Minnesota Fats B Complete The League & Cup Double

The final held at Shifnal War Memorial club began with Keith Price taking on Spencer Rowley in what proved to be a tight affair. Keith knocked in a some superb shots to open up an early advantage in the frame, Spencer then came back with a few good pots of his own to level the frame up once more. Keith then played some great safety shots, which eventually gave him another opportunity to extend his lead in the frame, but Spencer came back again and had to take the remaining few colours to reduce the final score deficit to 67-65.

Frame two saw Simon Yeats take on Shrewsbury Towns roving reporter Steve Fletcher, with Simon taking an early advantage in the opening stages with a 24 break. Steve replied in typical fashion with his own break of 37 to put him into the lead, which he held throughout most of the frame. Simon clawed his way back into contention with some good pots of his own, Steve responded back quickly, potting a good brown and a fantastic blue and pink, and after having a shot at the black left it up for Simon to pot, leaving the frame scores Steve Fletcher 73 Simon Yeats 55.

In the third frame, Ian Duffy took on Maxwell Hodson, Ian flying out of the blocks early to put himself into a 40 point lead. Maxwell fought back well, but it was Ian who took the remaining balls in this quick fire frame to reduce the handicap deficit to only 27 in favour of the Bayley club. In frame four Darren Weston took on Chris Morgan-Adams and Darren started superbly with a 41 break at the start of the frame, being unlucky with his position when it broke down. Chris tried valiantly to respond to the early setback, but had very few chances to get back into the game and it was Darren who cleared the remaining balls to win 91-27 to put the Minnesota fats into the lead for the first time.

This left Shaun Harris taking on Arthur Burrows, with Shaun playing his usual solid game of safety and great potting, he never left Arthur many chances to get his side back into contention, Shaun eventually took the frame and sealed another great win for the Minnesota Fats B team, congratulations to them on another double in a season.

Little Dawley Stage The Late Late Show Once More

In an intriguing match at the Coddon Club, third division Bayley Q took on Little Dawley A from division one, the handicap being a difference of 160.

The first frame started well for the LDS lads, Darren Pountney taking on Rob Cook. Rob had lost the Bayley Q draw and had not been expecting to play, but with Chris Durham pulling out at the last moment Rob found himself playing against a quality player. Darren potted superbly throughout the frame, and didn’t leave Rob many chances. Darren took the frame 99-29 meaning the handicap was down to just 90 after one frame.

In the next frame, Lee Elcock faced Richard Tranter in what was to be yet another high scoring game, both players potting well. A large number of misses were called in this frame, both players being punished for very good attempts, and it was very close going into the final colours until a few missed chances by Richard enabled Lee to take those all important balls to win 80-51.

In the third frame Byron Mitchell took on Chris Bates, and yet again it was the Little Dawley man who took an early advantage, knocking some great long pots in and combining that with some good safety, reducing any chances that Chris might have in pulling himself back into the frame, which saw Byron win 61-21.

In the fourth frame we saw a rare appearance from Ade Henry who had to face the challenge from Chris Fletcher. This was to prove one of the tightest frames of the evening, showing how much pressure was on both players to keep their sides in the final, with the Little Dawley only 21 points behind going into this frame. Both players started tentatively, potting the chances on offer and then playing safety, Ade took an early advantage, but Chris came back straight away to level the scores. It was tit for tat all the way through the frame and after Ade missed a relatively easy final black, Chris potted the black to only lose by one point, the final score being 53-52 in Ade’s favour.

This meant that in the final frame Jesse Lowe was going to start 20 points behind Bayley’s ideal man for such a frame, Steve Weatherall. With so much pressure on both players this was always going to be a nervy affair. Steve took on some great pots, but with a lead of over 35 points and most of the colours in save positions, he played the game tactically and tried to pot the reds and leave the colours safe. With just the five colours remaining and Jesse needing all five, things looked bleak for the Little Dawley team. But after some good safety play Jesse took the green and brown, both players then played safety shots on the blue, with Steve getting the first chance with a long shot on the blue, which saw it rattle into the yellow pocket and come back out, leaving Jesse a chance on the blue. He slotted the blue into the middle bag, potted a great pink and then slipped the black into the middle to seal another last gasp win for the Little Dawley lads by just the two solitary points. This was tough on the Bayley boys, but they took it graciously. Congratulations to the Little Dawley lads for a great win.

This sees the Telford Snooker League draw to a close for another season, congratulations to all this seasons winners and a huge thank you to the venues who have helped organise our matches. The league will hopefully be up and running again in early September and any new teams wishing to join our league are very welcome to do so.

Nigel Stallard

Nigel.Stallard@telfordsnooker.com

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