2018-19: Week 21


By Mick Buckland

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In the David Wain Insurance Premier Division last week, defending champions, Ivanhoe A took on Swad cons A Andy Marriott played Simon Orpwood and it started slowly with both players missing chance after chance. Then at the end of the frame Andy got going and had a 46 to take it. The second was a different story as Andy took his first chance and made a fantastic 97. It looked like he would clear but rattled the last red. Ian Rennocks played Ant Rushton and it was Ant that looked in good form and took both frames with a 37 along the way. Ant Moore played Paul Slater. It was Ant that started well with a good 30 but it was Paul that got stronger as the frame went on but it was Ant that took the frame on the pink with a good bit of run. Second frame was a similar frame until Ant had a 27 to take control and eventually took the frame. Dan Blunn played Andy Grainger last and it was Dan that was in good form taking the first frame with a 30 break and never looking in trouble,Andy not even getting on the scoreboard. Second frame Andy found some rhythm and started to run away before missing frame ball. Dan took his chance and cleared with a 32 to leave the Ivanhoe with a 6-2 win.

A result that shook the bottom end of the table up occurred at Spot On where the A team thrashed Newhall by a whitewash 8-0 easing their own relegation fears whilst leaving their opponents in need of some good snooker over the last few weeks of the season to stay up. There were wins for Nige Tomlinson, Mark Stirling and Tom Elliott whilst man of the match was Ade Harper who had runs of 30 and 28 in defeating the Newhall talisman Martin Hicks 2-0.

Alrewas A had a good 5-3 win over Tutbury A at The Tutbury Club. Karl Hancox top scored for the visitors with a nice 46 but this only gained him a share of the spoils with Steve Mabbutt who dug in for a half. Tom Smith put the Legionnaires 3-1 up at the interval with a solid 2-0 win over Steve Hathaway including a run of 34. Dave Mabbutt was the Tutbury main man as he beat in form Lee Louch with the aid of a thirty, whilst John Richardson sealed the win for Alrewas by getting past Chris Mabbutt.

Burton Cons B, who have been struggling all season to raise a side, went down 6-2 at Swad Snooker Centre.Only John Shilton was able to offer anything for the Cons as he came away with his usual two frames against Pete Maguire. Elsewhere there were wins for Henry Tomas, Ben Davies, and Harry Farrell, who beat the Cons’ Troy Randle.

The Belmont derby went the way of the A by a 6-2 scoreline keeping the pressure on at the top. It was two of the B team though who were top scorers on the night as Zaheer Hussein and Mark Satchwell had runs of 32 and 36 in their draws against John Chambers and Mark Sherratt respectively. Seeing the A team home though were Owen Jones and Rich Goldby who both scored doubles over Arron Vaughan and Shaun Gebbie.

Burton Cons A ‘s challenge for honours weakened with a damaging 4-4 draw at home to three man Tutbury B. The Tutters’ chances increased as the home side’s top player Graham Stevens was the man to miss out by not having a game. Jan Pawlazcyk comfortably out potted Jon Swift before Mike Buckland just about beat Alan Davies. After a prolonged bout of snooker attempts from Alan, being successful with 4 of them, with the colours all ending up in the same two square feet, in the end Mike fell over the line. In the second Mike potted a good pink from distance to put the Cons 4-2 up. The final game saw Wayne Pereira just about do enough against an out of sorts Jon Fletcher for the draw.

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In the PJM Fascias Division One, Ivanhoe C are three points clear after beating SDSC B 6-2. Star man was Steve Cockeram as he rolled in efforts of 34 and 31 against Chris Dewey. There were also wins for Mick Kirk and Gaz Dolman for Ivanhoe whilst Andy Goldingay replied with two for the Snooker Centre.

There was a hard fought game at the Royal British Legion where the B team played Ivanhoe B that ended fairly with an all square result. The Alrewas warrior Micky Morris shared an interesting draw with excellent youngster Josh Wright. The first frame a real grind with 38pts on the board with just two reds down as both players tried to play, and miss, for a re-rack. In the end the wily fox Morris got over the line. Next frame though Wright opened his wings and a great 32 saw him easily home. Dave Trueman was looking for a return to winning ways but Greg Gallop provided stiff Ivanhovian opposition. Gallop took the first at a canter and really should have taken the second on a relatively straight forward final black but Dave Trueman got his rewards for some neat play in the second and sank it for the draw. Adam Walton was looking to build on his great season but Brendon Mattley, an experienced league player, proved too clever on the night. Mattley sank small breaks and kept sticking Walton on the bottom cushion who really had no answer even after some spirited long potting. That left Carl Poulton to salvage a draw and Alrewas’ unbeaten 2019 run against Matt Grey. Poulton played some great snooker and whilst Grey missed some pots he would have got on any other night both frames were done and dusted with a couple of reds left.

SDSC C gave their flagging chances of an escape from relegation a boost with an impressive 5-3 win over Rolleston A. Making the difference on the night was Brian Bloor who scored a double over Graham Fisher. The other three games were halved with the highlight being a 29 from The Rollers’ James Wilkinson in his draw with Garton Bloor. Andy Bloor drew with Rich O’Dell as did David Wain with Tom Bassett.

Burton Cons C scored a good 6-2 home win over bottom side Ivanhoe D. Nathan Blood tried his best for the visitors including a lovely 39 against Ian Shrive for the win but other than that it was all The Cons with wins for Greg Read, Vince Draper and Bill Davidson.

The Stapenhill derby went the way of the A over the B with 5-3 the final score. There were no notable contributions as often the case in these types of matches but the man making the difference was Chris Sheldrake who claimed a victory over Rob Kent with the other games halved- Steve Ford with John Sherriff, Jason Spiby with Greg Britton and Andy Gretton with Simon Piechowicz.

Rolleston B made it three of the bottom four scoring a rare win as they got past Spot On B. It was Kev Norris who was the Rollers’ star man as he beat Dave Mawhinney. Rob Tubey drew with Trevor Heath, Lionel Lewis with Tony Clements and Rob Sanders with Steve Gaunt to complete the scoring.

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In the Newton Fallowell Division Two, SDSC D beat Burton Cons D 5-3 with wins for the two Rays, Stretton and Bancoft, whilst Greg Hall replied for The Cons.

Spot On E’s push for promotion was put on hold as they could only manage a draw with Belmont C. All four matches were drawn. Terry Bosworth with Adam Edwards, Brian Cutting with Luke Allsop, Graeme Drayton with Dave Goldsmith and Dave Press with Marvin Walker.

Tutbury D made it three wins on the bounce as they trounced the Snookerettes by a whitewash thanks to wins for Colin Bell, Dave Brady, ian Day and Paul Atterbury.

Rolleston C went down 5-3 at home to Swad Cons B. Gaz Ward and Bob Birch were the men in form for the Cons with doubles whilst Neil Cheadle replied for the home side. The game between Colin Wood and Andy Boam was halved.

It was honours even in the Woodville derby as they B drew their home fixture with the A. There were two wins apiece- Jim Marcer and Mark Gallagher for the B and Tony Coleman and Rich Marcer for the A, meaning there was no need for a dust up on the car park.