St Olaves claim third straight 5-0 victory
Report by Mike Crook:
Finch Hill Musicians A won their derby match against joint second placed Rockets to go 3 points clear in the Manx Car Store Snooker League. Meanwhile, St Olave’s claimed an unprecedented third successive 5-0 win by defeating the Miscues.
Finch Hill Rockets 1-4 Finch Hill Musicians A
Musicians A took the first four frames, all very tight to extend their lead at the top. Big hitters, Sean Rolt and John Kennish fired in multiple breaks, Kennish winning his frame starting 77 in arrears. Frame scores: John Spellman 66-71 Sean Rolt (breaks 37, 22), Leon Martin 48-57 Vinny Dale, Paddy Delaney 48-64 Mike Doherty, Marc Bolton 89-103 John Kennish (29, 27, 23) and Doug Kinrade 70-42 Zain Abideen. Musicians A now lead by 3 points but have their bye next week when the halfway point of the season is reached.
A third defeat in a row for the defending champions but they remain in second place. The match went to a decider where Steve Munk of the Hurricanes was defending a 56 start against Darryl Hill. A missed pink from Hill when on a break of 22 proved crucial and the unflappable Munk brought it home for the Douglas Snooker Bar outfit. Scores: Nialls Wilson 57-50 Dave Hill, Illiam Jones 22-63 Conor Mahon (32 break), Ste MacDonald 89-42 Nick Stephens, Lee Butterworth 63-76 Dollin Mercer and Steve Munk 100-43 Darryl Hill.
Perhaps a surprise result with Masters in 11th and Musicians B fourth at the start of play. Musicians B badly missed their talisman Matt Dodd who was stuck in Manchester. Unable to field a replacement meant the home team received the point. Jez Hill confirmed a Masters match win with frame three, he stays unbeaten and goes four from four, all by wide margins. Scores: Martin Rigg 58-49 Martin Rigby (20 break), Jez Hill 73-36 Pat Maher, Brendan Clague 51-26 Paul Tangeman and Tommy Clague 66-83 Vic Rigby.
Tony Pring 58-54 Steve Cowin - Tony, chasing 28 from the off made some good pots in a frame that took an hour to play. Crucially, Steve gave away some fouls on the colours and the result depended on a black ball battle. After having eight or nine knocks each, the end came when Steve went in-off trying to play safe. James Goodwin 61-37 David Callister - Similarly this lasted close to an hour. David was ahead by ten points when they got down to the colours. That difference was cleared when David presented Jimmy with 15 points in penalties. Jimmy potted the yellow and green followed by brown a couple of shots later. Jimmy went on to fluke the blue in the middle and eventually took the pink to make sure. Mark Quinn 66-56 Paul McKinstry - eight reds had been potted before Paul gained points from his own cue. There wasn't a lot between them at the colours stage. Mark potted yellow, green and brown. Paul picked off the blue. Paul then failed to escape from a fluked snooker and then proceeded to go in-off the pink. He recovered by doubling the pink into the middle only to follow this with going in-off the black and the loss of frame! Tony Cubbon 48-75 Dave Corris - Dave's first pot came from a good long shot out of baulk only to see the cue ball finish buried in the pack of reds and couldn't directly hit a colour. He nominated the black, struck it well, leaving the white safe. Dave was to stay ahead throughout despite Tony making a good effort to obtain snookers late on. Alec Oates 76-47 Harry Minor - I don't remember much about this frame, I know there was some steady play by both players. There were only a few points difference on reaching the brown. I potted brown, blue and pink to win and as a bonus took the black for a 22 clearance. There were certainly some late Christmas presents for Malew and Wannabes were unlucky not to get a victory.
Marc Morley 54-59 Chris Lawless - Marc had the start from hell and with Chris playing steady he was soon 38 ahead. However, Marc dug in and after taking all the colours down to the pink he was ahead by two. A safety battle ensued and Chris just got over the line with a good pot on the black. Phil Joynes 60-44 Stephen Berry - Phil played well, got the start back but going to the colours it was anybody's frame. Stephen was unlucky whilst playing a safety shot on the green to pot the pink and Phil then took green to pink for the win. Andrew Hutchison 50-19 Andy Moore - Andy H had the run in the battle of the Andy’s and in potting the final green he left Andy M needing two snookers and the handshake was offered. Dave Pickersgill 58-18 Chris Reynolds - Dave was on top and played very well but Chris potted some very impressive balls and will certainly be one to watch in the future. Terry Boyle 37-66 Mark Davenport - Mark was on form, good pots and safety but did leave a chance with three reds left. However, in paying attention to the position on the next red I left the black over the pocket and the frame was effectively over. 3-2 to us, these boys are a nice friendly bunch and I am sure they will do well in due course.
Dave Kelly 50-40 Ben Peach - Not vintage Kelly but after a lot of huffing and puffing he earned himself a shot on the final black to centre for frame. He missed, but it went safe, Peach played a safety but the white trickled into a middle pocket. Paul Smyth 80-71 Keiron Horrox - Another frame that could’ve gone either way, both missing golden chances to finish it on the colours. In the end experience won out and Smyth took it with a blue, pink finish. Geoff Hall 71-58 Luca McDermott - Hall, for the second time in three weeks hit a decisive 25 break, though he hung his head in shame after missing a very gettable blue to keep the break going. Anthony Bayle 44-21 Reiner Naylor - Bayle started well but neither player could string anything together. Bayle edged ahead and claimed the point in a low scoring affair. Dan Crawley 78-52 Ollie Pickford - Crawley quickly closed the gap and pushed ahead, the breaks dried up but he picked off enough reds and colours to seal an amazing third 5-0 in a row for the northerners.
2.) Cue Zone Blinders - 34 points
3.) Finch Hill Rockets - 33 points
4.) St Olaves - 31 points
2.) John Kennish - 8 wins
=.) Sean Rolt - 8 wins
2.) Sean Rolt - 18.5 points
3.) Darryl Hill - 15.5 points
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