Snooker: Home sides dominate on opening week

Six matches opened the 2021-22 season

The Mac’s Builders Merchants Snooker League 2021-22 broke off with all six matches going to the home teams.

Newbys DSB 5-0 DSB Wannabes 

Newbys had the best possible start with a whitewash win. League debutant Mikey Booth defeating Harry Minor 56-30 first up. The Wannabes are having no luck and Newbys grafted back against the high handicappers to narrowly win the remaining four frames, Johnny Myers 74-57 Paul McKinstry, Ste MacDonald 60-45 Dave Corris, Adam Dooley 75-66 James Teare and Zain Abideen 69-61 Fred Corris. Going back to last season that’s 10 consecutive losses for the Wannabes. At least things can’t get worse next week, they have a bye.

The Hurricanes 4-1 Port St Mary Legion

Paul Smith reports from Douglas Snooker Bar: Stuart Littlewood 37-34 Matthew Astill, a return to snooker for Matty who used to be a regular at DSB in his younger days. Receiving 21 from Stewie both players potted some good balls but neither able to sting any together. Stewie chipped away at the lead and the match ended up on the black. After a couple of attempts each, Stewie missed the bottom bag by some way only to see the ball come off 2 cushions and end up in the middle bag. Not the comeback Matty wanted, but he enjoyed it nevertheless. Paul Smith 82-43 Phil Joynes, giving 28 to the always dangerous Joynes was always going to be difficult, but some very un-Phil like misses on the long pots gave Smith plenty of chances, which for a change he took. Steady potting and a couple of teen breaks from Smith meant Phil needed a snooker on the brown, however it wasn’t to be as Smith cleared the last four colours to finish with a 22 break.

Jamie Wilson 81-79 Marc Morley, Wilson just couldn’t get into this frame with Morley making some great balls. Wilson never looked like catching the 28 start and needed a couple of snookers when it got to the colours. A couple of years ago Wilson would probably have conceded, but these days he’s prepared to battle it out and got the snookers required. With Morley also contributing with a couple of unlucky fouls it was another black ball frame that went to the Hurricanes courtesy of Jamie ‘Grinder’ Wilson! Shaun Roberts 23-55 Terry Boyle saw a home debut for the ex PSM player against his former captain. Shaun must have known how difficult it is giving the wily old campaigner Terry a 21 start and this proved to be the case. Shaun just couldn’t get going with Terry removing the reds often followed by a colour and not leaving Shaun an easy opener. Shaun needed snookers coming into the colours and although he gave it his best shot it wasn’t to be and he finally conceded on the brown. A consolation point for PSM which Terry didn’t really enjoy in the circumstances. Chris Dagnall 62-33 Mike Boyle was unusual in that Mike for once received a start, but unfortunately seven wasn’t enough when coming up against the solid game of Dagsy. While there were no breaks there was only the occasional miss, one of which from Mike prompted the comment, “these bags are like mouses ears.” Probably the first time a PSM player has complained about tight bags at DSB! Dagsy was always in the driving seat and ran out a comfortable winner to give the Hurricanes an overall 4-1 victory which easily could’ve gone the other way.

Finch Hill Mob 3-2 Finch Hill Reprobates

With both teams relocating back to their former stomping ground, Peter Kirkham of the Mob was the star player in frame two with an incredible 69 break. Some inch perfect little stuns and screws around the pink and a couple of really tight reds into middle bags to keep the break going was great to watch. The break ended on a tricky red but may take some beating over the season. Opponent Rob Callister was restricted to just 4 points, final score 105-39. Earlier in frame one Tom Miller had a run of 20 to win 81-62 over Nick Stephens. Steve Finnegan came back from the brink of defeat to seal frame three and match 90-77 against Ashley Howard. Reprobates took the remains frames, Peter Crellin 40-71 Dollin Mercer, the latter always in control and Lee Hunt 54-68 Rhys Moore which was an epic, ‘for all the wrong reasons!’

Finch Hill Musicians 3-2 Jacksons

The Musicians have had numerous homes over the years and have also reverted back to Finch Hill. They welcomed back two players from the past in Trevor Peace and Vic Rigby, the latter apparently last played in the league 40 years ago! Both won, with Peace having a 22 break. Frame scores, Mike Doherty 30-55 Tony Dhadwal, Trevor Peace 69-38 Dave Cavanagh and Vic Rigby 43-31 Richard Hillier on debut. Matthew Dodd had some bad luck losing 33-63 to Alex Sinclair who remains undefeated in league snooker with five wins. Dave Hanlon potted very well to take the decider 73-11 over Kam Virk.

Cue Zone Blinders 3-2 St Olaves

St Olaves title defence started with a narrow loss. Brandon Forrester 65-63 Dave Kelly was a very topsy turvy frame with plenty of flukes and always looked to be going to the black and indeed it did. Kelly attempted a double which straightened up leaving Forrester a delicate drop in to the middle for the win. Calum Gardner, a new recruit for the Blinders put in a strong performance to win 56-20 against Paul Smyth. Gardner never looked troubled as Smyth couldn't find his game on this occasion. Scott Campion 29-44 Adam Blake was a close affair with both players pulling off good single pots. A fatal safety error from Campion allowed Blake to duly pot blue and pink. Josh Rigg 65-55 Darrell Thacker was a great frame with both players potting well and as Thacker made up the 14 start, Rigg responded and pulled away again. Ultimately good safety play from Rigg gave him the match-winning opportunity. In the last between Ivan McMaw and James Kerr, Kerr was right at home on the very rapid Shender table that had been catching the visitors out, breaks of 23 and 21 and a couple of teen breaks saw him romp to a 40-72 victory.

Peel Legion 3-2 Finch Hill Rockets

Five hard fought frames at Peel Legion. Don Humphries 33-58 Marek Kenny, neither player at their best but a good game regardless and nothing in it before Kenny’s nice 25 clearance. Barton Beaumont 54-36 Marc Bolton, a pleasing league debut for Bolton, conceding a 14 start began well but Beaumont pinched it, calmly clearing brown to pink to level the scoreline. John Kelly 58-63 Jonny Hogg, this looked to be going Kelly’s way despite a 22 break from Hogg. Kelly cashed in on a fluky red landing perfectly on the blue, then snookering Hogg on the final red to draw two fouls. Hogg stormed back on the colours and a crunching straight long pink into the green bag player with topspin brought the cueball all the way back down to the black on its spot but unfortunately nearly touching it. After safeties from both players Hogg was left with another long pot on the black which disappeared at a rate of knots. Mike Crook 48-41 John Spellman, saw Spellman mugged at the death. Some very nice potting had given him a 20 lead on the colours before Crook took green, brown, blue and pink all into the same middle bag, the last two doubled before he went for glory on frame ball doubling the black the length of the table. This missed by a mile but Spellman couldn’t take his half chance with the rest and this left Crook to roll in a straight mid range black for the frame. Geoff Hall and Doug Kinrade fought out the decider, a re-match of the final game of last season where Hall dramatically took it to ultimately deny the Rockets the title. Kinrade added to his 21 start and was soon 30 ahead. Hall was making easy shots look hard but hard shots easy and closed the gap to a single point with 3 reds left. Hall had chances to win before Kinrade needed the final two balls for the match. He sunk the pink but was left with a horrible shot on the black. Cueball on the cushion near a black pocket and the black near the green spot. Kinrade brilliantly cut the black finely into the green bag only to see the cueball come off two cushions and seconds later slowly drop into the pocket he was stood at. A very very unfortunate way to lose!