Snooker: Hurricanes top league table

Report by Mike Crook

After week ten’s matches Malew were finally toppled from the head of the Macs Builders Merchants snooker league. Cue Zone Blinders 4-1 Peel Legion
 
The Blinders season is building momentum whereas Peel sink to the bottom. Apart from frame 3 which Peel’s late stand in Jason O'Connor took well against the luckless Sam Palmer 36-83, it was a case of the Legion losing out at the business end of each frame. Brandon Forrester took the first on the pink 55-39 over Tom Curphey who strangely didn't fancy going for just one snooker. Scott Campion made it 2-0, again on the pink with a late comeback when opponent Barton Beaumont looked a strong favourite approaching the colours, an in off blue proved costly late on, Campion 69-53 Beaumont. Frame 4 was in the balance before Josh Rigg sealed a Blinders win making a nicely controlled 22 clearance to beat John Kelly 60-35. The final frame between Ivan McMaw and Mike Crook swung both ways but with McMaw potting the more consistently. An unlucky in off when potting a long blue with the rest was Crook’s undoing, McMaw winning 68-46.
 
Jacksons 3-2 Newbys DSB
 
Dave Cavanagh 52-79 Calum Gardner was a good frame which the returning Gardner took with a nice 22 clearance. Lee Gale 60-27 Adam Dooley, this saw Gale in fine form and finished off the frame well on the colours as Dooley wasn't able to replicate last weeks heroics. Kam Virk 72-33 Ste MacDonald, Jackson’s captain Virk played an excellent frame including some blistering long pots and very good safety. Tony Dhadwal 7-86 Simon Gardner was another massive win for Gardner following on from last week’s 87-13 scoreline. Dhadwal did have some bad luck but Gardner was clever and finished off in style with a 26 break to level the tie. The decider saw Mike Reddington on league debut with a 35 start on Zain Abideen and he hardly needed it as he potted some great reds and blues. Abideen did fight back but Reddington, with some controlled match play snooker took frame and match 82-63. A great win 3-2 for Jacksons against the champions. Thanks for Kam Virk and Simon Gardner.
 
Malew 2-3 Cue Zone Mob
 
5 wins then 5 losses for Malew but they are second due to the margin of their early season wins. Alec Oates 51-58 Steve Finnegan was settled on a re-spotted black and as with the other two they've had this season, the result didn't go Malew’s way. Eric Drinkwater levelled in style potting some great balls throughout and Peter Kirkham never threatened Drinkwater’s start, frame ending 98-36. The frame of the night was James Goodwin v Dave Addinall, once again Addinall was in good nick to post this weeks highest break, a 45. Goodwin had some great long pots in the mix but a 25 clearance from Addinall sneaked it 97-102. Steve Oates picked up his first win of the season to make it a win for the Mob, David Quayle 36-61 Oates. In the finale, Mark Quinn 87-54 Peter Crellin made it respectable for Malew and kept Postie’s good run going.  Thanks to Dave Addinall.
 
Port St Mary Legion 4-1 C Z Reprobates
 
PSM can't stop winning now after their long barren spell and this, their third on the spin took them off the bottom of the league. Dave Pickersgill on the pink put them one up 48-40 over Brendan Clague. Dollin Mercer picked up Reprobates only frame, Phil Joynes 54-74 Mercer. Further scores of Shaun Roberts 75-50 Paul Tangeman, Marc Morley 89-66 Rhys Moore and Terry Boyle 81-47 Michael Lowe turned it into a fairly comfortable night.
 
St Olaves A 4-1 DSB Wannabes
 
Paul Smyth reports from Ramsey on a strong home performance.
 
Darrell Thacker 95-63 Steve Cowin, Thacker, giving away 56 start continued his solid home form, started with a few long pots. Cowin then fully opened the reds on a safety and Thacker was off with breaks of 32 and a 24 in quick succession and closed out the win. Paul Smyth 84-59 Paul McKinstry, Smyth giving away 56 also continued his recent attacking form. From McKinstry’s break off Smyth stunned in a full length opening red and held position on the black, but rattled it. Next visit though Smyth had a 29 break. McKinstry had a couple of nice single reds without colours. Smyth still had his potting boots on and had another run of 20, then closing out on the colours, was on 19 when missing a tough final blue. Dave Kelly 53-44 Fred Corris, Kelly had some good early pots to take a 20 point lead. Corris fought back well as he does and got his fair share of balls to keep it close all the way, indeed when he potted the final blue he was 3 ahead after some great potting. They battled on the pink for a few minutes, both having chances and missing. Then Corris was unlucky to go in off the pink, which Kelly later took for the frame, nicely full length into the green pocket. Sean Corkish 116-103 James Teare, with Corkish giving away 91 points, and all the high colours going safe showed excellent patience getting all the balls out into play. Once he got his chance he had a few teen breaks, then two 23 breaks to be only a couple of points behind. Having not potted too many balls, Teare then potted a beautiful long blue and landed reasonably perfect on the pink for the frame, but missed it. Corkish took the pink and the hard earned win. James Kerr 52-64 Dave Corris. Now playing off scratch Kerr was giving away 35, but a good frame was had by both players. Both potting well, but the breaks just falling short of the 20 mark. They battled through the colours with Corris getting his fair share, Kerr eventually potted a great blue and achieved a decent position on the pink into the yellow pocket, but didn't get the white down the table far enough to have an easier black along the bottom rail. With the black touching the cushion, Kerr hit just enough pace to give it a good chance of dropping, and enough pace to jiggle and move away from pocket if he missed, but miss it he did, and unluckily it stayed over the pocket. Corris then potted a long black to save the whitewash.
 
The Hurricanes  3-2 St Olaves Musicians 

Last but not least, Paul Smith reports from Douglas Snooker Bar. This was a dour match which started slightly before 8pm but still didn't finish until after 11:30. Jamie Wilson 85-63 Matthew Dodd. Both players are having a good season so this could have gone either way with Wilson giving 35 start. However, he made the early running and didn't miss many balls, but just when it looked like he would catch Doddsy easily the latter pulled out some of his customary amazing single ball pots, a couple of colours as well meant there was a slight gap approaching the colours. Wilson quickly closed this and went ahead for the first time meaning he only needed the blue, but with pink and black in the open there was always a chance of a Doddfather special. This wasn't to be though and Wilson potted the blue and soon after the pink to run out the winner. Next stop scratch! Stuart Littlewood 50-46 Peter Collister. This was always going to be a tough one to call and so it proved and being one of three frames decided on the black. Colly did what he does best and played hard match snooker limiting Stewie to long range efforts whilst picking points up where he could, classic no risk snooker which is why he is so hard to beat. Stewie maintained a decent gap until the final red when Colly put him in trouble on several occasions and forced a couple of errors. Colly took the early colours and snuck into the lead with just pink needed, however he left a lengthy pot for Stewie and after missing long range pots all night he chose the perfect time to stroke one home and end up perfectly on the black for a straightforward pot to the middle which clinched the frame. Paul Smith 63-75 Brian Howland was another close frame and definitely one for the purists. Smith started well and made inroads into Howland’s handicap immediately, however the majority of the reds ended up on the left hand side of the table surrounding the black and blue with pink at the baulk end. This limited scoring opportunities for both players and there were long safety exchanges with both players leaving nothing. A little flurry from Smith with a couple of pinks got him within a couple of points, but some excellent long potting from Howland meant he pulled away again. A good yellow, green and brown from Howland meant Smith could tie with the last 3 colours. A mistake from Howland when he went in off changed the equation and more safety play on the blue ensued until Smith made the error and left blue over the bag. After a few snooker attempts Smith accidentally potted the pink with probably his best pot of the night giving Howland a well deserved and hard fought win.Steve Munk 65-62 John Kennish was another long one. Kennish must wonder what he has to do to beat Munky as this seems to be a recurring match when these two teams meet and he invariably comes off second best. The balls quickly became scrappy and Munky turned down some of the more elaborate pots he usually goes for opting to make sure he didn't disturb the high value colours that were tied up. This tactic worked with Kennish picking a few reds and small colours off but not really making inroads to the 42 start he had to give. With the reds dwindling Kennish spent the latter part of the frame potting reds and trying to cannon the high value colours into play, but narrowly missing on each occasion. Coming into the colours it was anyone’s to win, but JFK had manoeuvred the awkward balls into pottable positions so when he took the green it looked like it was over. He then missed the brown in the pocket he was going for, the ball went twice across the table and dropped in the middle bag leaving him on blue. Pink followed and left himself a medium range rest shot on the black which he duly missed and in typical Munky fashion he doubled the black for the frame and returned John to his pocket! Chris Dagnall 78-85 Mike Doherty was an error-strewn war of attrition. Dagsy started well potting a great long red to leave himself on the black which he potted to make an immediate dent in the 49 start. A 25 break midway through the frame brought him to within striking distance, but Doc wasn’t giving up without a fight and coming into the colours, much as the previous frames there was nothing to choose between them, Dagsy holding a slight lead. By the time the last 3 colours were reached Doc needed them all and preceded to pot blue and pink leaving a mid range effort on the black. The attempted pot missed by quite a bit and left Dagsy with a choice between a fairly straight forward safety shot or an ultra fine cut to win the frame. On this occasion his choice proved to be the wrong one as he caught the black slightly too thick resulting in the black missing and the white rocketing into the opposite middle pocket to give Doc the frame.This could easily have been 4-1 either way, but the Hurricanes scraped home 3-2 to climb to the summit of the league.                                          

Hurricanes top the league on 31 points from Malew on 30 and St Olaves A who have a game in hand on 28 points. The final round of matches before the Christmas break sees Malew travel to face 4th placed St Olaves Musicians and St Olaves A are at Newbys DSB. Hurricanes have a by. Stu Littlewood, Jamie Wilson and Mark Quinn all won this week and still share the lead in the individual league on 9 wins. Dave Addinall increases his lead in the high breaks league on 33 points from John Kennish 20.5 and Sean Corkish on 14.5.