SNOOKER: Maximum points for Musicians B 

More strong performances from Blinders & Jacksons

After last week’s glut of high breaks only three were registered in week 7 of the Mac’s Builders Merchants snooker league, with John Kennish hitting two of them, a 51 and 43 clearance.

Cue Zone Blinders 4-1 Finch Hill Mob

By Scott Campion

First vs third at the start of the night and two black ball frames going the way of the leaders proved the difference. Nick Stephens 72-69 Peter Kirkham  Nick kept Peter at bay as long as he could, the black, pink and blue out of action for the early stages. Peter eventually caught up the 42 start by the colours but the frame went to Nick on the black. Conor Mahon 78-36 Steve Finnegan  Conor kicked off with 26 unanswered points in multiple visits, adding to his 21 start. Steve put in a spirited fightback but Conor matched him all the way. David Hill 34-73 Lee Hunt  A cagey start, Lee caught up the difference and went 23 up. David couldn’t make inroads and Lee put in multiple small breaks to sail away with it. Calum Gardner 78-69 Alan Heath  Calum chipped away at the 42 deficit with a 25 break early on but Alan put in a good display of potting to stay ahead reaching the colours. Calum cleared yellow to blue and following a short exchange, he took pink and black to win it. Scott Campion 82-45 Peter Crellin  Both players had chances to make something with the balls all there but neither could make much, perhaps waiting all night to play hadn’t helped! A couple of small breaks on top of a 56 start kept Scott ahead throughout.

Jacksons 3-2 Douglas Snooker Bar Wannabes

Jacksons consolidated second place but needed a fifth frame final black win to get them over the line. Frames 2 and 3 were also both settled on the black. Wannabes stretched their record of 3-2 results, (either way) up to eight and David Callister kept his 100% record. Frame scores: Kam Virk 60-30 Dave Corris, Alex Sinclair 96-97 Steve Cowin, Dave Welsh 56-54 Jason Campbell, Richard Hillier 26-43 David Callister and David Notman 55-45 Harry Minor.

Finch Hill Musicians B 5-0 Cue Zone Masters

By Matt Dodd

Martin Rigby 65-49 Tommy Clague  Tommy was in control of this, at one point 25 points ahead after Martin went in-off four times. Tommy had the final pink sitting over the hole to win and went in-off and Martin nicked it. Vic Rigby 58-33 Ivan McMaw  It looked like Ivan was going to run away with this until an early break stopped at 15. Ivan was to be outdone by Vic’s safety play, he pushed on, potted some fantastic balls to keep his good run this season going. Pat Maher 79-30 Jez Hill  Pat didn't miss much either and soon made it 3-0. Matthew Dodd 73-65 Brendan Clague  Matt, playing to plant a red only managed to cannon the black all the way along the bottom cushion into the pocket and Brendan took his lead to 35. Matt went to plan B, his safety game and awaited further opportunities. The chances came and Matt started knocking them in and a clearance from green to black was on. However the blue rattled in the middle pocket. Brendan potted blue and pink, looked certain to be on the black but was unlucky not to be. He then left Matt a very thin cut, full length of the table and in it went. Noel McConville 69-22 Martin Rigg  McConville wrapped up maximum points with another good performance. Thankfully for his future opponents he’ll be off a lower handicap.

Finch Hill Rockets 4-1 Malew 

By John Spellman

Marek Kenny 55-33 Alec Oates  Both players struggled to build breaks in a match that Marek secured with solid play on the colours. Not one for the history books. John Spellman 24-60 Mark Quinn  Mark returned to form, borrowing a cue with impressive potting and good safety play. Spellman had no chances to capitalise upon with fluky fouls adding to his sorrows. Graham Ashton 62-51 Tony Pring  A game of two halves with Tony scoring well early on and Graham struggling in the wilderness. But Graham finally settled to capitalise on great safety and solid potting on the colours. Marc Bolton 53-1 Tony Cubbon  When Tony came to the table he was clearly in pain and discomfort. Marc started very strongly but the game was cut short as Tony had to retire injured. Doug Kinrade 78-51 James Goodwin  Both players were unable to register any high breaks but it was Doug’s workmanlike focus, taking points as they were presented that helped whittle away the handicap deficit. With James trailing by 10 entering the colours, he watched in despair as sniper Kinrade killed the game.

The Hurricanes 2-3 St Olave’s

Just one win in six for the Hurricanes after this result where there were no close encounters and surprisingly no high breaks. Messrs Smith and Munk did save the home team from total embarrassment after St Olave’s had already claimed what was the only away win of the week. Frame scores: Jamie Wilson 27-67 Paul Smyth, Ste MacDonald 24-81 Dave Kelly, Chris Dagnall 47-90 Michael Heathcote, Paul Smith 60-31 James Kerr and Steve Munk 72-30 Dan Crawley.

Peel Legion 4-1 Finch Hill Musicians A

John Kelly 68-58 Peter Collister  Early breaks from both before the players got bogged down with lots of safety. Collister had gone ahead by the colours but an in-off cost him the lead. Kelly’s shot on frame ball blue must have done six laps of a middle bag before spinning out for Collister to take. Collister missed a tricky chance on the pink and Kelly finished it off. Tom Randall 77-109 John Kennish  One early miss from Kennish and Randall rattled a couple. Then it was business as usual from Kennish as he produced the week’s highest break of 51 and a 43 clearance, lovely to watch although Randall would’ve preferred to pot a ball or two. Barton Beaumont 63-44 Vinny Dale  Fair to say the standard dipped slightly, in fact it was a surprise to see a ball potted apart from the white, an art in which an unlucky Dale excelled. With Beaumont 22 up on the final brown, Dale smashed it in from corner to corner, blue followed but Beaumont was to win with a tap in pink. Dave McCallum 66-42 Paul Tangeman  McCallum soon pulled back the 14 start and the reds disappeared at a pleasing rate. The ‘run’ continued to go Peel’s way, McCallum somehow managed to plant in a red when playing safe and a small break followed. This ended with Tangeman facing his next shot, angled in the green pocket. McCallum missed an easy frame ball green but was soon presented with another chance. Geoff Hall 80-28 Zain Abideen  Just a 14 start for Hall against the dangerous Abideen so the Peel man was in need of luck. Hall played well throughout but every time he missed, Abideen would be left nothing promising to go at. Abideen never gave up though, even when needing five snookers on the blue!

Top of the league

Cue Zone Blinders 24 points

Jacksons 21 

Finch Hill Musicians B 19

Individual League

Conor Mahon 7 wins

David Callister, Dave Welsh and Nick Stephens 6 

High Break League 

John Kennish 27 points

Darryl Hill 8.5

Peter Crellin and Peter Kirkham 8

Next week’s matches

Finch Hill Musicians A vs Cue Zone Blinders

Finch Hill Mob vs Finch Hill Musicians B

Cue Zone Masters vs Finch Hill Rockets

St Olave’s vs Port St Mary Legion

Douglas Snooker Bar Wannabes vs Peel Legion

Malew vs The Hurricanes