SNOOKER: Maximum points for Cue Zone Blinders in week 3 of snooker league

Darryl Hill hits 96 break - highest in league in more than 7 years

Jacksons 4-1 Malew

By Kam Virk

Alex Sinclair 81-40 Tony Pring, with Sinclair chasing 28 he didn’t hang around with great shots and position play. Pring never landed much of a blow. When it came to the colours Sinclair claimed player of the night with a 27 clearance including a rocket on the black to finish. Lee Gale 113-71 James Goodwin, chasing a 63 point Gale deficit made light work of it. Potting freely but always proceeding with caution given the layout of the table. Gale had a series of teen breaks and did well given that the black and blue were mostly out of commission. Goodwin’s opportunities were limited, he did manage the first two colours, however missed the brown which Gale took with blue, pink and then missed the simplest of blacks for a tidy finish. Gale’s 3rd win of the season. Richard Hillier 65-33 Mark Quinn, Hillier with a 21 point advantage and making his first start of the season looked comfortable only allowing Quinn to shoot from distance. Quinn was mainly limited to scoring single reds. A series of in-off’s allowing Hiller to capitalise, accumulate 14 points and effectively seal the match. With only pink and black remaining Quinn tried his best to tuck up behind the black until Hiller on the 20th or so attempt, knocked in a length of the table pot and the handshake came. Dave Welsh 72-57 Alec Oates, great game with Oates catching up and taking over after Welsh’s 21 start. Then came a snooker where Oates had to re-take his shot. Welsh finally found his mojo and finished the job on the colours. Good snooker from both players. Kam Virk 22-79 Tony Cubbon, Virk started in lightening fast fashion, a trademark length of the table pot from Virk to land lovely on the black, followed by a series of strong safety shots leading to a Cubbon mistake and Virk was back in again on the black. Cubbon then found the form he was showing in Sunday’s ranking event and started to pot at will, 2 x 16 breaks and a 24 were enough to do the damage and take the solitary frame for Malew on the night. Virk didn’t do much wrong, but his opponent simply didn’t miss.

Peel Legion 1-4 St Olaves

Barton Beaumont 23-53 Dave Kelly, Beaumont was in a celebratory mood but unlike the late Bill Werbeniuk, having twelve pockets to aim at was no advantage to him. The only surprise was that the frame went on as far as the green. Tom Randall 55-81 Paul Smyth, starting 42 in arrears Smyth scored the first 52 points of the frame, freezing Randall completely out. Smyth seemed hellbent on winning with breaks of 9, of which he scored four in a row before a couple in the teens gave him the lead. Randall did make a good battle of it from the last few reds onwards. John Kelly 44-53 Mike Heathcote, stuttering performances from both players with Heathcote roughly holding his 14 start throughout. Kelly followed in a long final blue but got another chance at it, cracking it in from range. However, he missed the pink and left Heathcote frame ball pink, made with the rest. Mike Crook 80-43 James Kerr, a case of lightening striking twice, Crook potting well for a second week. Albeit, he was aided with a 35 start and Kerr not quite landing right positionally when looking set for a couple of breaks. Geoff Hall 34-82 Dan Crawley, Crawley kept ‘The Lion’ firmly in his cage, only once did he roar with a great long plant down the cushion. Crawley raced past Hall’s 28 start with a solid display of potting to wrap up a good win for the Ramsey outfit and round off a disappointing night for Peel, in more ways than one.

Douglas Snooker Bar Wannabes 3-2 Cue Zone Masters

They may have only played three matches, but Wannabes, who have finished bottom for the last five years, now share third place. Frame scores: Steve Cowin 62-47 David Kelly, Jason Campbell 57-22 Brendan Clague (Campbell 23 break), Dave Corris 48-52 Tommy Clague, David Callister 69-55 Martin Rigg and Paul McKinstry 42-80 Ivan McMaw (22 break).

Finch Hill Musicians A 1-4 Finch Hill Mob

By John Kennish

John Kennish 83-65 Steve Finnegan, John starting 28 behind got in early with a 45 break, which ended with a straight red from tight under the cushion. Finn responded with 16 and from there on the scores were pretty much even. Some cagey snooker followed as the frame went down to the brown. John only needed one more ball to leave Finn needing snookers, rattled the brown down the long cushion into the green pocket which left a great chance for Finn to pinch the frame by one point. After taking brown and blue Finn left himself with a mid-range dead straight pink which didn’t offer ideal position to the black. Finn missed the pink by some distance and left a tap in for John over the middle pocket. Chris Brown 30-57 Lee Butterworth, a scrappy frame with neither player able to capitalise on some half decent opportunities. The frame was tit for tat, Lee keeping distance between himself and Chris who conceded on the pink. Zain Abideen 41-56 Lee Hunt, similar to the previous frame with Blade taking the sharp end of the colours to take it on the pink. Paul Tangeman 93-98 Peter Kirkham, an uphill task for Peter giving Paul a 70 start. Peter didn’t help his cause by giving Paul some chances early on to score. The last five reds were all awkward but Peter, who was 50+ points behind at this point stuck to the task and potted some great long balls with Paul finding it hard to get a chance. Peter got his nose in front with three balls left. He left a long range blue for Paul which offered automatic position on frame ball pink. A good pot left Paul with a fairly straight pink into the middle which hit the far jaw and left Peter with a straightforward pink and black to snatch the frame. Peter Collister 40-61 Alan Heath, Peter never really got a hold of the frame to claw back any of the 35 starting deficit. Steady play from Alan left Peter requiring snookers on the green but it didn’t happen for Peter.

Finch Hill Musicians B 3-2 The Hurricanes

Convincing wins from Rigby Jnr and Snr put the Musicians two up, Martin Rigby 76-32 Ste MacDonald and Vic Rigby 76-38 Jamie Wilson. Vic potted well and good safety on top of his handicap proved too much for Jamie. Rob Callister 51-72 Paul Smith, the closest frame of the night. Smith started well, split the pack open off the first black but no red would go. Callister played the better in some ways but gave Smith 20 in fouls. Nothing in it on the colours but Smith scraped home with brown, blue and pink. Matthew Dodd 49-89 Chris Dagnall, a good performance from Dagsy starting 42 back. Helped by a 22 break within a well executed frame he saw off Doddsy who has yet to catch fire this season. Noel McConville 76-22 Shaun Roberts, very one-sided, no breaks but McConville cruised away for frame and match.

Cue Zone Blinders 5-0 Port St Mary Legion

Nick Stephens 54-34 Matty Astall was nip and tuck all the way and the players were level on the green. With all the other balls nicely placed it was a green ball game. In the end it was Stephens who got the green and duly cleared the rest for a 25 break. Conor Mahon 59-3 Marc Morley, very solid potting from Mahon whilst Morley couldn't get going. He only potted three reds though also had some bad run. David Hill 85-40 Phil Joynes, PSM's night went from bad to worse. Hill was playing his first competitive league frame and watched Joynes practice his billiards. It was hard to keep count how many times he potted the cue ball and there was also a seven point foul when the black found its way into the pocket whilst Joynes was playing safe off the reds. At one point there was sixty points in it, but Joynes regained some composure and struck a very nice 31. Brandon Forrester 65-50 Dave Pickersgill, this looked more hopeful for the visitors with Pickersgill starting 21 ahead and pulling away. However, his lead had been cut to three points on the green and Forrester took out a good green to pink sequence to deny him. Darryl Hill 113-83 Terry Boyle, frame five saw what is becoming a familiar pairing as Hill, who despite not playing regular league snooker always seems to play against Port St Mary, took on Boyle in the battle of the captains, the latter receiving 70 start. After a very good safety exchange at the start and Boyle still leading by 62 points, he left a gap through to a long red which Hill duly potted. With the reds well spread he got his head down and struck a lovely 96 break. The ton was on but he missed the final red with the rest which was near the left cushion but amazingly, only 34 points ahead the frame was still live! Boyle then took the red with the black he needed and potted an excellent yellow landing on the green to give himself a chance. He failed to land nicely on the brown though and a relieved Hill clinched the frame. A good performance from the defending champions but PSM endured some bad run will feel hard done by receiving their second whitewash in three weeks.

Top of the league

Jacksons 12 points, Cue Zone Blinders 10, Douglas Snooker Bar Wannabes and St Olaves 8.