SNOOKER: Cue Zone Blinders' lead cut to just 3 points

All to play for as season half-way point approaches

Cue Zone Blinders suffered another defeat, the chasing pack all hold a game in hand. At the lower end of the table, Hurricanes and St Olave’s both scored maximum points.

Jacksons 4-1 Cue Zone Blinders

By Kam Virk

Lee Gale 92-42 Nick Stephens  Stephens 14 start wasn’t enough with Gale potting nice teen breaks plus a 22. A rare defeat for Stephens. Alex Sinclair 58-52 Conor Mahon  Another 14 start for the Blinders player but Sinclair started to close down straight away. It went to the black which Sinclair took with a nice long pot. As with Stephens in the previous frame, this was just Mahon’s second loss in ten. David Notman 56-49 David Hill  This also went all the way with both making nice small breaks, however Notman claimed the spoils with a blue, pink and black. Dave Welsh 26-70 Brandon Forrester  Welsh wasn’t left much and couldn't get into the game, whereas Brandon's potting was near perfect. Kam Virk 65-52 Scott Campion  Virk started 7 up and soon added to it with a run of 17. Great potting from both players ended up with a third black ball frame of the evening. Scott left it over the middle bag and Virk tucked it away nicely. The black ball frames all going Jacksons way throws them right back into the title race.

Douglas Snooker Bar Wannabes 2-3 Finch Hill Musicians B

By Matt Dodd

Jason Campbell 64-73 Mike Doherty  Jason potted very well at the start and was 25 ahead at one point. The best of Jason's pots was a full length blue to the top bag. Experience just won out though, as The Doc belatedly notched his first win of the campaign. Steve Cowin 69-87 Martin Rigby  Marty quickly pulled back Steve’s start. The speed of the new cloth on table 3 caught out Steve a couple of times causing in-offs. Dave Corris 61-40 Matthew Dodd  Dave followed in the footsteps of his dad Fred to once again deny Doddsy a handicap cut to an all time low of 28. It was neck and neck all the way, Dodd looked like he was going to clinch it after potting yellow and green but then went in-off on the brown leaving all colours sitting nicely for Dave. David Callister 57-70 Pat Maher  David’s winning run finally came to an end, with both players playing well. Dave didn’t go down without a fight, his shot when hampered in potting the green to reach the brown was one of the best. David still holds joint top spot in the individual league as both Mahon and Stephens also lost for Blinders. Paul McKinstry 76-69 Vic Rigby  Vic was chasing a 42 start but Paul potted well and looked a certain winner. Vic fought back amazingly well with some fantastic balls to take it to the black and had the opportunity to slot it in the middle pocket, he was very unlucky to miss and Paul fell over the line.

Finch Hill Musicians A 1-4 Finch Hill Rockets

By John Spellman

Sean Rolt 27-69 Sean Murphy  Rolt, a multiple island champion was playing his first league match for many years. Murphy the Machine with a 21 start and rolled on to another win with an industrious performance. His namesake narrowly missed out on re-gaining a foothold in the frame with makeable breaks which he didn’t capitalise upon. That said, Murphy’s Law of “if it’s pottable he will have a go” is becoming a byline for the pool turned snooker class performer. Peter Collister 44-85 Marc Bolton  With his 42 start, Marc quickly built this lead to nearly 60 leaving an uphill battle for Peter. Marc focused on taking points whenever they presented and looked well in control. Despite a late rally from Peter including some excellently executed snookers, with only the colours remaining the players shook hands. John Kennish 55-98 Jonny Hogg  The legendary Mr Kennish was unable to turnaround a 49 start with Jonny focused on never leaving the door open for his opponent. One chance for JK to build a sizeable break slipped away with a loose white when on 16. Jonny’s safety game was excellent and he notched up his first win of the season and we probably wont hear the last of it for the next week! Zain Abideen 72-81 Graham Ashton  In fiercely fought match, it was Zain’s potting prowess that marked the frame. However, not to be outdone, Ashton’s safety play and patience paid dividends giving him the chance to stay in touch. Good pots on yellow to brown for Ashton, then Zain was unlucky to go in-off the blue. Ashton finally stole it with blue and pink. An enjoyable game where both players shone at times. Paul Tangeman 83-23 Doug Kinrade  You know when you’ve been “Tango’d” and it was Dougie who was on the receiving end of persistent small breaks as Paul built an unassailable lead. Whilst Dougie tried to find his range with the odd good pot he didn’t manage to build this into anything meaningful. Paul ran out a thoroughly deserved winner.

Cue Zone Masters 3-2 Port St Mary Legion

Three wins in a row for the Masters and they still have some players that look well handicapped. That said, Jez Hill’s win in frame 3 sees him now cut to 42, a level he’s only reached once before. Scores: Brendan Clague 38-61 Marc Morley, Les Briggs 58-31 Matthew Astall, Jez Hill 77-56 Phil Joynes, Ivan McMaw 41-67 Dave Pickersgill and Martin Rigg 54-40 Terry Boyle.

Finch Hill Mob 0-5 The Hurricanes  

My correspondent from the home team didn’t want to say too much about this, only that, ‘giving starts to people that can hold a cue is not good and the Mob had no luck’. Peter Kirkham 53-84 Paul Smith  A 32 break from Peter but Smithy had a 23 in return and finished the frame well. Dags, Freddie and Jamie were all very solid as Hurricanes put last week’s home thumping behind them, Steve Finnegan 27-81 Chris Dagnall (29 break), Lee Hunt 47-77 Freddie Dancox, Peter Crellin 1-86 Jamie Wilson (24). Steve Munk wrapped up the whitewash with a 20 break, Lee Butterworth 16-45 Munk.

Malew 0-5 St Olave’s

By Paul Smyth

Tommy Lawler 43-68 Paul Smyth  Giving away a 42 start, Paul started on the front foot, his first four scoring visits bringing mid-teen breaks to take the lead. With little safety play, Paul raced to the win restricting his opponent to scoring one point in what was the quickest frame of the night, not often we get to say that! Alec Oates 18-62 Dave Kelly  Dave was trying to avoid Alec, went 2nd and got him anyway. He shouldn't have worried as with his 35 start and playing well he extended his lead to around 45 points. From here he just picked off his chances from an unusually out of sorts Alec. Tony Pring 54-66 Michael Heathcote  The pink and black both got tied up early which made for a scrappy battle. Once the colours were free it was Mike who pushed ahead. Tony battled back very well leaving himself first chance on the final pink but unfortunately missed it, leaving it for Mike for a full length pot for the frame. James Goodwin 84-89 James Kerr  Kerr was giving away the biggest start of the night at 70. Once the balls were opened he managed a break of 24 and smaller ones to close the gap to about 20. Keeping it tight, Kerr picked off the pots slowly, edging himself closer. He missed a tough cut-back frame ball pink which Goodwin potted giving himself a chance at a very tough black for frame. Goodwin missed, black and white travelled around the table both rattling in each of the black ball pockets, nearly giving Goodwin the win, and loss in the same shot! James potted the sitting duck black for his win. Mark Quinn 50-70 Dan Crawley  Postie had a 21 start, kept it tight and Daniel quiet for a while. Dan soon broke down on his first good chance and was wishing he'd brought his bottle of JD along. A great plant left Dan perfect on the blue to split the reds, which opened lovely only to see the blue pop back out and of the middle bag. Postie capitalised on the open reds first with two reds and blacks, only to see the white go in-off on his next red. Posties next shot saw him drift in a beautiful long red but again the white went in-off to the same pocket. The balls were scrappy again and it became by far the longest frame of the night. Dan got more of the colours to scrape home and complete the 5-0 victory for the northerners.

Top of the league: Blinders 30 points, Musicians B and Rockets 27, Jacksons and Masters 26. Individual League: David Callister, Conor Mahon and Nick Stephens 8 wins. High Break League: John Kennish 29 points, Steve Finnegan 11, Peter Kirkham 10. Next week’s matches: Blinders vs Peel Legion, Musicians B vs Jacksons, Rockets vs Wannabes, St Olave’s vs Masters, PSM Legion vs Mob and Hurricanes vs Musicians A