1st Division
Birkdale Cons A lost 4-2 to league leaders Tarleton BC A but could count themselves slightly unlucky not to have come away with the win themselves last week. The opening frames were shared as Tarletons Chris Gill took the last four balls to force a re-spot black against top stick Phil Fitzgerald, taking the frame on that re-spotted black 56-63, with Birkdale’s Paul Shawcross beating John Nelson 55-32 in a somewhat scrappy affair. Rob Iddon compiled a wonderful break of 64, though Rob was left kicking himself after a missed black with the rest cost him a much bigger break with 3 reds still left on the table to beat Ricky Webb 87-7. John Melvin found Colin Boston hard to beat, eventually going down a 66-41 loser to see Tarleton take a 3-1 lead. Things started well for Birkdale in the last pairings as both Mick Wardle & Ronnie Brooks opened up healthy leads but Mick couldn’t hang on losing to Andy Bolton 54-42 as Ronnie beat Marcus Jackson 68-38 after going nearly 50 points ahead at one stage.
Mere Brow A showed no Christmas spirit to Tarleton BC C as they thumped them 5-1 to inflict the 11th straight defeat now for the lads from Tarleton. The fireworks started off very quickly for the visitors as Andy O’Hara & Martin Brown both fired in double breaks against their opposition. Andy broke the 100 mark against Jimmy Jones, made in most by breaks of 37 & 31, while Martin made two breaks in the 20’s against John Moore to beat him 78-32. Conditions continued to suit the champs as they moved 4-0 up after Alan Wareing and Andy Booth both saw off Phil Keep & Shaun Fisher. The potential full house of 6 was evaded after Tarletons Dean Bond pulled off his own Christmas cracker when getting the 2 snookers required against Danny Jassi to beat him on the final black 63-31 as John Greenwood continued his teams theme for making good breaks in his 82-38 win over Mark Rollins.
Banks A stay third in the division despite only getting a 3-3 draw with the visiting Tarleton BC B team. Andy Hardisty had a frame to remember as his Christmas came early with a 105-4 stunning victory over Ian Gautrey, with breaks of 34 & 27 in his frame, as Neil Rigden responded with his own memorable performance beating Andy Bridge 57-24. Banks then took charge of the match to move 3-1 up Al Sutton beat Ste Harrison 57-26 and Roy Cookson edging out Andy Marsden on the final black 60-55. But Tarleton fought back to secure their 3rd away draw of the season when Ray Forshaw beat Andy Bintcliffe just, 59-53 on the final black as John Gautrey gave himself a big pat on the back for beating Trevor Wetton 54-22.
Fleetwood Hesketh 2-4 Waddington Cons A – No card received yet
At last, Argyle LTC managed to gain their first win of the campaign when they turned over the Waddington Cons B team 5-1, with a real shock win for one player. The opening pair for the Waddy, Denis Woodward & Andy Linaker couldn’t do anything to stop Jon Holms & Ryan Curry from taking the opening frames to give the visitors the perfect 2-0 start. This lead was soon to be doubled as Ste Cooper beat Phil Gaskell 63-17 with Colin Coffey beating Ste Cobb on the black to win back-to-back wins for the first time in the league. With the Tennis club now guaranteed the win it was down to Brian Jarrett & top stick Paddy Tyndall to see if they could claim a full house 6 against their opposition. Captain Brian lead by example to beat Ray Highton 51-44 but the Padster couldn’t get the better of the Waddy’s Phil Kitchen, going down to the veteran of the league 42-34, with Phil making a 22 break in the frame for good measure.
Churchtown Cons A bounced back from last week’s 5-1 mauling to beat the visiting Les Dodd’s B team 4-2, Doddy’s first defeat in four matches played. The Con clubs Les Prescott brought up his 5th win of the season after beating Dave Mills 66-41 as Craig Rice got passed Alan Harley on the final colours 49-40. Les Dodd’s then fought back well to level the scores 2-2 as Andy Reynolds beat Dave Harwood 56-24 while Dave Brown scored an impressive 80-26 win over Dan Matthews, his best effort of the year so far. But the Churchtown pair of Mick Coxon & Jamie Campbell took the match away from their visitors as Mick beat Danny Clegg 52-22 with Jamie matching that with a 58-22 victory over Paul Rogers.
2nd Division
Banks C have opened up a 4 point lead at the top of the division as they came away from playing Bretherton B with a 4-2 victory last week. Banks’ Alan Johnson made it a perfect 10 from 10 for the season as he beat Alan Venable 52-24 with Steve Harris making it a dream start for Banks as he beat Edward Moulton by the tightest of margins 54-53. William Moulton got one back for Bretherton as he beat John Prescott 47-32 with Billy Cummings making it 3-1 to his side when he beat Ste Fiddler 68 points to 30. But Banks will enjoy the Christmas break a touch more now after making it 5 straight wins in the league now when Martin Sephton beat Nev Marsden 77-31 with Bretherton’s Phil Iddon beating Cliff Arnold 61-37.
The main reason for a four point margin at the top of the league was the surprise 5-1 defeat of 2nd placed Southport Cons A to lowly Mere Brow B. Recent results have seen the Con club take 5-1 & 6-0 victories, but Mere Brow spoiled the party with only their 3rd win of the season so far. No jet lag left in young Paul Crabtree now as he beat Ste Cromwell 65-19, helped along with a 26 break, as Matthew Greenwood made it 2-0 when he beat Matty Pollock 62-26. The feel good factor continued on into the middle pairings as David Forshaw beat John Cromwell 53-37 as Dale Roberts registered only his 2nd win of the season with a 64-35 victory over Nobby Lee. This would end up being the biggest defeat for the Con club side since returning to the 2nd division as Paul Crabtree snr beat Southport’s top stick Lee Cromwell 51-39 as Mike Langford beat Liam Taylor 68-26 to avoid the 6-0 whitewash.
The battle between Southport & Birkdale Cricket club & Banks B saw the visiting Banks team come away from Trafalgar road with a 4-2 win to move them 2 points clear of their hosts in the league. Mike Marsh impressed again with a 39 break in his 69-10 victory over Paul Parker as Dave Turner eased passed Tom Palmer 69-6. Captain Dave Palmer brought up the cricket clubs first win on the night as he beat Harry Caunce 79-18 though Andy Griffiths restored the 2 frame advantage when he beat Tony Milner in a classic 35-5. The lob sided opening frames went a bit closer in the last two pairings with Bob Ashcroft securing the win for Banks when he beat Russell Thornley 49-35 as the veteran that is Barney Newton managed to claim a black ball win over John E Gearie to keep the cricket club still in the hunt near the top of the table.
With half of the season now gone Les Dodd’s A are still looking for their first win of the season as they were thumped 5-1 by a visiting Bretherton A team who now move above their B team in the league off the back of this win. Jim Richards & Harry Haslam got the ball roiling for Bretherton as they defeated Martin Matthews & Jordan Scutt respectively in the opening frames to go 2-0 up from the start. The score was to be doubled after the middle pairings as John Hart handed out a thrashing to Karl Bellman, beating him 72-7 with Gordon Russell beat Graham Marshall 62-23 for a 4-0 dream start. Dave Cottam made it win number 6 for the season after beating Peter Jackson 77-33 with Doddy’s own Peter Parkinson making sure they didn’t suffer a total wipe out when he beat Jim Holden 60-46.
Our Lady’s moved level on points with the visiting Scarisbrick A side in the league after securing a 4-2 victory their 3rd consecutive home win in a row. Scarisbrick’s Ian Tinsley made it win number 5 for the year after he beat Luke Marshall 59-32 as Michael Houghton replied for the home side when defeating Chris Starkie 62-38. Both Paul Heery & Keith Turner found a bit of good form to beat the Scarisbrick pair of Ron Calder & Graham Ball to see the Formby side move to 3-1 on the night. Norman Hallsworth saw off Alan Parker 77-34 to gain his side their 2nd win but the legend that is Tommy Tickle made it smiles all round for the Formby side when beating Peter Fenwick 43-36. I’m sure his evening tipple would have tasted good after that victory, leaving him on three wins from his three guest appearances this year.
3rd Division
The much anticipated match up of Les Dodd’s C versus Churchtown Cons D ended up in a 3-3 draw, with the Con club probably thinking they missed out on putting one over the lads from Doddy’s after going 3-1 up on the night. The very dependable opening pair for the Con club of Trevor Ford & Dave Quinn gave their team the perfect start to the night’s proceedings as they beat Jim Bradley & Jamie O’Shaughnessy to go 2-0 up. Doddy’s needed something at least out of the middle pairings to which Chris Rae got them off the mark when he beat Mike Pickles 69-42 but Al Graham beat Martin Cusack 57-28 to hand the Con club a big advantage going into the last pairings. But the lads from Doddy’s were not going to give up their position at the top of the table as Kyle Woodfull & Gary Hardwick both won, against Tony Wakefield & Russ Walsh to leave the side level on 47 points apiece.
British Rail v Southport Cons B – No card received yet
Formby Sports & Social club gave themselves an early Christmas present when the stuffed Banks D like the preverbal turkey 6-0 last week, their first ever white wash in the league. Mark Abbott & Mark Winkley got the home side off to the best possible start when they defeated Barry Holmes & James Nixon in the opening frames. This was soon to be doubled up after Steve McCluskey beat Gerry Stone 61-33 with Adrian Morris beating Graham Melvin by a very similar score 61-32. Just as they did last week in their match against Fleetwood Hesketh B the Formby boys were sat on a 4-0 nil lead with the last two pairings to go on. Unlike last week where they lost one of the last frames there was to be no doubt this week when Alex Fairley won, his 10th victory this year, 57-36 against Barry Foster ably supported by Alec Davies who beat Bob Burns.
The Birkdale Cons C team played out a 3-3 draw with the visiting Scarisbrick B team to see them sat side by side in the middle of the table. The opening frames both went the way of the Con club as Ted Coghlan & Phil Green both brought up good home wins over Scarisbrick’s Matt Lowery & Wayne Cooper. But the visitors turned the tables round for the middle pairings as John Hardisty beat Eddie Tennant 63-40 with John Brown getting the better of John McGee 53-18. Scarisbrick’s Peter Simpson got back to winning ways when beating Geoff Wright 51-32 while Mick Hodge suffered his fourth defeat in a row when losing 58-33 to Phil Horan.
The Waddington Cons C team end the first half of the season as the only team left in the division yet to win a match so far as they went down 4-2 to the visiting Fleetwood Hesketh B side. Waddy’s Bob Fairclough & Vince Langford both lost out in the opening frames to Hesketh’s Mick Orme & Brian Kimberley to go 2-0 down from the start. And things didn’t get much better in the next pairings as Lawrence Richards beat Stefan Whyte 49-6 with Ian Brownhill beating Max Riley 39-12. But the Waddy pair of Guy Riley & Steve Whyte gave the home boys some Christmas cheers when taking the last two frames to give some joy to the night’s proceedings.
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