2015-16: Week 26

Owen Jones writes for the David Wain Insurance Premier Division

The final week of the David Wain Insurance Premier Division of the Burton and District Snooker League saw Burton Cons A whitewash Belmont B in a game where the Swadlincote side were looking over their shoulders at the prospect of relegation to the first division. The scoreline did not reflect the match. John Shilton started the first frame with a nicely constructed 51 break against Graham Bailey, but his opponent made a break of 36 to claw his way back into the frame. The frame went down to the final black. Bailey went for a long pot and, unfortunately, went in off which gave the frame to Shilton. The second frame was also close, Shilton making a 36 break at a key time to pull away and Bailey going in off when trying to pull back the deficit. It proved to be too big of a task and Shilton took the second frame. Mick Simpkins was also in good form as he made breaks of 35 and 33 to defeat Arron Vaughan. Graham Stevens made breaks of 50 and 30 in his match with Martin Smith. His opponent had a chance to take the second frame, 22 points up with the green left on, but hit the black when attempting a swerve shot which gave Stevens the confidence to go on and seal the second frame. Finally, Owen Jones played Rich Goldby. The Belmont man started strongly to pull thirty points infront. Jones clawed the difference back with some good matchplay. However, Goldby had chances to take the frame but missed key balls which allowed Jones to capitalize by clearing the colours. The second frame was very similar with Jones fluking the final red, potting the black and then clearing the colours for a 35 break and completing the 8-0 scoreline.

Belmont A won 5-3 at home against Burton Cons B. Shaun Gebbie was first up against Ryan Gibbs. Gebbie found his opponent to be too good on the night as Gibbs made a 34 break on the way to securing the frames. Ian Archer responded for the hosts by defeating David Shipton. Wayne Brewin shared the frames with Dave Plunkett, who made a 33 break. Josh Gebbie proved to be the match winner as he beat the talented Mike Buckland to earn the victory.

Alrewas A won 5-3 at home against Ivanhoe B. Colin Kinsella was the only player to register two frames on the night as he beat Ross Tredger, aided by a 34 break. All other matches ended even as Dave Trueman drew with John Skellett, Carl Poulton shared the frames with Jason Pickering and finally, Ian Hiley drew with Brendon Mattley.

Ivanhoe A secured a second place finish for the third year running as they defeated Stapenhill A 7-1. Andy Gretton picked up the only frame of the night for the visitors as he made a 32 break in drawing with Daniel Blunn. The highlight of the other matches came when Mick Kirk knocked in a nice 49 break in his win against Steve Ford.

Spot On A finished the season with a win as they won 5-3 against Chimneys B. Lee Cooke won both frames against Ade Harper and Tim Hodgkinson drew with Tom Elliott. The hosts responded with wins for Mark Stirling and Nigel Tomlinson against Steve Butterworth and Loz Kennerson respectively to earn the victory.

Tutbury A closed their season with a 6-2 victory at home against Swad Cons A. Chris and Dave Mabbott did the damage as they won all the frames. Chris defeated Simon Mansfield and Dave beat Paul Slater. The other matches were drawn.

Chimneys A drew against Swadlincote Snooker Centre A. Bill Stewart made a 32 break against Andy Goldingay as all matches on the night were shared.

Mike Buckland writes for Division 1

Firstly, it is with great regret the League has to announce the passing of Tony Mitchell. He played with distinction for many many years for South Derbyshire Snooker Club and will be greatly missed. The Committee, Linda and all at SDSC and all the League’s players would like to pass on our condolences and very best wishes to Tony’s family and friends at this sad time.

The top two teams met in the final game and everyone ended up happy as Chimneys C scored the frame they needed to claim the title and Rolleston A won the match to secure second place.Trevor Heath won for Chimneys over Bobby Cliff whilst Tony Clements shared his frames with Joe Docksey. For Rolleston, Rich O’Dell won against Chimneys’ stand in Dave Mawhinney and Ant Rushton completed his perfect season by winning his 27th and 28th frames without reply-this time against Steve Gaunt.

The two Alrewas sides met having had contrasting seasons. The C team won 5-3 to confirm third spot and a well deserved promotion. The B team though will be relegated to Division Two. The two star men for the C have been Karl Hancox and John Richardson. Karl showed his class again as he knocked in a 32 and a 30 in his win over Stuart Gair. John also won beating Alan Wilson.Colin Wood and John Sharp drew whilst Will Sherratt beat Rob McMeecham.

Ivanhoe C fought for the last promotion spot right till the last by handing out a 7-1 thumping to Tutbury B.They fell just short but there were wins for Jerry Cook, Darren Wilson and Steve Cockeram against Jeff Siddalls, Paul Atterbury and Dave Brady-Steve scoring the highest break of the match with a lovely 36. Gaz Dolman had runs of 26 and 23 against Colin Bell but the Tutbury man won a frame to stop the whitewash.

Long time leaders SDSC C went out with a bang and a 7-1 win over Belmont C which relegated their opponents.Henry Tomas, Pete Maguire,Ben Davies all won with Simon Shilton drawing. Terry Bosworth was the man this time to stop the clean sweep.

Newhall A finished the season strongly and duly handed out another 7-1 drubbing-this time Rolleston B were the recipients.Mark Anslow played well against Kev Norris to win the first on the blue. Kev responded with a good win on the high colours in the second.Martin Hurdman won the first on the pink but Rob Sanders came back in the second only to miss the brown which Martin could clear up.Lionel Lewis lost the first on the pink to Carl having been nip and tuck all the way and then was unfortunate to lose the second by going in off the black. Martin Hicks played solidly in both frames to beat John Harvey.

Burton Cons C had a nice 5-3 win in their last fixture against Stapenhill B.Lee Loch and Ian Shrive scored wins for the Cons. Jon Swift beat Tom Egginton whilst Stan Piechowicz scored a draw for Stapenhill.

SDSC B rounded their season off with a 5-3 win over Belmont D. Nick Harcombe ended the season on an unbeaten run of 18 matches and his contribution has kept the Swad Snooker Centre boys in the division. He won this week 2-0 v Simon Deakin. The other 3 matches were drawn-Mark Vaughan with Ray Bancroft,Micky Morris with Andy Jeffries and Tom Holland with Ray Stretton.

Ken Shipton 2015-16

The Ken Shipton Memorial Tournament was played out on Sunday at Belmont Services Club. A field of 16 of the players with the best season’s averages was assembled and the final was played between two of Burton’s best players.Of the non Premier Division players there were wins in the first round for Tom Lucas of The Baulkline, Bob Birch, who brought his A game to beat Mark Satchwell and Karl Hancox who beat Ant Moore. The quarter finals were all close affairs. Graham Stevens beat Mike Buckland. John Shilton beat Mick Kirk and Karl Hancox beat Wayne Brewin all by a 2-1 scoreline. Tom Lucas beat Bob Birch though 2-0 in the all Division Two tie. Graham then went on to overpower Tom in the semi final before John Shilton just about had enough firepower to defeat Karl. The final was a terrific match with Shilton going 2-0 up only to be pulled back and for Graham Stevens to win 3-2 on the final black having had a number of 30 plus contributions and a really good 57.

The competition was played out in a really good fashion and spirit throughout with some lovely play all round. Ken Shipton himself would have definitely approved…see you all at The Presentation on Friday at Belmont.

Tony Coleman your on the spot reporter reporting on the final results of the season

The Baulkline ended the season on a winning note with a hard fought win against Alrewas D at home winning 5-3. Tom Lucas and Tom Wright shared the frames in a close and entertaining match with both players knocking in some good pots. Brian Eccleston for the A38 boys played some of his best snooker of the current campaign by taking both frames against Billy Ashton. The first frame was a rather tight affair with quality safety play by both players. Coming down to the colours there was very little to separate the players and it was just a matter of who was going to hold their nerve and it was Brian who knocked in the majority of the colours. Brian won the second frame fairly comfortably. This put the A38 boys 3-1 ahead at the turn and was a shock defeat on the cards?! The Baulkline brought out the big guns. First it was Wayne Smith who has only dropped two frames all season which is a terrific record. Wayne took on and beat Dave Reilly who is also in the top ten players in the divisions averages but he was no match for the consistent potting of the Smith machine who was missing very little in both frames. The Baulkline skipper Jon Sully got the vital two frames they required for the win in a difficult match with rising star Shaun Tubbert who has had a great season of snooker. Jon managed to hold his game together as Shaun kept putting him under pressure through his quality potting. Congratulations to the Baulkline for winning the title in style. They also provided the winner of the highest break Simon Seabridge with a break of 53. Finally Wayne Smith strolled the averages competition with 95.83% which is pretty incredible – perhaps next season he may find division 1 a little more challenging. Not a bad first season in the league!!! Let us hope that this team can stay together and they find a new club from which they can play.

Swad Cons B who ensured their runners up place and promotion into division 1 with a hard earned draw at home to Ivanhoe D who by their own standards have not had a good season and would probably have expected to be in the promotion slots. The young Bob McNulty belied his tender age with a solid display of potting to win both frames with Tony Tredger with Bob just having the edge on the night. Paul Hollis and Jason Collins shared two enjoyable frames of snooker with neither player deserving not to get anything out of the match. Paul took a close first frame thanks to some good safety play on the last few colours forcing Jason to make one or two difficult attempts at some pots which failed leaving Paul the chance to take the frame. Jason became a little more aggressive in his potting in the second frame which bared fruit as he won it fairly easily. This left the Cons 3-1 ahead at the interval and it was down to Ross Hollis to earn his team a draw and a share of the spoils with Keith Bale. Both players were not at their best with neither being able to control the game. This match was a tale of two halves with the Cons winning the first half and Ivanhoe thanks to the Bale family the second. Jack Bale played very well to take both frames against Vince Draper. In both of these frames Jack showed what a quality potter he is when he is on his game. Congratulations to Swad Cons on getting the runners up slot. The Cons like the Baulkline will be a great addition to division 1.

SDSC D must be as surprised as anyone to see that they have got the third promotion place after beating Swad Cons D 6-2. Rob Press one of the snooker centres floating players got the home team off to the start they wanted as he took both frames against Dave Bodie who I think will be glad to see the end of the season as he has not had the best of luck at all and this match was not really any different. He made a nice pot and got nothing after it. Rob did play some nice snooker and overall was the better player on the night. Garton Bloor and Jona Edwards shared two good frames of snooker with both players making a number of nice pots. Jona for the Cons will be a welcome addition to the team next season. Garton played steady snooker throughout his match and his experience showed at various times in it. David Wain was one of SDSC’s star player on the night by winning both frames against Kieron Dadley. Dave played solid snooker in both frames although Kieron made him fight for the two frames especially in the second which went down to the high colours. Andy Bloor drew with the experienced Bob Birch with the draw just about being the fairest result. The quality of some of Andy’s long potting helped him to win his frame. Bob won his frame with some cracking safety play and snookers which Andy failed to get out of a number of times. I am sure that SDSC did not realise how vital that last frame win was for them until they saw the Woodville result.

What a disappointing end to the season for Spot On C as they finished in fourth place after being in the top two places for most of the season. Woodville S&S A claimed the match because the Spots could not get a team together. This was also a disappointing end to the season for Woodville. I cannot understand how a team that has used fifteen players during the season cannot get four players for the final game especially as they only needed a few points for promotion.

The Chimneys D playing their final match at their current venue could only draw with Woodville S&S B in a very enjoyable match played in great spirit. Denis ‘the menace’ Moore got the away team off to a solid start by taking both frames against Ryan Jarvis who was playing his first game for the club. Ryan played well in both frames but he was not able to stop Denis who has been hitting top form of late with a number of significant breaks in the match. Dave Budworth got the home team back on level terms at the half way stage with a powerful display of potting to take both frames fairly comfortably against Wayne Allen who Dave never allowed to get into the game. Adi Millington was not able to hang on to the Woodville’s captain Mark Gallagher who saved some of best potting to the last game of the season easily winning both frames. Adam Holloway the Chimneys find of the season again looked in fine form as he beat Terry Eyley.

Swad Cons C are on a little bit of a roll with the season ending too quickly as they chalked up another win in beating the team just above them the Snookerettes aka Spot On B winning 5-3 but the win was not sufficient to prevent them finishing bottom of the division and getting the wooden spoon but at least these guys enjoy their snooker irrespective of the final score. Paul Griffin got the home team off to a good start with a battling performance with the talented Gilda Horvath in winning both frames with both players in pretty good form and making some good pots with Paul just shading both frames on the high colours. Jon Petcher then put them in a great place as he won both frames in a tight match with Marie Bridges. At times it looked as if Marie might take a frame mainly down to some terrific safety play. Jon’s two frames put them in almost uncharted waters which was 4-0 ahead at the turn and this lead was almost pegged back thanks first to Kate Stirling doing her best by drawing with John Griffin in another close match. John’s frame ensured that the Cons got revenge over the Snookerettes for their win early in the season. Yvonne Spendlove added a lot of respectability to the scoreline with a superb display of potting in both frames against Pete ‘the shorts’ Fearn giving him very few opportunities in either frame as she knocked in breaks of 24, 20 and 13 to finish off her season on a high. It would be great if the league could have more teams like the Snookerettes and Swad Cons C who go out to enjoy themselves. Lets hope both sides can build on this for next season.

Burton Cons D finished their season off in fine style as they beat the inconsistent Rolleston C team 6-2. Nathan Brooks played very well to take both frames against Aaron Doyle who has been playing some good snooker of late. Nathan took the first frame fairly comfortably with a number of good pots and Aaron missing one or two opportunities. The second frame was a lot closer with Nathan taking a good pink for the game. Paul Brooks Nathan’s father could not do as well as his son but managed to get a hard fought draw with Steve Atkin who has not had the best of running in this match and really throughout the season. Both players did put on an entertaining match. Ian Protheroe carried on his best season ever with two entertaining games with Neil Cheadle. In the first frame Ian knocked in a number of fine points to win it on the low colours. Neil despite getting some good snookers in the second game could not prevent Ian from taking it on the blue. Ian made a number of fine long pots. The final match of the night was played out by two of the great characters in this division wily old fox Jim Jennings and David Bentley two guys who like to play snooker their own way. Jim looked as if he was going to take both frames such was the quality of his potting but he failed to make the most of one of his chances and let in David who made the most of the opportunity to pot the balls the Bentley way and deservedly came away with a draw.