Southport Snooker League Match Reports – Week 10

by
28th November 2015

1ST round of the Frank Lodge Cup – Last 32

With the league programme put on hold for a week in order to play the Frank Lodge Cup, 3rd division Fleetwood Hesketh B beat Les Dodd’s B of the 1st division by just the single point, 365 to 364, to progress into the next round of the competition. Les Dodd’s went into the match in good form with back-to-back wins in the league while Fleetwood returned to the venue that saw them get thumped 5-1 by the Doddy’s C team last week. With any cup match the start is crucial and Doddy’s got off to a good one, pulling some 74 points back of the 130 they were giving out. Wins for Dave Mills and Alan Harley meant that Lawrence Renshaw & Brian Kimberly had to get something out of their match ups to give their side a chance of getting through. Lawrence beat David Brown 69-21 with Brian failing to stop Paul Rogers returning the difference, losing 79-32. With the scores now sat at 237-164, a difference of 73, Les Dodd’s knew that the last pairings of Andy Murray & Andy Reynolds need to win, and by a combined margin of 57. For Mick Orme & Phil Marrow the task was simple, don’t get stuffed…!!! Things must have got really tense at the end as the frames came to the conclusion but the visitors held on to win by the tightest of margins, by just the one point.

 

The match-up between Southport & Birkdale Cricket club & the Waddington Cons A team may have been a 1st division fixture last year but with the relegation of S&B last year they met in the cup with the Con club giving 90 points to their hosts this time round. Billy Evans beat Paul Parker by the required run rate of 15 a man as Gary Flynn edged passed Barney Newton by just 4 points 43-39. Paul Wilson gave the Waddy a real boost beating Mark Fletcher 88-30 but Paul Taylor lost out to Tony Milner 37-43 to see the Waddy only 19 points behind on the aggregate. But Richard Thornley & Dave Palmer put up good resistance to Ali Iddon & Alan Tomlin to lose their frames by a combined 6 points, to see the home side knick through by just the 14 points, 345-331.

 

Second division side Banks C received a 90 point start off the visiting Churchtown Cons A side and needed most of the handicap as they went through by 36 points. The Banks pair of Martin Sephton & Alan Johnson gave Banks the perfect start when both beating their opposition to stretch the lead by an extra 36 points 109-73. But the match was to swing back to the Con club after Mick Coxon put in one of his best efforts this year to beat Billy Cummings 101-29 with Dave Harwood losing out to Steve Harris 55-35. Churchtowns Dan Matthews beat Cliff Arnold by 30 points but Jamie Campbell could do any more than beat John Prescott on the final colours and see his side come up short of their target 363-330.

 

Only one of the ties involved two sides from the 1st division, Waddington Cons B who played host to Argyle LTC, with the Tennis club side going through by 41 points, 369-328. Only one point separates them in the league table but Argyle more than matched their opposition winning 5 of the 6 frames frame’s on the night, something they themselves have failed to do so far in the league. The returning globe trotter Jon Holms made a welcome start for Argyle when seeing off Phil Gaskell 78-44 as Ste Forshaw easily beat Phil Kitchen 62-36. With 60 points already pulled back of the 80 they were receiving the Waddy needed some inspiration to try and give the lads going on last something to play with. But it all went a bit ‘Pete Tong’ as Ryan Curry impressed against Andy Linaker beating him 82-40 with Ste Cooper beating Mike Stokeld 59-23 to wipe out the handicap and put the visitors138 points to the good over the Waddy. The Waddy’s Ste Cobb earned himself a good win over Paddy Tyndall, 58-37 but Captain Brian Jarrett made sure of the victory for his side when beating Ray Highton on the final black 51-47.

 

Another Birkdale Derby took place in the cups when the 1st division A team took on the C team last week with big brother handing out a bit of a lesson to the smaller 3rd division side. King of the 20’s Phil Fitzgerald made the most in clearing up with a lovely 22 break to beat Phil Green 61-42 as Paul Shawcross beat John McGee by 51 points 76-25. With 70 points pulled back of the 260 the A team were giving out things went really well for the scratch side as Ricky Webb bet Ted Coghlan 75-15 with Les Sullivan just falling short of a century of points when beating Phil Horan 99-31. With the difference already more than the handicap start the A team were giving they were just not in the mood to hand out a few free points as John Melvin and Mick Wardle completed a 143-38 point besting of Paul Rimmer & Martin Calvert. The result saw the A team progress through to the 2nd round with last year’s Frank Lodge winners sent packing in a 44 point defeat, 454-410.

 

The all 2nd division clash between Scarisbrick A & Churchtown Cons B saw the home side progress through to the next round with after completing an 300-252 points victory over the visiting Con club.  These two sides met only a few weeks back in the league where Scarisbrick enjoyed a close 4-2 win over their visitors, and they replicated that result with this 48 aggregate win here. Scarisbrick Chris Starkie just got the better of Paul Connor 60-42 s Colin Tennant gave Ron Calder a 23 point defeat to see the Con club 5 points up after the opening frames. The next frames on were just as close as Norman Hallsworth beat Dave Pritchard 51-36 with Gary Hudson completing a 1 point victory over Ian Tinsley 43-42. With the scores sat at 176 to Scarisbrick and 167 to Churchtown it came down to who would have the stronger finish to see which team would progress through. Paul Horner made good claims for Scarisbrick when beating John Barton 72-48 with Graham Ball completing the win when beating Lawrence Richards 52-37.

 

When things go bad they can turn for the worse before getting better and that is probably what Tarleton C are thinking right now as they lost to 3rd division Les Dodd’s C by 54 points on the aggregate score. Their task wasn’t made any easier when the Doddy’s opening pair of Chris Rae & Jamie O’Shaughnessy both made great starts with both getting a good break in the match. Doddy’s Chris made a break of 30 in his match against Shaun Fisher with Jamie making a break of 31 in his match against Dean Bond. When you are giving 90 points head start it’s not the best of things to let the side getting the start move a further 90 in front but that was the situation facing Tarleton now moving into the middle pairings. Tarletons John Moore carried on with his good form for the year when beating Kyle Woodfull 75-23 but Mark Rollins made no inroads into Jason Bradley eventually losing 60-43. Doddy’s pair of Harry Wilby and Gary Hardwick could be forgiven for switching off a bit as Phil Keep & Jimmy Jones tried to pull back the 145 points back that they needed but it was all in vain in the end.

 

Third Division Banks D progressed through to the next round of the Frank Lodge cup with a 80 point victory over Les Dodd’s A last week. The visitors had to give 70 points on the aggregate start and let that slip an extra 32 points after Graham Melvin & Tony Coakley saw off the challenge of Graham Marshall & Karl Bellman 127-95. Things went a lot better for the Doddy’s team in the middle pairings as Martin Matthews beat James Nixon 69-44 with Peter Jackson beating Darren McDowell 48-28. With 13 points now got back from the 79 they were giving it just proved too much for the visitors as the Banks pair of Gerry Stone & Alan Wilson held on to run out 374-294 winners.

 

Third division leaders Churchtown Cons D took on the 1st division leaders Tarleton BC A armed with a very handy 200 point aggregate lead but it wasn’t enough for them on the night as the 1st division side swept passed them by 83 points 461-378. The opening frames saw the two stars of the Con club this year Trevor Ford & Dave Quinn take on Tarletons John Nelson & Rob Iddon with both players having good starts in the frame. But eventually the Tarleton lads got to grips with their frames and ran out 138-76 winners. Andy Bolton managed to rack up 91 points in his frame against Russ Walsh as Colin Boston returned back to his home club last year to win 76-36 against Steve Mentha. With the last pairings to go on Tarleton had managed to get back the handicap and some to lead 305-144, still 39 points back of the required start. But big wins for Chris Gill against Al Graham, 87-12 and a 69-22 win for Marcus Jackson over Tony Wakefield saw Tarleton safely through to the next round to much talk from the watching committee members at the match.

 

Waddington Cons C failed to make it through to the last 16 after losing to the visiting Bretherton A side by the margin of 87 points, 387-300. Ste Whyte struggled to contain Jim Richards who must have liked the conditions winning 86 points to 15 in his match with Gordon Russell losing by the closer margin of 7 to Max Riley. Stefan Whyte lost out by the close margin of 6 to Harry Haslam as Dave Cottam put Guy Riley to the sword with a fine 73-25 win. With Bretherton now in just 2 points back on the handicap score it was left to Jim Holden to seal the victory as he ran out a very impressive 97-6 winner over Vinny Langford. The Waddy’s Dave Brown did manage to gain a notable win against Ron Dickinson 45-43 but alas it was just not to be on the night.

 

Last year this was a top of the table clash in the 3rd division but after Bretherton B won promotion after winning the division they returned to play Southport Cons B having to hand them 50 points to the aggregate score. The Bath street side started off by increasing the handicap by 29 points after John Higgins beat Ed Moulton 68-32 despite Phil Iddon beating John Blackhurst 47-40. The tie turned round for Bretherton however in the middle frames as Simon Moulton beat John Barton 81-27 with Alan Venables providing ample support beating Peter Yates 56-36. With the aggregate score now sat at 216-171, just the 5 points between them in favour of the visitors, it was left to Jeff Wainwright to pull the match and result away from Bretherton after he ran riot against Nev Marsden. Jeff, who already has a 54 break to his name in the league this year, ran up exactly 100 points against his opponent to so gain an important 77 point victory over Nev. Colin Paul made sure of the win when beating Ste Fiddler 55-39 to see the Bath street side progress through 376-278.

 

As the saying goes, ‘When it’s your night, it’s your night’ and this proved right for Banks B as they whooped Churchtown Cons C by over 100 points, 425-319. The opening pair for Banks laid the foundation for the rest of the side to relax a bit and enjoy the night as Andy Griffiths won 74-40 only to see Mike Marsh surpass that effort with a great 102-15 win over Brian Sheil. It meant that with the scores sat at 176-55 Churchtowns aggregate handicap of 120 was wiped out on the opening frames by the Banks lads. Churchtowns Richard Hughes put up a fight to beat Dave Turner 52-45 but Harry Caunce extended the lead after he beat Adam Rothwell 69-26.Furhter wins for the Banks pair of John E Gearie & Bob Ashcroft put the seal on a very good night for the visiting Banks side running out impressive 425-319 winners on the night.

 

First division Tarleton BC B saw off the challenge of lowly 2nd division side Mere Brow B by the big margin of 111 points with Ian Gautrey doing the most damage in his frame. The home side got off to a flyer with Ste Harrison beating young Matthew Greenwood 74-33, Matthew claiming most of the final colours as did Ray Forshaw who was 50 points back to David Forshaw, eventually losing 44-68. But the middle pairings belonged to Tarleton as Andy Marsden beat Dale Roberts comfortably 79-32 with Ian Gautrey hitting the century mark of points helped with a break of 38, as he beat Liam Taylor 102-23. The home side made sure of the victory with wins for Ste Gautrey & Neil Rigden against the Crabtree pairing of Paul senior & Paul Junior.

 

Third division Birkdale Cons B came away from playing top flight Banks A with a 154 aggregate win, much in part helped along by Banks only being able to field the 5 players on the night. Home Captain Andy Bridge did his best to give his side a boost when beating Peter Wilding 88-17 but Birkdale’s Captain replied in kind to beat Andy Hardisty 64-25. Andy Sutton got a fine 83-31 win over Birkdale’s Johnny Mullard but again the visitors took another frame off their hosts as David Robinson beat Roy Cookson 64-57. The final nail in the coffin was only sealed when Andy Bintcliffe shook hands with John Stringfellow with the tie already done and dusted, as Birkdale moved through to the next round 466-312 winners.

Our Lady’s beat Mere Brow A – The card has yet to be received.

 

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