Snooker: Port St Mary Legion maintain advantage

They beat Malew in the Mann Crane Hire League

Mann Crane Hire Snooker League - Week 22 

Port St Mary Legion 3-2 Malew

Report by Terry Boyle

Marc Morley 6-71 Tony Cubbon - Tony started very well and had the only break of the night, a 34. Marc had a few chances but just wasn't on his game. 

Phil Joynes 64-57 Tony Pring - Tony kept potting well until he got red, blue, red and having a senior moment went for another red! 

Despite that howler he kept in touch and with just the black ball left the scores were tied. 

A tense battle took place with both players missing half chances before Phil gratefully potted it to pinch the frame. 

Andy Hutchison 59-58 James Goodwin - Easily best frame of the night, Andy was chasing 42 and playing well, but was unlucky to go in-off the final pink putting Jimmy 18 ahead. 

A few shots later Jimmy took on a difficult pot along the top cushion and got it, only for the cue ball to go across the table and trickle into the opposite pocket. 

With the frame back on Andy potted the pink but rattled the black which went up towards the yellow pocket. 

he cue ball settled on the top cushion in what we call the ‘naughty corner’ giving awkward cueing. Jimmy then missed the black completely.

Nobody in the room wanted to see the frame end in that way, very unlucky Jimmy! 

Dave Pickersgill 56-39 Mark Quinn - Dave with two good pots on the last two reds with colours went ahead. 

Mark was unlucky to rattle a few, but we have all seen Postie change gear and clear the colours and when he took yellow, green and brown and narrowly missed the blue we held our breath. 

However, Dave got a very good blue and rolled in the pink. 

Terry Boyle 21-59 Alec Oates  Close for a while but Alec was steady and towards the end everything I tried went wrong. An easy win for Alec. Once again we had all the run and it could easily have been 5 zip to Malew. Let’s hope our luck continues! 

The Hurricanes 2-3 Cue Zone Masters

Hurricanes drop to third, they led 2-1 after Ste MacDonald (31 break) 54-69 Ivan McMaw, Nialls Wilson 74-51 Brendan Clague and Jamie Wilson (22, 27) 82-50 Peter Stephens. 

Paul Westhead 44-45 Martin Rigg - Rigg needed pink and black and rather than play safe he successfully went ‘all in’ on both long range chances. 

Brandon Forrester 29-93 Tommy Clague - Tommy’s 77 start too much for Brandon in the decider. 

Masters stay fourth, 5 points behind PSM Legion who they play in two weeks time.

Cue Zone Blinders 4-1 Snooker Bar-barians

Blinders move up to second place as they chase a third title in four years. 

Seven breaks of 20+ from the home team, three of them from Darryl Hill in the last, but starting 70 in arrears it wasn’t quite enough as Mark Davenport gave the Bar-barians a consolation point. 

Scores: Conor Mahon (23, 22) 82-53 Chris Lawless, Shaun Roberts (22,21) 77-55 Gary Williams, Scott Campion 59-48 Andy Moore, Harry Ellis 61-14 Paul Mackie and Darryl Hill (29, 25, 23) 91-95 Mark Davenport. 

Bar-barians look destined for the wooden spoon, now 7 points adrift at the bottom of the league.

Finch Hill Rockets 2-3 Finch Hill Mob

The Mob stay in the hunt, especially as they play the current leaders at Finch Hill in the penultimate week of the season. 

Their two big hitters, Finnegan and Kirkham were both on form, Finn firing in runs of 30, 28 and 21 and Kirkham a 44 to take the decider. 

Rodger Clague of the Rockets made a 23 break. 

Frame scores: Leon Martin 36-98 Steve Finnegan, Paddy Delaney 41-51 Alan Heath, Rodger Clague 67-45 Lee Hunt, Marc Bolton 63-40 Jonny Hogg and Doug Kinrade 72-88 Peter Kirkham.

Finch Hill Musicians 4-1 Port St Mary Strollers

These teams were tied in seventh beforehand and I’m told the final score-line flattered the Musicians who ended the Strollers six week winning run. 

They were denied a whitewash by young Harry Boyle, he started 98 ahead of John Kennish and managed to keep it all against the legend! 

Frame scores: Pat Maher 70-48 Ian Brookfield, Vic Rigby 77-42 Mike Boyle (24 break), Paul Tangeman 52-17 Garey Ellison, Vinny Dale 45-40 Max Barnes and John Kennish 35-133 Harry Boyle. 

Musicians move up to equal sixth with Malew, but 11 points to make up on the leaders is surely too much.

The Cue Ballers 3-2 St Olave’s

Alex Sinclair 70-22 Mike Crook - Sinclair’s first 15 points came via Crook’s incompetence, gaining confidence from such charity he raced out of sight. 

Dave Welsh 71-58 Mike Doherty - With two tables in use, frame four was getting towards the colours whilst this was grinding on. 

Certainly not Welsh’s kind of frame, but he won albeit in strange circumstances after Doherty potted a simple pink only to go in-off in the opposite corner. ‘Doc’ then conceded, 13 behind with 13 points still available. 

Matt Monks 30-76 Stuart Sandford  Sandford’s best performance of an already excellent debut season. 

He won this with a great 47 break, he may have fluked a black off its spot into the opposite corner when on 32, but very good to see him in full flow. 

Kam Virk 57-69 Paul Smyth - A steal from Smyth with brown, blue and pink, then won the safety battle on the black to set up a decider. 

Lee Gale 85-77 Dave Kelly - A 33 break from Gale looked to have seen off Kelly, but a good run on the colours took it to another black ball shootout, Gale left a mid-range pot for frame and match.

Douglas Snooker Bar Wannabes 3-2 The Miscues

The Wannabes season is normally over by now, but they’ve now won 5 from 6 in the league and are into the semi-finals of the Wakefield Cup after knocking out the Hurricanes. 

They also have David Callister in their ranks, he’s still in with a shout in the individual league after taking the opening frame. 

Scores: David Callister 45-32 Kelvin Revere, Steve Cowin 41-70 Luca McDermott, Harry Minor 58-28 Mark Corlett, Paul McKinstry 72-49 Ollie Pickford and Michael Creer 16-40 Ben Peach.

Top of the League: PSM Legion 68 points, Blinders 66, Hurricanes 65, Masters 63 and the Mob 60. 

Individual League: Stuart Sandford and Phil Joynes 16 wins, Ian Brookfield 15, Harry Ellis and David Callister 14. High Break League: Peter Kirkham 45 points, Darryl Hill 32 and Steve Finnegan 27. 

Next week’s matches: St Olave's vs PSM Legion, Miscues vs Blinders, Mob vs Hurricanes, Masters vs Cue Ballers, Malew vs Musicians, PSM Strollers vs Wannabes and Bar-barians vs Rockets