Southport & District Amateur Snooker League - |
Administrator - Chris Gill | chrisgill147@aol.com | Phil Green | southport.snooker.results@hotmail.com | ||||
League | Tables | Fixtures & Results | Player Rankings | Player Aggregates | Player Stats (All Seasons) | Highest Breaks | Breaks (All Divisions & Cups) | Breaks (All Seasons) | Head to Head | Clubs | Pictures | Roll of Honour | News | Forum | Committee | Documents | Rules | Search | Subscribe | |||
Cups | Atherton Cup | Birch Pairs | Frank Lodge Trophy | J.J.Birch Cup | J.W.Blyden Trophy | James Yates Trophy | Lucas Cup | Marshall Cup | Rickerby Cup | | |||
|
News |
*** Southport Snooker League News *** Southport Snooker League News *** Southport Snooker League News *** The Snooker Presentation Night will be held at the Churchtown Con Club, Thursday the 23rd of May, the Marshall Handicap final being played before the presenting of the cups and trophies. That final will start at 7:30pm Individual and Team Cup Competitions... The James Yates 1st Division Final Rickerby Cup Final The Birch Handicapped Pairs semi-finals & finals Marshall Handicap Open Final Cup Final results... The Frank Lodge Final The opening two frames got off to a bit of a luke warm start, players from both sides struggling to find any form at all in the early stages. John Stringfellow and Paul Connor were locked for most of their frame until John went in off after potting the second to last red handing the advantage over to Paul Connor who took the frame 69-37 in the end. John ‘Basher’ Barton smashed and walloped his way to a healthy 25 point lead over poor David Robinson who just couldn’t pot a thing early on. But Basher’s aim started to lose its way as the frame progressed, David fighting back admirably only to go in-off the final black, losing out 38-42, which was hard to take for the Birkdale man. The middle pairings saw a definite swing to the Birkdale Boys, the pressure building up, and missed pots seaming to play havoc with the nerves of players on both sides. John Warnick and Colin Tennant played out a scrappy frame, John managing to pull away and take it 61-38, the 24 point advantage helped by potting most of the final colours. That 24 point advantage was then extended as Reg ‘The Rocket’ Dobson beat Mark Kitchen 57-20, knocking in some superb full length of the table shots, enjoying a slice of luck on the way it must be said, but, hey, it all helps out as they say. The situation was that Birkdale could try and defend a 108 point lead if they could, or go for it and stop Churchtown from scoring. With Churchtown probably having to gamble and force the pace to get back in to it. How the frames eventually panned out was probably not what everyone watching on could have imagined. The start of the frame between Phil Green and George Wright saw both players missing good opportunities to put pressure on their opponent, none more than George who looked like he was playing with a broom handle than a snooker cue. How he got out to a 20 point lead early on is anyone’s guess, but eventually he found some form. A really nicely taken break of 24 seemed to kick start the memory bank, and after that he cruised his way to a final 76-20 win, the four pots made to make the 22 break clearance was a joy to watch. As George was finally starting to find his feet, Gary Hudson was already over 40 points up on Geoff Tyas, the bit right between his teeth, nothing safe and looking likely to get the 108 point deficit back on his own. But an in-off here, missed pot there, Gary started to feel the pressure. So, when George potted the final blue in his frame towards dishing up, it put Churchtown 3 points ahead on the aggregate, with Gary still having all the colours left on the table…!! With this in mind, the watchers on were now getting very much involved, the number crunching started and the nerves starting to get shredded. It was all going off…!! It meant that each and every pot that either Geoff or Gary made was hugely important as to who could go on to claim the Lodge title, with Geoff having a couple of attempts himself on the final four colours to pull it back towards a Birkdale’s win. Gary, however just needing a couple of good pots to send it Churchtown’s way. It was nicely balanced. With just the 18 left on the table, a three ball clearance from Geoff would see Birkdale take it by a single point, leaving Churchtown short in their huge attempted comeback. Geoff sunk the final blue with the rest but let the white run in to an area of the table that was too far in to reach for comfort, and an awkward shot to play with the rest. His attempt missed, it would be his last chance. Step forward Gary Hudson who would make the final and most important pot of the night when clipping in a tough-ish pink to the yellow pocket with the rest to ensure that it would be the Churchtown lads who would come out triumphant in the end, and the 2024 Frank Lodge winners…!! A great night had by all, though the Birkdale players might not share that view, credit going to the resilience that the final pair from Churchtown showed, who never gave up in their efforts to get back that huge 108 start. Superb stuff indeed…!! The Lucas Open final The third frame followed the theme of the previous two frames, Trevor playing mostly from the baulk cushion as he had done all night, the splinters from the baulk rail causing him more pain than not being able to pot a ball. When Trevor did get his hand on the table, he just couldn’t find any rhythm or flow to his game, breaking down almost straight away. This was no more highlighted in this frame when he played and missed on a few safety shots only to eventually fluke a red, land on a colour but missed his next shot. That just meant Gareth was in amongst the balls, reds not ideal, but a path laid out before him. With just the four reds left, Gareth noticeably checked the score, saw the total left and went for the flat 100 break still left on. It surprised us all when he broke down on 65 having missed the last red with all the colours located on their spots. Don’t worry, he’s be back…!! The fourth, and what would prove to be the last frame on the night, was magically taken by Gareth who, once in amongst the reds plied his craft, skill and touch to create a wonderful exhibition of break building. As Gareth got the high colours out in to the open, available to all pockets, his arm did the rest culminating in a wonderful clearance of 123 made from taking the final 13 reds and colours, to see him record his 9th century break this season…!! Well played to Gareth, his appetite for winning and entertaining are equally admirable, and whose records may never be beaten if his eyes last that is…!! For those of us who enjoy watching him play this wonderful game of ours, long may he reign…!! The JJ Birch, 2nd Division final The second frame got away from Stan early on, not that Andy potted everything, he just chipped in with the odd red and colour combo, it was that Stan just couldn’t seem to pot a colour, any colour after sinking a red missing a couple of big shots on the blue twice and a couple each on the pink and black. Andy took his time and eventually killed the game off 60-19, Stan unable to make any inroads to the lead Andy had built. The Seniors Cup final The opening frame took a while to get going, both players maybe suffering from cup final nerves before Reg started to pull away aided by his 28 handicap from the start. Mick now faced a deficit of 48 points before he landed his first pot but got it back to be 46 behind with 51 on, then 33 with all the colours left on. But try as he might, he just couldn’t get Reg in any danger in regards to drawing a foul from him, Reg taking the opening frame 65-29 after sinking the final brown. The 2nd frame saw Mick play with a little more freedom, trying to force his way back in to the match, and he did playing some good snooker and potting some crucial balls. Only 9 back and all of the colours left on, Mick probably fancied levelling things up, but with some bad shots, missed pots Reg began to pick the colours off one by one. Mick, now needing one snooker with just the pink and black balls left on couldn’t have been given a better chance when Reg missed the pink completely to hand the required foul points over to Mick. Game on. But a few shots later Mick left the pink right over the middle home for Reg to sink and take it 2-0. For Reg, absolute delight at claiming his first Individual Cup competition. For Mick, he would have rather played the 9 holes on the green turf than the 6 holes on the green baize at the time…!! The Atherton, 3rd Division Final In only his first full season playing in the Southport Snooker League Andrei has played himself in to the history of the Atherton Cup, the 48th new name on the cup in it’s 56 year of it’s playing. The opening frame got off to a somewhat predictable cagey start, both players showing more than a bit of respect for each other. The frame eventually coming down to a wonderful cut back on the final blue to clot home the pink into the middle, taking it 54-46 in the end. All the best, keep smiling and enjoy your snooker Chris Gill Gen Sec
|