2018-19: Week 7

By Mick Buckland

In the David Wain Insurance Premier Division, there was one of those rare occasions when the match was drawn as a result of all four individual battles also being halved. This was the case as SDSC A took on Tutbury A. Ben Davies and Chris Mabbutt had two good frames with some cracking snooker all round. Harry Farrell and Dave Mabbutt also shared with Dave missing a blue which could have taken both for Tutbury. Henry Tomas potted a great pink to secure his draw in another good game between himself and John Brentnall. Adam Harrison and Steve Mabbutt also enjoyed two good frames with the draw a fair result all round.

Belmont A came out on top 5-3 in a tight battle with Swad Cons A. Rich Goldby ,for the hosts, played the Cons’ Simon Orpwood. Goldby was only left scraps in the first with Orpwood having just enough to get over the line with the better chances he was left. The second was even Stevens until Rich knocked in a lovely 49 to seal the frame before the colours to secure the draw. Rob Chambers started well to keep Ant Rushton at arms length and went away to win the first for Belmont. Rushton came back well to clear to the pink in the second with a nice 44 again to secure the half. Mark Sherratt was in complete control in his first for Belmont against Lee Wood, winning at a canter aided by a good 41 contribution. Wood then capitalised on a fluke to take control of the second, knocking in some cracking pots as he did so for the third draw of the evening. Finally Owen Jones played Andy Grainger with the first being taken by Jones on the final pink. The second saw Jones in front courtesy of a 29 and despite some valiant attempts at snookers near the end, Jones hung on for the win and a 5-3 victory.
Tutbury B held on for a good 5-3 win of their own against Alrewas A. By all accounts it was a brilliant match played out by two evenly matched teams. Andy Thompson continued his fine form winning both against John Richardson-this despite having to play with another cue after his tip came off. Wayne Pereira won his first for Tutbury against Lee Louch down on the green, with Lee bouncing back to be dominant in the second for a share of the spoils. The match of the evening saw Jan Pawlazyck go 40 in front of Karl Hancox in their first after Jan cracked in a good 33 only for Karl to have a 42 of his own in reply for the win. Karl went on to win the second with greater comfort. This left Alan Davies to roll back the years and beat Thom Smith to secure the extra winning point for The Tutters.
Burton Cons A made it seven wins from seven matches but not before they had another fright at home to Newhall A. Martin Hicks got Newhall off to a flying start with a comfortable win over Jon Swift, who  is still short of practice after a hip operation. Martin Hurdman, on the other table, took the first off Mike Buckland down on the pink after some good all round play. Buckland scrambled back to win the second for the Cons to keep the score down to 3-1 at half way. Then, in what surely has to be the display of the season so far, Jon Fletcher showed the old magic as he rolled in efforts of 50 and 40 in his first against Callum Coleman. Coleman then went in off as he attempted to split the pack off the blue in the second, for Fletcher to knock in a cracking 62, just missing the last red, which he wasn’t quite on. With this match taking less than 20 minutes, the score was at 3-3 so the result depended on the encounter between Graham Stevens and Nick Walker. Stevens did manage a 32 but in an otherwise dour affair, Stevens got over the line to complete the comeback and a 5-3 win for The Cons.
There was a heavyweight battle in Ashby between Ivanhoe A and Burton Cons B, which in the end The Cons won 5-3. Both teams were short of regular players but Andy Marriott won his customary two after defeating Mick Simpkins, drafted in at the last minute from Cons A, to put Ashby in front. Darren Coady replied for the Cons by including a lovely break of 70 in his win over Dan Blunn to square the match up. Simon Smith went one up versus Ant Moore only to be pegged back for a draw in the next game. Troy Randle had too much in his locker and won with some ease against C Siviter to complete an impressive win for the Cons which gets them into the title race.
There was another closely fought battle at Spot On, where the club’s A side went down 5-3 to visitors, Tutbury C. The battle of the Toms went the way of Tubury’s Lucas over Elliott from The Spots and Steve Butler also had a double over Ade Harper. Andy Speirs and Steve Burrows had a fair half before the home side’s captain Mark Stirling salvaged some pride with a 2-0 victory over Wayne Smith.
This all means of the 42 matches so far played in the Premier Division this season, 31 of them have ended up with score at 4-4 or 5-3 and there has yet to be a whitewash…there are many good players about and nothing can be taken for granted -all making for a good competition.

There are still two unbeaten sides in the PJM Fascias Division One. Alrewas C lead the way having won 6 and drawn one of their first seven fixtures. Loz Kennerson was the man to make the difference last week as he scored a double in a match where the other three ties were halved away at Spot On B. Steve Butterworth drew with Spot Ons’ John Hardy whilst Lee Cooke shared his two with Steve Gaunt of The Spots. Andy Jenkins knocked in a good 30 for the home side but this was only enough to take one against a battling Simon Tarrant.
Ivanhoe C are also unbeaten but last week the win was beyond them as they were held four across by their club rivals the B team. Steve Cockeram was the main man for the C, knocking in a nice 34 as he beat Greg Gallup. In reply, Stu Tagg stepped up with a double of his own for the C by defeating Graham Measures. The matches between Mick Kirk and Bren Mattley and Gaz Dolman with Matt Gray were halved-Daz top scoring on the night with a 36.
Stapenhill B pulled off an excellent 5-3 win at the home of Alrewas B. John Sherriff secured a 2-0 win against Carl Poulton. The first courtesy of a fluked final pink and the second taken at the death with a final good long pot. Simon Piechowicz played well to take a draw against an out of form Dave Trueman. Piechowicz securing the first comfortably but Trueman rallied and ground out the draw. Adam Walton was unlucky to lose the first against Bryan Sharratt rattling the final black and seeing it drift over the opposite pocket. The second Walton did open up a big lead over Sharratt that he couldn’t bridge. That left Micky Morris and Rob Kent to determine the final result. Excellent long potting first frame saw Kent win at a canter but Morris took the second just as easily but was not enough to get a draw for the Legionnaires.
Burton Cons C and Rolleston A came out all square at The High Street Burton arena. Greg Read was on form for the Cons winning two as did Tom Bassett for The Rollers.  Rob Sanders, floating, took one off Vince Draper of the home side and Simon Shilton and Mark Press were also not able to be separated.
Chris Sheldrake and Jason Spiby were on fine form for Stapenhill Institute as their wins secured a 6-2 victory against Ivanhoe D. Steve Ford and Andy Gretton, both for the Institute were only able to come away with halves in their matches against Matt Tewkesbury and Keith Bale respectively.
Rolleston B drew 4-4 with SDSC B. Match of the night was the draw between Kev Norris and John Davis as both players struck in efforts of 30. Rob Tubey won both his for The Rollers as did Andy Goldingay for The Snooker Centre. The game between Lionel Lewis and Steve Ayre was also halved.

Tutbury D are in second spot in the Newton Fallowell Division Two after a storming 7-1 victory at home to Belmont D who had been trundling along quite nicely themselves to that point.  The Servicemen’s only point came courtesy of Andy Biggadike’s draw with Ian Day. Scoring doubles for The Tutters were Dave Brady, Colin Bell and Paul Atterbury.
Stapenhill C just squeezed past Spot On D by a 5-3 scoreline. Marie Bridges was in fine form for The Snookerettes as she beat Neil Bourne and Yvonne Lawrence nicked another point from Gordon Jennings in a hard fought draw. Seeing the Institute home though were Tim Knopik and Paul Stewart.
Rolleston C were big winners as they dismantled Burton Cons D 7-1. Tom Egginton provided the only highlight for The Cons in his draw with Mark Storr. Aaron Doyle, Steve Atkin and Graham Fisher were all on target to see the victory through for The Rollers .
Swad Cons C lead the way in Division Two at the halfway point of the first half of the season and this is despite winning last week against Woodville B whilst only fielding three players. Mark Gallagher was given the night off and two frames towards his average with Denis Moore scoring the only other point in a draw with Jordan Watts. Colin Cope top scored with a 31 in his win over Gary Green, whilst Brad Williams was also in good form to record a double for The Cons.
The Cons B side also won courtesy of the two frames won by Jon Petcher in a good game with Graeme Drayton. Belmont C’s Terry Bosworth, Dave Press and Brian Cutting halved their three matches with Kieran Dadley, Bob Birch and Andy Boam respectively.
Spot On E remain unbeaten this season and tucked in just behind the leaders after a 5-3 success against Woodville A. Adam Edwards won his in the first half versus Daz Scott along with a draw in the game between Luke Allsopp and Bob Brooks to leave the Spots 3-1 up. The second half was shared with wins for Woodville’s Pat Ryan and The Spots’ Dave Goldsmith.