Snooker: Blinders bounce back to go top 

Defending champions take big win over previous frontrunners

Treble chasing Cue Zone Blinders returned to form after a string of four defeats just at the right time, defeating and replacing Musicians ‘A’ at the top of the Manx Car Store Snooker League.

Cue Zone Blinders 5-0 Finch Hill Musicians A

Report by Scott Campion:

Scott Campion 65-42 Zain Abideen - A really good tactical battle on the colours with Scott only 12 ahead. Both players laid and escaped from good snookers, Zain in particular was on form in his escape game. A missed blue from Zain left Scott needing just blue and pink for the frame and he duly took his chance. Harry Ellis 67-59 Peter Collister - Harry did very well to keep a healthy lead for most of the frame. Peter slowly grew into the game and managed to pull back most of the 42 head start by the colours. Harry profited from a very solid safety when only needing the pink, after a very patient display from both players. Conor Mahon 74-65 Simon Gardner - Simon was showing his long potting prowess early on but couldn’t make much from it. Conor took his chance to bring the game pretty level with a 21 break and from then on it remained very close. Conor had a chance on the blue to win the game with the black. Taking blue and pink he was left with a black tight on the side cushion and with the extended rest, managed to caress it in for the win. Dollin Mercer 68-56 Sean Rolt - A battle of two very good players and one which was safety heavy and cautious from the off. Neither player took full advantage of the chances on offer. In a carbon copy of Conor's frame, Dollin took blue, pink and a tough black along the cushion for frame. Darryl Hill 74-45 John Kennish - Once again, the two giants of Manx snooker locked horns and as every other frame it was a pretty close affair. John managed a 26 break but Darryl brought it back with mid-teen efforts. Darryl took control on the last red which was followed by a well taken pink with the rest and then yellow. He laid a solid safety on the green which put him in the drivers seat. Taking green to blue to leave John requiring 2 snookers. John had a golden chance to tuck the white in behind the black to snooker on the pink, but it wasn’t quite tight enough and Darryl made it five out of five for the Blinders.

DSB Wannabes 0-5 Port St Mary Legion

PSM weren’t at their best but still made it maximum points in consecutive weeks. Steve Cowin 66-81 Marc Morley - Steve only required one of the last four colours but it wasn’t to be. The next three frames ended David Callister 64-80 Phil Joynes, Dave Corris 39-53 Andrew Hutchison, Paul McKinstry 71-93 Dave Pickersgill, Phil, Dave and Andy all played steady, Phil had a 20 break on the colours but missed the black. Michael Creer 29-63 Terry Boyle - Boyle limited Creer to just a handful of balls to send PSM third.

Finch Hill Mob 4-1 Malew

Peter Kirkham 112-98 Eric Drinkwater - A belated season debut for Drinkwater, he made Kirkham work hard for his win which included a 25 and 22 clearance from the Mob cue-man. Steve Finnegan 40-85 Alec Oates - Oates showed some form with a good 28 break, which added to his start left Finn too much to do. Lee Hunt 68-58 Mark Quinn - Quinn isn’t having the best of seasons and two ‘worldies’ from Blade at the death added to his pain. Alan Heath 42-18 Tony Pring - Heath, who is better than his current handicap saw off a quiet Pring to make to 3-1. Paul Smith 80-77 James Goodwin - Smith missed too many colours, case in point 29 behind, potted the final red, missed the black, snooker required. Jimmy had potted some great long balls. He potted the blue when 15 ahead but went in-off. Smith took a good blue, pink and black to sneak the win.

Finch Hill Musicians B 3-2 St Olaves

Dave Hanlon 15-50 Mike Crook - A few decent pots from Crook in a frame where absolutely nothing went Hanlon’s way. Pat Maher 78-29 Paul Smyth - Smyth was making inroads into the handicap but Maher then hit a purple patch to cruise away. Vic Rigby 37-69 Geoff Hall - Another frame where the luck was rather one-sided, that said Hall produced an array of stunning pots. Matt Dodd 50-35 Anthony Bayle - Bayle didn’t do a lot wrong as the luck started to level out. Dodd entertained as usual, finishing it with a far from easy pink. Paul Tangeman 87-34 Dan Crawley - A 42 start for Tangeman in the decider, Crawley for once struggled and Tangeman capped a good performance with a break of 22 for frame and match.

Snooker Bar-Barbarians 2-3 Finch Hill Rockets

Rockets stay second where the first four frames were shared, the third and fourth after black ball fights. Scores: Chris Reynolds 30-73 Marc Bolton, another impressive win for Bolton, Andy Moore 73-51 Leon Martin, Mark Davenport 53-46 Paddy Delaney, Delaney mugged on the last three colours and Chris Lawless 47-57 Sean Murphy. Stephen Berry and Ken Kinrade fought out a scrappy decider. This was a rare outing for Kinrade, just his second this season and after taking a cautious approach against an unknown quantity, he managed to take frame and match with blue and pink, 39-57.

The Miscues 1-4 The Hurricanes

A ninth win in 13 matches for the Hurricanes leaves them in joint sixth. They are only six points off the leaders who have only registered seven match wins! Hurricanes’ Ste MacDonald managed to handle playing off scratch for the first time. Despite being on the losing side, Luca McDermott sank some great long reds and colours to win in style, just his second win in 11. Scores: Ollie Pickford 68-81 Ste MacDonald, Rob Dolby 46-49 Lee Butterworth, Luca McDermott 98-21 Jamie Wilson, Reiner Naylor 49-64 Steve Munk and Ben Peach 46-73 Nialls Wilson (23 break).

**

Top League Standings

1.) Cue Zone Blonders - 41 points
2.) Finch Hill Rockets - 39 points
3.) Port St Mary Legion - 38 points
4.) Finch Hill Musicians A - 37 points
5.) Finch Hill Musicians B - 36 points

 

High Break League Standings

1.) John Kennish - 28 points
2.) Sean Rolt - 18.5 points
=.) Peter Kirkham - 18.5 points

 

Individual League Standings

1.) Paul Smyth - 9 wins
=.) Mike Dodd - 9 wins