2015-16: Week 21

Owen Jones writes for the David Wain Insurance Premier Division

Honours were even as Belmont B hosted Ivanhoe B. Graham Bailey knocked in a 32 on the way to winning both frames against Brendon Mattley. Jason Pickering responded for the visitors by taking both frames against Andrew Thompson. Stuart Tagg then gave the Ashby side the lead as he defeated Arron Vaughan. Martin Smith was the savior for the hosts as he rescued a draw by defeating John Skellett.

Burton Cons A welcomed Chimneys A and it was the reigning champions who ran out 6-2 winners. Mick Simpkins looked to be in control of the first frame, as he was 20 in front with just the brown, blue, pink and black remaining. Davies was presented a chance to clear the final colours, which he duly did to pinch an unlikely frame. Simpkins responded in the best possible way in the second frame as he knocked in a lovely 68 to level things up. Dean Johnston also won the first frame against John Shilton, who was mis-firing. He gained his composure in the second frame to earn a draw. Graham Stevens and Daz Lester played out a long, tactical battle, which Stevens eventually won, but Lester had chances in the second frame. Finally, Owen Jones played Bill Stewart. The first frame was close with Jones just doing enough to take it. The second frame was more clear cut as Jones potted well to complete the scoring on the night.

Chimneys B, now playing from Spot On, played Tutbury A. Steve Lane played well to take both frames against Dave Powell and Loz Kennerson followed that up by defeating Simon Walker to put the hosts in control. Steve Butterworth then knocked in a lovely 38 break to earn a draw against Chris Mabbott. Tim Hodgkinson closed out the match as he shared the frames with Dave Mabbott.

Ivanhoe A beat an understrength Spot On A as they could only field three players. Daniel Blunn played solidly to beat Nigel Tomlinson. Ian Rennocks drew the blank, which meant the hosts were 4-0 up at the break. Steve Butler drew with Mark Stirling, as did Ant Moore on the other table against Ade Harper, making a 32 break in the second frame.

Burton Cons B picked up a great 5-3 victory away at Swadlincote Snooker Centre A. Ryan Gibbs defeated John Davis, which proved to be the deciding factor as all other matches were drawn. Chris Dewey made a 34 in drawing with Simon Smith. Steve Ayre made a 30 against Mike Buckland and Mark Satchwell knocked in a 38 against Dave Plunkett but the breaks were not enough to get the win on the night.

Stapenhill A drew with Alrewas A. Colin Kinsella kept up his good form by beating Andy Tomlinson. Andy Gretton responded by beating Carl Poulton. Steve Ford made a draw against Ian Hiley and finally, Carl Jeffcoate and Dave Trueman could not be separated as the game ended all square.

Swad Cons A played Belmont A and dented the visitor’s hopes of finishing in the top two. Simon Orpwood potted well to claim the scalp of Ian Archer. Andy Grainger knocked in a 30 break in taking both against Josh Gebbie. Mark Hadley made a welcome return to the side and duly won both frames against Shaun Gebbie. The white wash was halted by Wayne Brewin, who knocked in a 59 in one of the frames he won against Paul Slater. This left the final score at 6-2 to the jubilant hosts.

Mike Buckland writes for Division 1
Top side Chimneys C faced a tough trip to Swad Snooker Centre to play their C team. They had little to fear though as they romped home with a 6-2 victory.John Hardy and Ben Davies shared their frames before Trevor Heath ended his winless streak of 3 by beating the home captain Pete Maguire in a scrappy match. Steve Gaunt then easily beat Simon Shilton who had been playing well at his warm weather training camp at Burton Cons. In the final game Henry Tomas had little run as he was beaten by Tony Clements in the first before fighting hard to gain some respectability by winning the second. This extends the Chimneys run to 8 matches undefeated and they are looking good for the title,with 5 games left. SDSC C though are now 9 points from a promotion spot and will have to start winning again soon to stand any chance of going up.
Alrewas C remain in second but slipped a point behind in the title race by only scoring a 5-3 win over SDSC B.John Richardson and Karl Hancox won again for The Legionnaires-John knocking in runs of 27 and 25 in his victory over Mike Staley who himself had the highest break of the whole match with an impressive 31.Karl knocked in a nice 30 on his way to scoring both against Ray Bancroft. He has lost only once in the league all season, has had eight 30 plus breaks and is deservedly top of the division’s averages. Alrewas are 5 points behind the leaders and looking good for promotion this year. SDSC B are just one point from safety.
Rolleston A have slipped to 3rd after being beaten by Tutbury B who have been saving their best form till the end of the season. Colin Bell beat Luke Speed whilst Dave Brady and Rich O’Dell shared in the first half. Rolleston captain Joe Docksey then beat Paul Atterbury before Jeff Siddalls beat Bobby Cliff 2-0 to ensure the win for The Tutters. Having started the season without winning any of their first 17 fixtures this was Tutbury’s 4th win on the bounce and has pulled them out of the relegation zone. Rolleston will hope the return of Tony Rushton will help cement their promotion push.
Ivanhoe C , in fourth, were beaten 6-2 by the side making a late push for promotion ,Belmont D. Micky Morris as usual was in brilliant form as he knocked in a stylish 32 in his win over Gaz Dolman who had only been beaten once this season previously himself. Mark Vaughan  also won 2-one by virtue of a fluke against Jerry Cook who looked visibly shaken by this which meant he has lost all 4 frames against Mark this term .Brett Craddock was in front in the first against Darren Wilson but had to watch as Darren produced a nice clearance to win on the black. The second was also tight and this time Brett knocked in some crackers when down to the colours for a deserved draw. Man of the match though was Tom Holland as he combined some lovely pots with some cracking safety to win the first against the reliable Graham Measures.on the blue. He was also well in the second until Graham won it on the pink. Belmont have only lost one of their last 9 and may yet get themselves into a promotion position.
Newhall A had a fine 6-2 win over Belmont C.Martin Hicks played well to beat Mark Press in the opener before having to rely on a fair amount of run to help him win the second as well. Carl Glover beat Dave Press on the green in their first aided by a nice 23. Dave played well to win the second for a fair draw.Sam Hicks then produced runs of 37 and 27 to beat Terry Bosworth fairly easily. Brian Cutting then showed Martin Hurdman the way in the first before Martin came back to win the second with something to spare. .Newhall are probably too far behind to make a run for The Premier whilst Belmont are now 9 points from safety at the bottom.
Two mid table sides in Rolleston B and Burton Cons C fought out a fair draw at four each. Lionel Lewis comfortably beat Tom Egginton in the first before Bob Sanders grabbed a draw for Rolleston on the other table. Lee Louch transferred his practice form to the match table by including runs of 26 and 30 in his victory for Cons over Kev Norris. Finally John Harvey and Ian Shrive were not to be separated as the match ended in a draw which should guarantee Division One snooker for both sides next season.
The game between Alrewas B and Stapenhill B was drawn four across with all 4 matches ending all square.
Tony Coleman your on the spot reporter reporting on the weekly adventures in Division 2
The Baulkline A continued their run of high scoring victory’s as they beat the inconsistent Rolleston D 7-1 on their own tables.  First on was Dave Bentley who was playing Wayne Smith who has still got his left arm in a support bandage but that didn’t seem to stop him too much as he beat Dave fairly easily in both frames.  In the first frame Wayne was a little slow out of the blocks but won it fairly easily thanks to him getting a fair amount of snookers and Dave not being successful to get out of them.  Wayne split the pack open in the second frame and making a 21 break to help him get to 80 points before Dave conceded on the colours.  Neil Cheadle did well to draw with Mick Taylor.  Mick took the first frame on the pink with both players showing some good form.  Neil continued this into the second frame where he beat Mick pretty easily which included a well constructed 25 break.  Steve Atkin who is not having the best of luck with the draws came up against another in-form player for the Baulkilne who is Tom Lucas.  Tom took the first frame comfortably and in the second frame made a 27 clearance.  Just to put the icing on the cake Jon Sully won both frames against John Ward.  Jon took the first frame with the help a 25 clearance but had plenty of kind running in the second frame to help him win it.
Spot On C got back to winning ways with a fine win away to the their old stable mates the Snookerettes aka Spot On B winning 6-2.  Spot On C seemed to have changed their team around from their previous match with a number of new faces.  One of them Quinton McPherson seemed to enjoy the evening as he took two close frames in a bit of a battle with Gilda Horvath who was not allowed to play at her normal standard.  Marie Bridges got the Snookerettes first frame on the scoreboard with a solid performance as she shared the draw with Adam Edwards who knocked in a number of good pots.  Kate Stirling who is gradually getting back into some fine form drew with Chris Brown in two entertaining frames of snooker and it would have been a pity if neither player had come away with nothing.  Billy Newman got the C team the win as he took both frames against Yvonne Spendlove with two very close frames with the match result in doubt until the last few colours in both frames.  Hopefully this result for the C team will have steadied the rocky ship.
Second placed Swad Cons C showed that they are determined to hold on to that position as they did a whitewash against their fellow stable mates Swad Cons D which is no mean feat against that team.  Paul Hollis got the B team off to a good start with a solid display of potting in beating Andy Boam who was not allowed to get into either frame by Paul.  On the other table a similar pattern was beginning to develop in the match between Marc Egan and Vince Draper with Marc struggling to get to grips with the quality of Vince’s safety play when their was nothing on.  Marc was able to get into the game but not enough to trouble Vince.  Cons B were 4-0 ahead at the turn and the status quo remained with first Bob McNulty playing with great confidence as he stroked the ball around in both frames as he beat Harold Prince who was making his first appearance for the D team.  Gerald White then took on and beat Jona Edwards in probably the two tightest frames of the evening with both players knocking in some nice pots.  This win for the B team will have certainly increased the points difference between them and third placed Spot On C.
SDSC D certainly got back to winning ways with a surprise 8-0 whitewash of Burton Cons D on their on tables.  David Wain playing some of his best snooker of the season won both frames against Nathan Brookes who must feel rather gutted as he made a really good 29 break and still could not win the frame.  David made a lot of small but significant breaks throughout his match.  Ian Protheroe despite not playing too badly could not stop an on fire Garton Bloor who missed very little in both frames as they went into a 4-0 lead at the turn round.  The wily old fox James Jennings was not able to stop a rampant John Chambers who was able to control both frames to win fairly comfortably.  Brian Bloor completed a great night for the visiting side as he won two tight frames against Al Munnion who lost both frames on the high colours and with a little more kinder running could probably have taken a frame.
In the battle of the fifth and sixth placed teams Ivanhoe D and Woodville S&S A it was the Woodville side that came away the happier but only just winning 5-3 with the match result only being decided on the final black.  In this match there was a number of black ball games.  Alan Orpwood took on and beat Jack Bale in a very difficult first frame which went down to the black.  Jack had potted a very good blue and pink to take it to the black but he was not best placed for the pot and elected to play the safety which failed leaving Alan a straight forward pot on the black.  The second frame Alan stepped up his potting with a number of small breaks to put him in a good position to close out the frame which he did.  Although Jack did not always have the best of running.  On the other table Keith Jack’s elder brother took on the Woodville legend Gentleman Jim Marcer and came away with a draw.  Keith did well to take the first frame on the black after taking the last three colours in a difficult clearance.  In this frame Jim had some unbelievable good running but failed to make the most of his opportunities.  The second frame Jim was the dominant player and was determined not to lose this frame as he got a number of good pots.  Both players did their best in a very entertaining match.  King of the Saga Dancing team Warner Collins had to settle for a draw as he shared the frames with Tony Coleman.  The first frame Warner was the better potter with a number of good pots around the middle bag to win it on the pink.  The second frame Tony took control early on so much so that Warner needed snookers on the yellow.  It seemed like Warner started the evening in a quick fox trot mode and finished off with a slow waltz.  The last two frames between the Ivanhoe skipper Jason Collins and Pat ‘are we having a re-rack’ Ryan was extremely close and had a big influence on the match result.  The first frame was nip and tuck all the way through both players making some good pots and very good safety.  Jason took the blue into the left hand black pocket to put him safe but Pat never gave up and got two or three difficult snookers but they appeared not to be a problem to Jason who eventually potted the pink.  The second frame followed a very similar pattern to the first although Jason missed one or two pots that earlier in the game he was getting.  Pat only needed one of the last three colours for the draw after potting the green and brown but he left Jason a difficult pot on the blue and then he pocketed a lovely pink which left him in two minds whether to pot the black into the middle bag or into the black right hand bag he went for the latter but unfortunately the cue ball went into the middle bag to give the frame to Pat.  This was rather unfortunate for Jason but Pat deserved to take something from the game.
Woodville S&S B had a fine win at home against Alrewas D winning 5-3.  Terry Eyley had to rely on his good safety play to earn a well deserved draw with Tom Smith who is well up there in the divisions averages.  Tom potted well to take his frame.  Wayne Allen had a difficult task on his hands as he played another of the Alrewas teams star player Dave Riley. Wayne played as well as Dave would allow.  This was a very entertaining two frames that only got sorted in the latter stages of the frames in Dave’s favour.  Mark Gallagher is starting to get back to his early season form as he beat Brian Eccleston in two close frames with players making a number of good pots and small breaks.  Denis Moore was in a very positive mood as he took on and beat Brian Aldridge.  In the first frame Denis won it fairly comfortably with one or two nice long pots but in the second frame Brian made him struggle before he managed to get over the line.  This good win for Woodville moves them up the table just above the half way mark.
Chimneys D were most definitely on fire against Swad Cons C winning 7-1.  Adi Millington was in very good potting form as he beat Pete ‘the shorts’ Fearn he also played a number of good shots but was not able to stop Adi from taking both games.  The Fleetwood fisherman just back from a week on the North Sea Brian Alford shared his frames with John Griffin who at times played some great snooker to win his frame.  It is good to see Dave Budworth getting back to full fitness and back playing snooker Dave showed he has still got the old magic touch as he beat the talented Paul Griffin in two close frames with Dave always in the lead.  Adam Holloway who is starting to enjoy his snooker more each week especially when he is in good form as Jon Petcher would testify as he won both frames.  Adam made a solid 29 break which with a little bit of good running could have been more to take one of his frames fairly comfortably.  The second frame was quite a bit closer with John making some good pots.  This good win sees them moving up  the table.