line.  Richard O’Dell won his first frame rather easily against Paul Davies but in the second frame the roles were reversed.  This was a very good win for Rolleston as the Cons boys have been doing well of late.

In another draw this time between second in the table SDSC E and Swad Cons D.  Nick Harcombe who has been playing some inspirational snooker so far this season was at it again as he took both frames with a fair degree of ease against Kieron Dadley. Ray Stretton shared the frames with Dave Bodie with Dave potting some vital balls at the right time.  Ray’s frame put them 3-1 up at the turn but it was a lead they could not hold onto.  Andy Jefferies and Scott Gee had two quick fire frames ended with honours shared.  It was left to the Cons Bob Birch to secure the draw with a workman like performance to take both frames from Ray Bancroft.  This was the first time this season that Ray has lost both frames.