Snooker: Rockets join Blinders at top of the league

Blinders back to winning ways with derby win

Cue Zone Blinders returned to winning ways with a derby win but they are now joined at the top of the Manx Car Store Snooker League by Finch Hill Rockets, they picked up maximum points from a very charitable St Olave’s outfit. 

Cue Zone Masters 1-4 Cue Zone Blinders

Report by Martin Rigg:

Tommy Clague 74-100 Dave Hill - David had reduced the handicap start of 49 by the time the game got to the colours. He took the frame after Tommy, needing snookers went in-off the pink. Brendan Clague 85-112 Darryl Hill - Brendan was unable to get going and only managed to pot one red in the frame, Darryl put in breaks of 48 and 27 to win comfortably. Les Briggs 55-72 Brandon Forrester - Brandon closed the handicap start and it then remained close until he took the brown, blue and pink to claim the frame. Jez Hill 76-24 Nick Stephens - Nick was unable to get into this, especially as Jez was on form in what was his first match of the season. A good win and the only frame of the night for the Masters! Martin Rigg 66-79 Dollin Mercer - A long frame where both players struggled. Dollin came out on top though, clearing the blue, pink and black. 

Finch Hill Mob 4-1 Snooker Bar-Barians

The Mob backed up last week’s surprise away win at CZ Blinders. Paul Smith is unbeaten for his new team, three from three and maintained his run of registering a high break on each occasion. Frame scores: Paul Smith (25) 72-58 Chris Lawless, Jonny Hogg 60-31 Mark Davenport, Lee Hunt 50-16 Chris Reynolds, Steve Finnegan (35) 80-69 Andy Moore and Peter Kirkham 41-85 Paul Craine. 

Finch Hill Musicians B 2-3 The Miscues

Ben Peach is Miscues 'winningest' player, making it five from six after edging out Paul Tangeman 50-41. Matt Dodd levelled the match after a 25 clearance beating Luca McDermott 89-50, Luca still looking for a first win. The remaining frames were all very close, Reiner Naylor taking the decider for Miscues, scores: Paul Tangeman 41-50 Ben Peach, Matt Dodd 89-50 Luca McDermott, Pat Maher 52-65 Rob Dolby, Noel McConville 64-62 Mark Corlett and Vic Rigby 31-41 Reiner Naylor. 

Malew 3-2 Finch Hill Musicians A

Report by Alec Oates:

Mark Quinn 70-60 Peter Collister - Not a great frame, Postie may have been a bit lucky and after some safety he was left a pot on the blue and later finished it with pink. James Goodwin 118-51 Sean Rolt - Jimmy started 91 up and opened the scoring with a break of 14 leaving Sean a near impossible task. Tony Pring 36-60 Mike Doherty - Mike was good, inflicting just a second defeat on Tony. Alec Oates 26-58 Zain Abideen - A fluked red resulted in 15 for Zain then another teen break later was enough. Tony Cubbon 98-69 John Kennish - John made a nice 33 but Tony played well enough and with his 56 start held on. 

Port St Mary Legion 3-2 The Hurricanes

Report by Terry Boyle:

Marc Morley 27-52 Lee Butterworth - After some impressive potting from Lee he was 33 ahead going on to the colours. Marc with two good snookers got right back into it, then potted yellow, green and brown, but after a safety exchange he was unlucky to stick the blue up. Lee took it with the pink to close out the frame. Phil Joynes 75-68 Shaun Roberts - Tight frame with both players not at their best. Two balls left and the scores level Phil went in-off. Shaun rattled the pink and was unlucky when it settled over a middle pocket, Phil taking pink and black. Andrew Hutchison 82-71 Chris Dagnall - Good frame, both players potting well. Andy was well ahead but two unforced errors, going in-off and suddenly Chris could take the frame on the colours. He potted yellow, green, brown and blue, narrowly missing the pink. A few safety shots followed, Chris got the pink for a black ball game. Some more good safety before Chris left a half chance to the yellow pocket which Andy gratefully tucked away. Dave Pickersgill 55-64 Jamie Wilson - Early in the frame Jamie was playing well but Dave hung in well and on the colours went ahead. With pink and black left there was a good safety exchange before Jamie got both to pinch it. Terry Boyle 64-57 Steve Munk - On his first scoring visit Steve made a nice 26 break, but with some good pots I edged ahead. At four balls left I took the brown to go 16 up, however a stupid attempt at the blue saw the white fly in-off giving Steve the chance to take the frame. He took blue and pink but the white ran into a tricky position leaving him a difficult cut into a middle pocket. The black luckily for me stayed in the jaws, very hard luck on Steve. All tight frames, four of them black balls and we were very fortunate to claim three of them.  

St Olave's 0-5 Cue Zone Blinders

Christmas came early for the Rockets as they were gifted three of the first four frames. Ollie Byrne 69-73 Sean Murphy - Ollie serenely went over 50 up before Sean came back strong including a 21 break. Sean still needed one snooker on the pink though, but an attempt by Ollie to pot it inadvertently moved black into a better place to snooker. Sean immediately laid one, Ollie failed to escape and Sean won on black, some steal. Dave Kelly 65-70 Graham Ashton - A bizarre game, lots of fouls from in-offs and miscues plus multiple flukes from both. Dave missed a blue which would’ve given him his first ever point in the high break league. With Graham needing one snooker on pink and black, Dave tried to dolly the pink over the yellow bag, hit it too thin and lost the white into the green pocket. Graham in potting the pink played an excellent positional shot to land straight on the black along the black cushion for another steal. Anthony Bayle 32-58 Marc Bolton - Marc is yet to taste defeat and edged away from Anthony to go six from six. Mike Crook 41-48 Paddy Delaney - Not a memorable St Olave’s debut for your correspondent. Paddy, suffering with a bad neck was receiving massage between visits and needed the last three balls to force a re-spot. Crook muffed a series of decent chances to pot frame ball. Paddy gradually picked off the balls he required then fluked the black. Crook had one last chance on the re-spot but butchered it, Paddy putting away a long half-ball shot. Dan Crawley 21-91 Leon Martin - Plenty of strong potting from 15 year old Leon, the first time I’d seen him play and you can see he’s been well coached by Paddy, definitely one for the future if he keeps up the practice. Dan never made any inroads into the 35 start as scoreboard pressure told. 

Top League Standings

1.) Cue Zone Blinders - 26 points
=  Finch Hill Rockets - 26 points
3.) Finch Hill Musicians A - 22 points
4.) The Hurricanes - 21 points
=  Finch Hill Musicians B - 21 points

High Break League Standings

1.) Sean Rolt - 13 points
2.) Darryl Hill - 8.5 points
=  John Kennish - 8.5 points

Individual League Standings

1.) Paul Smyth - 6 wins
=  Marc Bolton - 6 wins
=  David Hill - 6 wins