SNOOKER: Blinders maintain status quo as Mob close in

Seventeen breaks of 20+ in week 6 of MAC's Snooker League

This week, there were wins for the top two, Blinders and Jacksons plus some top snooker from the Mob sent them third.

Cue Zone Masters 2-3 Cue Zone Blinders

The Cue Zone appears to be having something of a media blackout so information is scarce. Conor Mahon went top of the individual league and helped the leaders maintain a 2 point margin over Jacksons. Calum Gardner hit the highest break of the week with 52, but still lost by a single point. Frame scores: Tommy Clague 56-69 Nick Stephens, Les Briggs 34-63 Conor Mahon, Brendan Clague 83-82 Calum Gardner, Ivan McMaw 41-43 David Hill and Martin Rigg 67-20 Scott Campion.

Finch Hill Mob 4-1 Peel Legion 

Conceding 70, 42, 49, 21 and 7 across the five frames, the Mob put on a high quality and entertaining display. Peter Kirkham 92-81 Barton Beaumont  An unwanted start from Kirkham, cannoning the black in when playing safe off the reds. He recovered with a superb break of 41 including numerous pots cueing tight off cushions as the white refused land nicely. One red left and Kirkham still needed all the remaining balls, Beaumont fouled leaning over the table and Kirkham cleared with a 34 break which included a beautiful doubled yellow to a corner for perfect position on the green. Steve Finnegan 73-59 Tom Randall  A candidate for the worst break-off attempt ever from Finn, trying to get the reds opened up. He scuffed the white towards a middle bag and knocked the yellow off its spot with his tip! The frame was full of flukes and mishaps but Finn did redeem himself with a dream of a positional shot, cutting in a fine long final blue, the white travelling another 12 feet to cannon the pink off the middle of the baulk cushion to leave a tap in. Peter Crellin 89-67 John Kelly  Crellin showed Finn a proper break-off shot, snookering Kelly on all 15 reds. Crellin’s safety game earned him chances to score and he had a couple of very nice breaks, 23 followed immediately by 30, winning with the blue. Lee Hunt 66-50 Mike Crook  Some good safety from Crook but even then The Blade kept finding a way to pot them. He finished the frame with a deliberately played long doubled pink to a corner. Lee Butterworth 17-58 Geoff Hall  Butterworth obviously felt sorry for Peel and lashed at a few, giving the cueball every opportunity to find a pocket, donating many bonus points to Hall who put in a solid display.

Finch Hill Musicians A 2-3 Jacksons

By John Kennish

Peter Collister 68-52 Kam Virk  Evenly contested until Peter found his feet with a nice 28 break. The frame was in the balance with blue, pink and black left. Peter managed to get in and take the blue and pink to win the frame. Simon Gardner 27-37 Richard Hillier  Hard fought contest with neither player being able to take advantage early on. Colours were at a premium. Simon was a little unlucky to narrowly miss the pink and left a simple chance which Richard duly took for the frame. Paul Tangeman 52-68 Alex Sinclair  Some good potting from Alex, coupled with some fouls at the worst time for Paul resulted in Alex clawing back the deficit and taking the frame on the blue. Zain Abideen 51-18 Lee Gale  Starting 7 ahead, Zain took control of the frame with a 20 break. Lee wasn’t at his best which allowed Zain to take the frame after a couple of previously missed opportunities. John Kennish 59-96 Dave Welsh  Another scrappy game with all the high valued colours off their spots. John had runs of 22 and 20, but some simple misses together with good safety from Dave meant that John never really threatened overhauling the 63 handicap.

St Olave’s 3-2 Finch Hill Rockets

By Paul Smyth

Dave Kelly 55-75 John Spellman  A real good battle which was tit for tat all the way. John left the final brown in the jaws of the green pocket with frame ball blue available also, only to see the white creep behind the blue snookering Dave. Unfortunately for Dave he failed to hit the brown and left John plumb on the brown with blue and pink waiting for the first point of the night. Paul Smyth 65-85 Marek Kenny  Marek started 28 up, had a couple of very nice potting visits mid-frame to leave Paul needing two snookers. Paul laid some tough ones and eventually he could win. With the winning line in sight he went for the clearance but rattled a difficult pink leaving Marek a very tough thin cut-back pink to the yellow pocket which he happily sank. Michael Heathcote 71-15 Graham Ashton  Mike had already raced into a good lead before the black went over the corner pocket covered by reds and the frame turned tactical with a long safety battle. Mike came out of this on top to cap a superb all round performance. Some bad run and three unforeseen in-offs didn’t help Ashton. It was the longest frame of the night by some way, and that's even with Smyth and Hogg in the same room! James Kerr 95-86 Marc Bolton  James giving 56 away didn't think that was enough, so potted the white off the break! James stuck to his task with a nice 29 but Bolton also had his fair share of pots and soon James needed a snooker. He drew the foul and won with a 22 clearance which included worldie brown and pinks finishing perfect on the black to make it two all. Dan Crawley 67-22 Jonny Hogg  Worryingly in the decider the black ended up over the same corner pocket as in frame 3 with a red covering it and everyone thinking, 'here we go again’. It didn't last too long though, Dan got in first with a 20 break to ease his mind, from there he was in control, taking frame and match while restricting Jonny to just scoring 8 points.

Malew 1-4 Finch Hill Musicians B

Tony Cubbon 14-167 Vic Rigby  No, this isn’t a misprint. A very out of sorts Cubbon was swept aside, but well done Vic, as the saying goes, ‘you can only beat what’s in front of you’. James Goodwin 75-25 Mike Doherty  A fine win by Goodwin who did a similar job on Doherty last season. He was to be the sole winner for Malew as the remaining frames went fairly comfortably to Musicians B, Alec Oates 30-71 Pat Maher, Oates handicap will go up after this. Tony Pring 29-67 Matthew Dodd, Dodd was cueing smoothly, a couple of teen breaks was enough. Mark Quinn 28-58 Noel McConville  Quinn was up against it here and he too will get an extra 7 points on his handicap from next week. McConville has now won four from five since his return to the game after a long absence.

Port St Mary Legion 2-3 The Hurricanes

By Terry Boyle

Matthew Astall 91-51 Ste MacDonald  An open frame and Matty starting with 16 to go with a 35 start. Ste was always chasing, he had a couple of teen breaks but Matty was always in charge.

Marc Morley 42-105 Chris Dagnall  Marc is playing well this season but on the night Dags was unplayable, the highlight being a very well constructed 42 break. Phil Joynes 14-63 Paul Smith  Very tight at the start but a loose safety from Phil allowed Paul a 28 break and thereafter he kept Phil at arms length. Terry Boyle 71-79 Jamie Wilson  Leading 71-19 I felt in complete control, however five reds left and a loose shot from me let Jamie in. He worked hard for a 42 break and was unlucky to miss a final blue. One final chance for me to take the frame, I missed and Jamie cleared the last three colours. Well played Jamie. Mike Boyle 78-27 Steve Munk  Lots of safety, Steve got a few long reds but only baulk colours. Mike potted well, got a 20 break followed by another 20 and forged ahead. With the frame already over Munk got a brilliant pink and black to show us what might have been.

Top of the league: Cue Zone Blinders 20 points, Jacksons 18, Finch Hill Mob 17. Individual League: Conor Mahon 6 wins, David Callister, Dave Welsh, Alex Sinclair, Nick Stephens and Tony Cubbon 5. High Break League: John Kennish 19 points, Darryl Hill 8.5, Peter Crellin and Peter Kirkham 8. Next week’s matches: Blinders vs Mob, Jacksons vs Wannabes, Musicians ‘B’ vs Masters, Rockets vs Malew, Hurricanes vs St Olaves and Peel vs Musicians A.