Snooker: League leaders beaten by Malew

Rockets' lead at the summit cut down after slip-up

Report by Mike Crook:

Finch Hill Rockets’ lead of the Manx Car Store Snooker League was cut as they slipped up, away at ninth-placed Malew. 

Malew 3-2 Finch Hill Rockets

Report by Alec Oates:

James Goodwin 76-35 John Spellman - Starting 49 in arrears, John struggled to find any sort of form, Jimmy making enough good pots. Mark Quinn 25-50 Rodger Clague - Postie wasn't at his best and Rodger played some good shots. A fluked blue didn't help Postie's cause but Rodger deserved his win. Tony Pring 74-81 Leon Martin - Tony has had problems with his cue action and this was no exception. Young Leon made a break of 16 early on and looked to have control. Tony laid a few snookers from which Leon failed to escape. In the end Leon had to pot pink and black to force a re-spot. A number of safety shots ensued, but it was the Malew player that left a chance for Leon and he sank it. Tony Cubbon 47-26 Marc Bolton - Tony made it difficult for Mark with a solid display of potting. Tony should have registered a big one but missed an easy pot into a middle bag. Alec Oates 57-43 Graham Ashton - Graham and I always seem to have good battles. We both made some good pots and safety manoeuvres. I needed to pot the green to leave Graham needing a snooker. Unfortunately for Graham I managed to fluke it! The brown was on a side cushion but the pink was making a big corner pocket and thanks to the pink it went in. A doubled blue followed, game and match over. Only one win for the Rockets in their last ten visits to fortress Malew.

Finch Hill Mob 1-4 Cue Zone Blinders

Blinders brought an end to the Mob’s seven-match win streak and in doing so cut the Rockets lead down to three points, Blinders still having a game in hand. Dollin Mercer put them on their way and is now nine from nine after a 25 clearance against William Hogg, 83-105. Jonny Hogg levelled the match, 68-57 Conor Mahon, before Lee Hunt 42-82 Harry Ellis and Steve Finnegan 16-49 Brandon Forrester gave Blinders an unassailable lead. The best frame of the night, between Peter Kirkham and Darryl Hill was marred by the subsequent discovery that too high a handicap was accidentally used by Peter which resulted in a walkover win for the Blinders. Darryl had hit an early 57 break but Peter replied with teen breaks and sank a long final black down the side cushion into the green pocket, all in vain.

Cue Zone Masters 3-2 Finch Hill Musicians A

Report by Martin Rigg:

Martin Rigg 55-54 Vinny Dale - Martin got ahead early on but Vinny was back into it by the colours. By the pink Vinny was needing snookers and it was all over when he potted it, giving Martin the win. A spectacular Dale crowd-pleaser black followed, but it was just too late! Frame two was a walkover to the Masters after a late withdrawal from a player. Brendan Clague 61-68 Simon Gardner - A close match throughout, which went all the way to a re-spotted black. Les Briggs 39-68 Tom Randall -Both players started well but Tom was the more consistent player, giving a solid performance. Ivan McMaw 107-56 John Kennish - With a 77 start to claw back, John put in a nice 30 break but was unable to get any further momentum, allowing Ivan to pick off the reds and small breaks, leaving John too much to do. 

St Olave's 4-1 The Hurricanes

Paul Smyth 65-55 Shaun Roberts - Paul stays top of the individual league, winning with a trademark long pink. Mike Crook 62-17 Nialls Wilson - Steady stuff from Crook after he’d got away with putting the wrong sidespin on his break-off. Nialls couldn’t settle into the slow conditions and had no luck, only scoring six from his cue. Geoff Hall 50-68 Jamie Wilson - A very good frame, where Wilson was only conceding seven points. An outrageous fluked blue helped Hall accrue a 22 break to put him level late on. Wilson showed his class with a green to pink clearance, not even put off when the lights went out on his backswing mid-break. Anthony Bayle 78-16 Lee Butterworth - A maiden league ‘high break’ for Bayle of 22, he also hit a couple of teen efforts. Dan Crawley 77-68 Darran Creer - Chasing 49, Crawley just made it after Creer somehow saw his white find a way into the middle via the baulk cushion when playing the final brown. Crawley cleared to the black, without showboating.

Finch Hill Musicians B 4-1 Snooker Bar-barians

Musicians ‘B’ ended a run of four losses to move up to fourth, nine points behind the leaders. They only have five matches to play and would require an unlikely set of results to take the title, but stranger things have happened. Their mainstays, Paul Tangeman and Matt Dodd once again delivered. Mark Davenport was by far the best performer for Bar-barians, not missing much. Frame scores: Martin Rigby 51-29 Chris Reynolds, Vic Rigby 54-23 Neil Birchenough, Noel McConville 35-67 Mark Davenport, Paul Tangeman 61-26 Andy Moore and Matt Dodd 68-31 Paul Craine.

DSB Wannabes 3-2 The Miscues

Wannabes put another dent in their ‘quest’ for a seventh consecutive wooden spoon claiming an eighth win, having only managed five in total last season. It was a very close call, Mark Corlett of the Miscues forced a decider by taking his first league win before Michael Creer took frame and match via a re-spot. Frame scores: Steve Cowin 54-78 Ollie Pickford, David Callister 50-33 Rob Dolby, Dave Corris 52-28 Kelvin Revere, Paul McKinstry 55-88 Mark Corlett and Michael Creer 60-53 Ben Peach.

Top League Standings

1.) Finch Hill Rockets - 59 points
2.) Cue Zone Blinders - 56 points
3.) Finch Hill Musicians A - 52 points
4.) Finch Hill Musicians B - 50 points

High Break League Standings

1.) John Kennish - 40 points
2.) Peter Kirkham - 25 points
3.) Darryl Hill - 20 points

Top Individual League Standings

1.)  Paul Smyth - 13 wins
2.) Matt Dodd - 12 wins
3.) Tony Cubbon - 11 wins
=.) Paul Tangeman - 11 wins