2014-15: Week 14

Owen Jones writes for the Just Wood Premier Division
The return to league action after the Christmas break started with a bang for champions Burton Cons A as they won 7-1 against Willington A. Matt Milnes was first up against Gaz Barker. Milnes played very well and made a break of 31 in the process of taking both frames. There was a clash of the captains on the other table as Mick Simpkins played Bill Stewart. The Cons captain came out on top as he potted well to take the frames. John Shilton knocked in a 42 break against Wayne Pereira to take a frame but his opponent responded well to level it up. Finally, Owen Jones played Jan Pawlazych. Jones knocked in a 40 break to take the first but his opponent had chances to take it. The second was a similar story with Jones doing just enough to clinch the frame and end the match.
Rileys A picked up a great 8-0 victory away at Alrewas A, who are badly missing Phil Marklew. Nigel Tomlinson, Ade Harper, Mark Stirling and Andy Spiers did the damage as they won all the frames against Alan Wilson, John Sharpe, Will Sherratt and Gary Green.
Ivanhoe B picked up a great 5-3 victory over Tutbury A. Jason Pickering and Stuart Tagg both lost their first frames against Chris and Dave Mabbott respectively. It wasn’t looking good in the second frames either as both Ivanhoe players were struggling to make an impact. They somehow managed to turn the tables and force two draws from an almost certain 4-0 down situation. Bren Mattley also shared the frames with Dave Allen. Ivan Birkin did the damage as he won both against Dave Powell to clinch the victory.
Stapenhill A hosted Alrewas B hoping to start the new year on a positive note. It was Alrewas B who just edged it on the night. Ian Hiley led the Legionnaires off to a good start by taking both frames off Chris Shreldrake relatively comfortably. On the other table Carl Poulton was fortunate to secure one frame against Andy Gretton after Gretton went in off both final pink and black to gift him the frame. Colin Kinsella made short work of Mark Waldron with 36 and 43 breaks in an impressive display. The final game saw Steve Ford take both against Dave Trueman although Ford was fortunate to take the second after Trueman let him off the hook on the final black.
Belmont B also lost a tight match on the night 5-3 against Swadlincote Snooker Centre A. Arron Vaughan shared the frames with Chris Dewey. Michael Lomas did the same against Steve Ayre. Miffa Smith knocked in a 32 in his draw with John Davis. It was Andy Goldingay who proved to be the difference as he defeated Zaheer Hussain to clinch the victory for the visitors.
Tony Coleman Reporting on the David Wain Insurance Division 1
Burton Cons B will have felt a little disappointed travelling back down the A38 after letting slip a 4-0 lead only to draw with Willington B at the Willington Arena.  Despite only drawing the Cons lead at the top of the division was increased as teams around them slipped up.  The Cons were given the perfect start with Simon Smith playing some great attacking snooker in beating Trevor Heath who was not given many chances to shine against Simon.  Dave Plunkett then increased the lead with a great display of potting and safety as he took both frames against John Hardy.  Dave knocked in a quality 34 break.  That was as good as it got for the Cons as the Power Boys made a great comeback.  Steve Gaunt who is just starting to find a little bit of form won both frames against Dave Shipton who despite playing well at times was no match for Steve.  Steve knocked in a nice 32 break to take one of his frames.  The pressure was on Tony Clements in the final match of the evening against Jason Anguish but Tony did not disappoint his team mates as he put on great display of potting in a most entertaining match with Jason making some valuable contributions to it.  This was most definitely a game of two halves.
Third placed Newhall A started the New Year off well as they beat bottom of the table Willington D 6-2.  Martin Hicks was on first for Newhall against Steve Williams. Martin was quickly into the game and potting fluently in the first frame and not giving Steve any chances to shine.  In the second frame his potting got even better taking the frame relatively easily.  Callum Gray had to grind out his first frame against Adi Millington but in the second frame he was more confident and won the second on the brown.  The match between Sam Hicks and Bill Davidson ended with honours even with both players showing they can play a bit.  Sam won the first frame in some style knocking in some great long pots but in the second frame we saw Bill’s great tactical play come to the fore as he won the game on the brown.  Carl Glover and Dave Budworth put on a great display of snooker in both frames.  Dave potted well and made a winning 20 break to win the first frame.  Steady Eddie Glover came back well in the second frame to win it on the black.
Swad Cons A got their second half of the season off to a fine start as they beat Willington C on their home turf at the Willington Arena winning 5-3.  The first match on was probably the best match of the night between two quality potters Willington’s Loz Kennerson and the Con’s Andy Grainger.  This was a cracking match with neither player deserving to lose.  Both players were straight into the potting zone with Andy knocking in a nice 32 break to win his frame although Loz did not make any significant breaks although he did enough to win a frame.  Lee Cooke and Simon Mansfield shared the frames in a mish mash of a game with both players making some good pots then missing some easy pots.  The man of the match from the Cons point of view was Mark Hadley who took both frames off Steve Butterworth with a number of fine pots by both players but with Mark having the edge in the safety encounters.  Paul Slater the Con’s skipper shared the frames with Steve Lane thus giving the Con’s the win.
Rolleston A continued their revival in beating Woodville S&S A 6-2 and they leapfrogged them in the table.  Rolleston got off to a great start as Richard O’Dell took both frames off Jim Marcer although he was rather lucky to win the first as he fluked the black.  In the second frame he won it more easily which was down to very good safety play.  In the other room Bobby Cliff took on Pat Ryan with neither player being able to get their game together.  Both frames could have gone either as they were settled on the pink in Rolleston’s favour.  Anthony Rushton took on fellow work colleague Alan Orpwood and it was Anthony who ended up the winner as he played superb snooker in both frames with plenty of excellent pots with no high breaks but plenty of small ones.  Tony Coleman got Woodville on the scoreboard as he won both of his frames fairly comfortably on the night.  It was a poor night for Joe however the best man won on the night. Tony knocked in a nice 27 break in his first visit to the table in the first frame.
Alrewas C had a good win at home against SDSC D winning 5-3.  Colin Wood shared a couple of poor frames with David Wain with both of then still full of the Christmas spirit.  On the other table things were not much better in the match between Declan McGurk and Brian Bloor with the frames again being shared in a rather dour match. Thankfully things improved in the second half thanks to a cracking match between John Richardson and Andrew Bloor.  Andrew took the first frame with some fine potting with John taking the second frame thanks to a fine 32 break.  Karl Hancox was in superb form as he had very little problem in winning the two frames against Garton Bloor which included a smart 31 break in the second frame which also gave the home side the win.
Ivanhoe C’s good form continues as they beat high flying Burton Con’s C 5-3.  Ivanhoe were given the perfect start thanks first to Gaz Dolman who beat Steve Castledine in two good frames in which Gaz was the more dominate potter which included a 28 break in the first frame.  Steve Cockeram then took on the Con’s wily old fox in the shape of Jim Jennings who despite playing some very good safety shots was no match to Steve in the potting department.  Despite not making any high breaks Steve made a number of small telling breaks with Steve beating Jim in both frames which put Ivanhoe 4-0 ahead at the turn.  Although being in a comfortable position after the first half the Cons made them fight all the way for the win.  Ian Shrive the Cons captain led the fight back with a solid performance in taking both frames off Jerry Cook.  The match of the night was between Graham Measures and Mike Buckland the master break builder.  Mike took the first frame with a well constructed 36 break just to put a little bit of pressure on Graham for the final frame but Graham put in a assured display knocking in a match winning 28 break.
Mark Vaughan writes for the Forever Mobility Division two
League leaders Stapenhill B started the New Year with a tricky fixture away at Belmont D,  Tom Holland potted well for Belmont but it was John Sheriff who  managed to take both, while Belmont’s Micky Morris played some excellent snooker to take the first easily, and built up a 34 lead in the second, but while attempting a difficult black he missed and disturbed the last red giving Brian Sharratt a unlikely slight chance, which he grabbed with both hands making a brilliant 35 clearance to take the frame by a single point to give his team a 3-1 half time lead.  Brett Craddock tried to get the home team back in the match and played well but just could not get clear of the great potting Stan Piechowicz and two close games ended in a draw as did the frames between Mark Vaughan and Andy Tomlinson to give Stapenhill the five – three victory.
Burton Cons D hosted the rejuvenated Ashby Ivanhoe D side and the ever improving Nathan Brooks took two hard fought frames off Roy Hickman, Burton’s Al Munnien went down to Ashby’s Keith Bale as did Paul Brooks to the reliable Tony Tredger leaving the home teams Ian Protheroe to save the match, he started well taking the first off Ashby’s Tim Bale but it was the Ashby man who took the final frame to give his side the victory which sees them climb higher up the table.  The first Derby of the year was played at Rolleston with the clubs B and C teams locking horns, it turned out to be a poor night for the B team with Steve Atkin and Neal Cheadle the only players to take a frame for the B team as the C team romped home 6-2 winners thanks to the four frames Lionel Lewis and Rob Tubey won.
Swad Cons B seem to be performing better again with improving results and this week knocked Belmont C out of the promotion places, Swad Cons started well with Jake Mole beating Glen Mathews while on the other table Belmont’s Brian Cutting struck back beating  Bob McInulty, this brought Belmont’s most consistent player, Terry Bosworth to the table against cons captain Paul Hollis, Paul took both frames leaving Vince Draper to face Dougie Lees, Dougie took the first, but it was Vince who took the last frame to give Cons the 5-3 victory.  Swad Cons C had a great result at home to a capable Alrewas D team, Dan and John Petcher did the damage for Swad Cons winning all four frames and Pete Fearn getting the winner. 
Tutbury B had a great result at home to Riley’s B winning 8-0.
At the end of a great week for Swad Cons teams, the D team visited Woodville S&S B, Dave Bodie potted well for the cons and was unlucky to only walk away with a draw, Gaz Ward was back to his best potting balls from everywhere but couldn’t seem to find any more than a 28 break, Bob Birch was also playing well potting balls for fun and took 2 frames easily which included a 25 break.  Andy Boam battled hard to beat Woodville’s Bill Hunt in the first but it was Bill who took the second with excellent long potting to leave the result as a 6-2 Swad Cons win.