2017-18: Week 25

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By Mick Buckland

Ivanhoe A confirmed their status as champions of the 2017/18 David Wain Insurance Premier Division with a 5-3 win at Alrewas A. Daniel Blunn beat Colin Wood whilst James Hastie overcame Lee Louch despite Lee top scoring with a 32. Ian Rennocks had runs of 45 and 33 but Tom Smith hung in there for a half as the Alrewas captain, Karl Hancox,  had a good win over Ant Moore including a 30 to score valuable points for the home side. Ivanhoe thoroughly deserve the title having consistently dispatched the teams below them with some ease, notching some tremendous breaks along the way, notably by Andy Marriott. They had been runners up for the past four seasons so have proven to be one of the most consistent sides in the league with no weaker players. Well done to them.

Burton Cons A moved clear in second after beating Swad Cons A 5-3 away. John Shilton had visits of 38 and 35 as he got past Simon Orpwood with Mike Buckland beating Vince Draper on the other table with the aid of a 32-Vince having a 30 of his own, before mis-cueing and causing a push shot when right in the balls. Andy Grainger beat Graham Stevens with the aid of a 42 and a 31 and also some good run at the right times to keep Swad in the match. This was then followed by Paul Slater playing some excellent safety to beat Jon Swift in the first. In a drawn out second frame which could have gone either way, Jon got 27 in front on the brown only to foul the pink leaving Paul a chance. He couldn’t take it though and Jon pulled out a great snooker of his own to ease himself over the line.

Burton Cons B and Belmont A perhaps predictably played out a 4-4 draw in a good quality match. John Chambers top scored on the night with the second highest break of the season knocking in an 87 against Cons’ floater Mick Simpkins.  Owen Jones drew with Ian Archer on the other table for 3-1 to Belmont at half way. In the second half Jon Fletcher and Rob Chambers had a great match ending all square with Jon having a 55 and Rob a 34. Matt Milnes squared the match up with a victory over Josh Gebbie.

The Swad Snooker Centre derby went the way of the B team 6-2 and this has sent the A team into Division One, whilst securing the status of the B. Harry Farrell and Ben Davies were winners on the night whilst the games between Andy Goldingay and Henry Tomas and then Steve Ayre and Rich Hinks were halved.

Spot On B are in serious trouble after going down 6-2 at home to Tutbury A, who have moved up to 5th. The two Steves, Hathaway and Mabbutt, did the damage both scoring doubles. Steve Lane and Chris Mabbutt shared their two with a similar score between Simon Tarrant and Dave Mabbutt. Top break of the night was a thirty by Loz Kennerson.

Spot On A, who had been floundering, did their cause no harm with a 5-3 win away at Tutbury B, who are just about safe themselves barring a last week disaster. Andy Speirs was the man to make the difference as he scored a good win over Wayne Pereira with the other three games being drawn. The Spots need a draw in their final game to be sure of staying up.

 

Tutbury C confirmed themselves as worthy winners of the PJM Fascias Division One title with their 5th straight draw this time against the absolute draw specialists Belmont B who were having their 12th stalemate of the season. Tom Lucas had a good share of the run to beat Shaun Gebbie in the first with Brett Craddock knocking in his trademark long pots to take the first against Steve Butler. Steve then played nicely to win the second with Shaun knocking in runs of 38 and 29 to halve his game as well. Steve Burrows played solidly to win the frame that took the title, with the match pausing for Belmont to sportingly give a round of applause to the Tutbury boys. Graham Bailey went one up against Wayne Smith and with Micky Morris coming back for a half to put Belmont 4-3 up, Belmont only needed the last frame for the victory. Graham took a strong lead before Wayne got it down to the pink -only then to have an outrageous fluke to take a share of the spoils.
Woodville have put themselves in pole position to be promoted after a whitewash against Burton Cons C. Fran McInulty, Wayne Brewin, Mark Satchwell and Bob McInulty all had too much on the night for the Cons, who are now right back in the relegation dogfight.

Newhall are in third after a cracking 7-1 away at SDSC C, who are already relegated. Nick Harcombe scored the Snooker Centre’s only frame as he drew with Nick Walker. Elsewhere there were wins for Adam McInulty, Martin Hicks and Carl Glover-with Carl knocking in a good 27.

Ivanhoe B’s ship for promotion sailed some weeks ago, not helped by the injury to Jason Pickering. Last week they lost 6-2 to Alrewas who have given themselves a sporting chance of staying in the division. Ian Hiley and Adam Walton both scored victories for The Legionnaires with draws for Carl Poulton against Stu Tagg and Dave Trueman against Nick Sewell.

Two sides that will end mid table fought out a 4-4 draw in Stapenhill A and Ivanhoe C. In a match of rare quality the only winners were Gaz Dolman for the Ashby side and Andy Gretton for the Insitute.

Second and third play each other in the last week with Newhall A hosting Woodville A with the winners guaranteed promotion. Belmont in fourth have to play Burton Cons C in a match that has had to be re-arranged due to the funeral of former player Ray Plummer who has sadly passed away. The league would like to send its very best wishes to Ray’s family and friends at this sad time.

Spot On E have deservedly won the Newton Fallowell Division Two having been the most consistent team this season. They won last week without playing sadly but will be a welcome addition to next year’s Division One. From a massive squad, particular credit to Jared Cronje, Ben Menzies, Jordan Watts, Adam Edwards and Brad Williams.

Stapenhill B confirmed their runners up spot with a 6-2 win over Ivanhoe D, who will finish just outside the promotion spots. Bryan Sharratt and Andy Tomlinson were both winners on the night with draws for Greg and Colin Britton against Matt Tewkesbury and Tony Tredger.

In third are SDSC D, who had a rest week last week. Well done to The Bloors, Andy, Brian and Garton as well as David Wain and Andy Rice.

In other dead rubber matches Burton Cons D finished all square with Woodville B with all four games halved.

Rolleston C beat Belmont C with Graham Fisher making the difference as the only winner on the night.

Swad Cons C beat Rolleston B 6-2 with wins for Gaz Ward and Bob Birch with the other two games halved.

Anyone in or near the top 8 in the Premier Division averages or in or near the top 4 in Divisions One and Two-if you haven’t already, can you please let Mike Buckland know if you are available to play in the end of season Ken Shipton tournament in Swadlincote on Sunday-10-30 start. Thank you….