SNOOKER: Differing fortunes for co-leaders Musicians B and the Rockets in latest league round

Report by Mike Crook

The Mac’s Builders Merchants snooker league 2023/24 has reached the halfway point and things are hotting up.

Finch Hill Musicians B 0-5 Cue Zone Blinders

Blinders have shown patchy form of late but this was a top class display. Noel McConville 58-68 Calum Gardner  An effortless 48 break from Gardner put him ahead. McConville went back in front with the final red and up to the green before Gardner stylishly potted brown to pink for frame. Martin Rigby 31-60 Conor Mahon  The only frame without a high break registered but Mahon was solid in taking this by the brown. Pat Maher 52-78 Brandon Forrester  Forrester had already made a 25 break before more great potting, just failing on the final black when on 26. Matt Dodd 39-64 Scott Campion  Campion made a 20 break but was annoyed to miss a black off its spot. In the main, he kept Dodd quiet and when potting the final red to make another run of 13 it seemed to be all over for Dodd. Soon after there was some confusion with the scoreboard to add to earlier impromptu interruptions by phones ringing and the rustling of sweet wrappers. In the end it was agreed, (by most) that Dodd could still draw with the last three balls. Dodd then somehow cannoned the pink in when trying a pot on the blue. He did try valiantly for snookers but Campion eventually potted the pink. Dave Hanlon 63-99 Darryl Hill  Hanlon had added to his 42 start as Hill started slowly. Things changed quickly though as Hill knocked in 66 on his first scoring visit, narrowly failing to keep the break going as he developed the final red but just left a tough pot to the centre on the high side. At this point he was still only 11 ahead but soon wrapped up an impressive whitewash with a 22 clearance.

Finch Hill Rockets 3-2 Peel Legion

Jonny Hogg 71-43 Barton Beaumont  Beaumont added to his 28 start with some good early pots but Hogg hit back, potting a red to centre with only half the pocket to aim at which led to a 22 break. Hogg was 16 up on the brown and all the balls nicely placed for a Beaumont clearance. Brown dropped, as did the blue but in trying to come down the table for pink he dumped his cueball in a middle bag, much to some amusement of onlookers who had just whispered, ‘white in the middle’! A long blue from Hogg concluded matters. John Spellman 47-84 Tom Randall  There’s nothing worse in handicap snooker than when your much higher handicapped opponent starts off potting for fun. This was the case with Randall straight in with 2 reds with blacks to add to his 42 start. Spellman didn’t make any serious inroads and when he left a simple looking black hanging with 2 reds left Randall was soon out of sight. Graham Ashton 34-73 John Kelly  Ashton struggled to get anything going, although Kelly played well to leave him only half chances. Kelly was always ahead and showed he’s not yet over the hill by potting one delicate red, cueing behind his back! Ashton got the snooker he required on the last red but Kelly cut in the yellow from distance and is it was snookers required again. Marc Bolton 78-25 Geoff Hall  No contest between two in-form players. Bolton’s already earn’t himself a second handicap cut this season and gave Hall no chance to settle, potting him off the table. Doug Kinrade 42-22 Mike Crook  It was something of a travesty that Crook could still win with the last three balls left. Kinrade had made plenty of his trademark straight long pots despite having plenty of bad run. Kinrade dispatched the blue from distance. Requiring a snooker to tie, Crook stunned the white beautifully behind the black which was close to a middle pocket, however the pink went down the table and back up, clattering into the black and leaving the white in the pocket which sums up Crook’s season. Disappointing for Peel who’ve now let slip a 2-1 lead the last two weeks. Rockets stay joint top and entertain new co-leaders Blinders next week in what should be a cracker.

The Hurricanes 3-2 Jacksons

Hurricanes are slowly turning their season around and even though they lie joint 8th, are only 7 points off the top. Dave Welsh of Jacksons confirmed his first place in the individual league with another good display to win the finale with a doubled black. Scores: Paul Smith 44-86 Dave Notman, Freddie Dancox 52-35 Richard Hillier, Jamie Wilson 50-41 Lee Gale, Ste MacDonald 55-42 Kam Virk and Steve Munk 47-49 Dave Welsh.

St Olave’s 3-2 Finch Hill Musicians A

By Paul Smyth

Dave Kelly 60-7 Paul Tangeman  Dave started the better, the balls were awkward from halfway which ensured most of the remaining pots were single reds until Dave got a run on the colours to take the win. Paul Smyth 43-73 Vinny Dale  Paul closed the 28 gap quickly, but Vinny got his eye in and extended away to leave Paul needing snookers, a few more single colours saw a good win for Vinny. Mike Heathcote 73-47 Peter Collister   Mike had a 28 start against the experienced Peter Collister. A great battle ensued but it was Mike who went nine wins from ten, edging it in St Olave’s favour. James Kerr 60-78 Zain Abideen  Both had their fair share of reds but a couple of untimely miscues on the black were to cost James as Zain finished the stronger to level the match. Dan Crawley 108-37 John Kennish  Dan had a 35 start and started slightly better than JK who had a few uncharacteristic misses. Then Dan sank 5 reds with 5 blacks, to put even more pressure on John. It was enough to see Dan home and secure a tough 3-2 win for St Olave’s.

Malew 2-3 Finch Hill Mob

By Alec Oates

Alec Oates 62-68 Steve Finnegan  Although Finn had breaks of 25 and 22 Oates played well enough to stay in the frame and in the end he needed to pot the blue to leave Finn wanting a snooker. Oates missed a long pot chance, Finn stepped in and sank the blue with a good shot. With only pink and black left and the black glued to the black cushion, Oates thought that he still had a chance because the pink wouldn't be an easy pot. Finn made a difficult pot on the pink into yellow pocket and managed to screw the cue ball back all of 12 feet to leave himself a very good chance of putting the black away to win, which he did. As a result, Finn takes his handicap to -7 for the first time. Eric Drinkwater 59-49 Alan Heath  Heath looked to be playing the better of the two before Eric started to make some good pots. Down to the final colours, Eric only needed the pink and Heath wanted the black as well. Heath’s attempt left a fairly easy pot to a centre pocket. Eric missed it but somehow managed to double it in the opposite middle pocket! James Goodwin 88-101 Lee Hunt  We all thought it would hard for Hunt to pull back a 70 start, but there was never a doubt in the ‘Blade’s' mind. With Jimmy's help and some excellent pots from the Blade including a break of 22 he took the honours. Tony Pring 39-51 Lee Butterworth  At the halfway stage of the season Pring is still struggling to find any inspiration and so it proved in this frame. Butterworth made some strong pots more in common with a pool player, but his game gave him the edge. Pring needed pink and black and had a pot on the pink, only to hit the jaw of a middle pocket leaving it for Butterworth. Mark Quinn 90-55 Peter Kirkham  One of the best frames of snooker that Postie has played  this season. Successfully going for pots in his normal flamboyant way. It has to be said that Peter wasn't at his best on the night and Postie kept him out of the game.

Port St Mary Legion 5-0 Douglas Snooker Bar Wannabes 

By Terry Boyle

Dave Pickersgill 62-19 Dave Corris  The battle of the Daves didn't last long, Pickersgill had a good 38 break early on and the frame was soon over. Marc Morley 64-60 Fred Corris  Fred was potting well, doubled his 14 start but Marc hung in well. Three colours left and Marc fluked the blue and potted the pink. Both players had chances on the black before Fred got a double kiss and unluckily left in on for Marc. Phil Joynes 81-63 David Callister  Phil potted well, eating into David's 49 start but David also got some great pots. 12 points in it with pink and black left, David rattled the pink which Phil then potted for the frame. Terry Boyle 65-63 Harry Minor  I potted well but had a few loose safety shots, Harry got a 20 break which could easily have been more. With the colours left I was 15 ahead, Harry took yellow, green and brown, all excellent long pots. I felt he’d played a good safety on the blue but Harry got an outrageous pot along the cushion, a good pink and had a thin cut on the black which fortunately for me stopped right in the jaws, very unlucky Harry. Mike Boyle 97-73 Jason Campbell  Mike was steady, with three teen breaks but Jason added to his 49 start with some good pots of his own. Mike ahead by 2 points on the yellow and still anybody's frame. Mike got the yellow then left green over a pocket, but from twelve feet away Jason unluckily followed it in. With ball in hand Mike then took green, brown, blue and pink for the frame. 5 zip to PSM, some very good snooker played it has to be said we had all the run and Wannabes were unlucky. Apologies to the two Daves, the temperature was ‘baltic’ for the first frame at 7.30pm, it did warm up later though, Harry and I played our frame in shirt sleeves!

Halfway standings: 

Blinders and Rockets 36 points

Musicians B and Jacksons 33

St Olaves 32

Peel 31

Masters 30

Mob, Musicians A, PSM and Hurricanes 29

Wannabes 22

Malew 21. 

Individual League: 

Dave Welsh 10 wins

Michael Heathcote

Conor Mahon 

Marc Bolton 9.

High Break League:

John Kennish 32 points

Steve Finnegan 19

Darryl Hill 15.

Next matches: 

Rockets vs Blinders

PSM vs Jacksons

St Olaves vs Wannabes

Hurricanes vs Peel

Masters vs Mob

Malew vs Musicians A