Snooker: Wannabes halt Malew's winning streak

Report by Mike Crook

With nearly a quarter of the season gone in the Macs Builders Merchants snooker league, leaders Malew had the chance to extend their lead at home to last seasons wooden spoon winners DSB Wannabes.
 
Malew 1-4 Douglas Snooker Bar Wannabes
 
Malew’s winning streak came to a halt as the Wannabes notched up their third win of the season where two black ball losses proved costly for the leaders. Eric Drinkwater stayed unbeaten though winning 44-23 over Paul McKinstry. Scores of James Goodwin 54-56 Stevie Cowin and Mark Quinn 42-71 Fred Corris put Wannabes ahead and James Teare sealed the win on the black 76-85 against Alec Oates. David Quayle lost another close final frame 53-62 to Dave Corris. Wannabes only managed four wins last season so hopefully they'll surpass that?
 
Cue Zone Blinders 2-3 St Olaves A
 
Blinders gave the experienced second placed St Olaves team a good fight. The three frames they lost all went to the pink. Frame scores, Brandon Forrester 51-59 Dave Kelly, Scott Campion 38-57 Darrell Thacker (22 break). Sam Palmer 91-60 Sean Corkish (39 break), Ivan McMaw 57-72 James Kerr (21 break) and on a re-spotted black Jez Hill dusted down his cue after 4 years without league action to win 90-83 over Paul Smyth.
 
Cue Zone Mob 4-1 Cue Zone Reprobates
 
The Mob have now won three on the spin and had this match won after three frames, Peter Kirkham 97-71 Michael Lowe, Dave Addinall 121-87 Ashley Howard and Steve Finnegan 83-67 Brendan Clague. Breaks of 31 and 28 for Kirkham and Addinall respectively. Paul Tangeman pulled one back 47-56 over Steve Oates before Lee Hunt ran out a wide margin winner 80-31 against Dollin Mercer.
 
Port St Mary Legion 2-3 Finch Hill Rockets
 
PSM still can't win a match but that surely can't be far off as they pushed the Rockets all the way with three of their players scoring towards the breaks league as Graham Ashton and Ken Kinrade report.

Dave Pickergill 62-88 Marek Kenny, was a very watchable frame with a quite a few excellent long pots and safety exchanges from both. It was fairly level at the start of the colours and thereafter there were a few fouls on the yellow from fluked snookers that favoured Kenny. Pickersgill then fluked the green from safety shot, and a sequence of snookers and free balls followed.

With the scores level on brown, Kenny was gifted a free ball and made 13 to leave Pickersgill needing two snookers. Kenny potted an awesome pink down the cushion to seal the frame. Sean Roberts 89-53 Ron Grogan, it was very evident Roberts was striking the ball well, with several good long reds and he shortly followed up with a very well constructed 53 break, as good as you'll see and unlucky to be slightly hampered playing the brown or it would have been even higher, and he gained a well earned round of applause.

The Rocket, soon requiring snookers on last few colours conceded the frame. Terry Boyle 68-31 Graham Ashton was very one sided, a ‘very poor’ effort from the rusty Ashton, but the credit goes to Boyle who play superbly and missed very little. An excellent 28 and several other teen breaks left Ashton too far behind. Phil Joynes 47-58 John Spellman, Joynes started out potting some very nice balls but unusually for him, missed some key ones and wasn't able to build any breaks of note.

Fortunately for Joynes, Spellman followed suit and very slowly the 21 point handicap difference was eroded. With just a few points between the two players at the start of the colours and some good snookers being laid and escaped from, it was always going to be the first mistake that was costly and so it was that with the scores tied on 47 each it was John who took the blue and pink to creep over the line.

Mike Boyle 70-100 Doug Kinrade, with a 63 start Kinrade played well and kept Boyle quiet for most of the frame, lots of reds going safe preventing him from scoring. Kinrade had a 17 to push his advantage further, whilst some awesome single ball potting by Boyle as is his trademark, but not getting enough colours to make a comeback. Meanwhile, Kinrade picked off a few himself and Boyle knocked in an impressive 28 towards the end of the frame rather than slog it out for snookers. A good win for the Rockets considering that PSM played the better snooker in general.
 
St Olaves Musicians 4-1 Peel Legion
 
Thirteen legs from the last fifteen have now gone the Musicians way as Peel’s slow start continues. No showstoppers from Matt Dodd in the first frame as he gently cashed in on any chances given by Tom Curphey of Peel. This was only Curphey’s second ever outing and with a bit more experience he'll start winning, Dodd 67-35 Curphey.

Meanwhile, on the adjacent table the vastly experienced John Kennish was up against another Peel player with just one frame under his belt, Barton Beaumont. Beaumont started with a screaming long red to add to his 70 start and Kennish must have wondered if the handicaps were right? With the big colours going towards the cushions Kennish had to travel around the table for a 37 break. Another nice clearance of 27 saw Kennish over the line 89-72.

Beaumont may have only potted a couple of balls but certainly made it hard with some good tactical play. Brian Howland was always ahead of Geoff Hall in the next and steadily edged away with solid play. Hall did have one moment with a crazy teen break, all very tricky shots but then shot himself in the foot with some self inflicted fouls, Howland 69-28 Hall. The reliable John Kelly picked up Peels sole frame with a 35-68 win over Mike Doherty. Nice long potting from Kelly being the highlight. Peter Collister seemed to be heading for a comfortable win in the final frame but a late rally from Jim Caley on the colours meant it was only decided on the pink, Collister 83-66 Caley.
 
The Hurricanes 4-1 Newbys DSB
 
Paul Smith reports on the derby match at Douglas Snooker Bar. Jamie Wilson 81-30 Calum Gardner, Wilson got in early and built up a bit of a cushion before a 33 break effectively put the frame out of Gardner’s reach.

He had a couple of chances to come back but a further 17 break from Wilson, missing a black for another 20+ break pretty much ended the frame. Stu Littlewood 69-57 Adam Dooley, Littlewood built up a healthy lead before keeping Dooley in the long grass and limiting him to long pots.

Both traded a few reds and colours until it looked like Littlewood had the frame sewn up, but an absolute belter of a long red and then a good black from Dooley meant that he still needed a ball to win. Dooley picked off the colours and some excellent safety from both players followed. Dooley doubled the pink and left himself a tricky black which ended up in the jaws of the pocket for Littlewood to tap in and keep his 100% record intact.

Paul Smith 81-60 MacDonald, Smith caught the start up quickly with the aid of a 22 break which included a rather embarrassing fluke on the pink with the initial shot being a mile off.

MacDonald uncharacteristically missed a lot of balls not taking advantage of the chances that came his way, but Smith couldn't find the killer blow and the frame turned rather scrappy towards the end. Smith falling over the line by potting the blue and pink. Chris Dagnall 50-39 Zain Abideen, was a tight affair all the way with neither player stamping their authority on the game. Wilson was tearing his hair out reffing this one, his second of the night, the first also being a long affair!

The frame eventually came down to the final three balls which Dagsy took, the final black being a definite squeaky job! Steve Munk 38-63 Pat Maher, Maher started like a house on fire and potted some great early balls and never really stopped all frame. Munky had his chances, but too many missed colours. Maher on the other hand took colours every time. Munky needed all the balls from green to tie the game, but this never looked a possibility, although Maher had to wait until the blue to secure the frame. A good win for the Hurricanes.
 
Malew still lead by five points with 23 and face a tough away trip to Newbys next week whilst second placed St Olaves A take on Jacksons. The Mob, Hurricanes and Musicians all share third a further point back. Stu Littlewood leads the individual league, unbeaten on 6 wins and Dave Addinall and Eric Drinkwater also still unbeaten both on 5 wins. Addinall still holds a healthy lead in the breaks league.