Nazareth House Snooker League - Week 23

DIVISION 1

Pegasus Snooker Club 4-4 Arnold Civil Defence "A"

This much talked up potential ‘title decider’ finished in a stalemate with both sides relatively happy at not losing but at the same time disappointed in not getting that crucial victory. With the tactical reshuffles from both sides sorted out the two league heavyweights got down to business.

At Arnold, the first match up was between Pegasus’s Scott Bates and the experienced Tony Hart. The frame was a scrappy affair with Bates holding his own, however it was Hart who finished the stronger to win the frame. Mike Langdon was in inspired form knocking in a superb 61 break (abet a fluked black on 37) in his match against Richard Tooley to notch up Pegasus’s first frame on the board. Arnold soon had their noses in front though after an impressive performance from Malc Belshaw who won his frame against Chris Piech by a good seventy points. Back at Pegasus Chris Brooks was comfortable in his win against Gary Spencer helped by a couple of 30 breaks whilst Chris Winter leveled the leg for Arnold by beating Pegasus’s Jamie Mathers. The frame was a close call all the way but when Mathers rattled a frame winning Blue, Winter stepped in and went onto win the frame by executing a perfect double on the black. It was a black ball which decided the outcome last time Steve Booth came up against Arnold’s James Notman and once again this was the case, however it was to be sweet revenge this time round for the Pegasus man as the home leg went two one up.

Meanwhile back at Arnold a good quality pairs encounter between Pegasus’s Piech and Langdon and Arnold’s Belshaw and Brian Kinton was well underway. With the scores level a poor shot from Piech left Belshaw in the balls from which he compiled a good 32 break but let the Pegasus pair off the hook with a poor missed red. Langdon pulled Pegasus back into contention making a 23 break from the last three reds before a miracle yellow from Kinton secured the frame for Arnold. Langdon had got out of a snooker and sent the yellow down the table where it nestled close to the side cushion about an inch above the middle bag and safe or so thought the Pegasus pair. Whether it was a fluke or knowledge of the table only Kinton will know but the potted yellow signaled the end of the frame as Green, Brown and Blue quickly followed to give Arnold a 3-1 home leg win.

So with Arnold leading the match four three all eyes (and there was quite a crowd!) turned to the final match up of the evening, Pegasus’s Brooks and Mathers would take on the Arnold pairing of Winter and Jon Fountain. In a tactical encounter Arnold’s Fountain was doing a good job of keeping Pegasus’s Brooks frozen out of the frame. But when Fountain missed a tricky red Brooks punished the Arnold pair with a composed 44 break under incredible pressure to save the match for his teammates.

The result means providing neither club slip up in their remaining matches the title will be decided on frame difference, so from now on in every frame counts in what potentially could be the most exciting finish the league has seen. Well played to both teams not only on some great snooker played under real pressure but also in the friendly spirit the match was played in.

Other Results:

Stadium Leisure 5-3 Cotgrave Welfare
Lenton Liberal Club "A" 7-1 BCI Snooker Centre

DIVISION 2

Peoples Hall 6-2 City Hospital Leisure Centre

In their first year in the league, The Peoples Hall who are managed by Zeb Ahmed who made a 133 break in practise this week, have been crowned Champions of Division 2 and will play in Division 1 next season. City Hospital were never really in the match after suffering a 4-0 home defeat.

The runners-up spot has yet to be decided after Mapperley Community Centre were forced to postpone their final match against Wollaton RBL. Arnold "B" are currently lying in 2nd place but if Mapperley can win their match against Wollaton then Mapperley will finish 2nd and claim the other promotion place.

Other Results:

Rutland Club 8-0 EMI Snooker
Oakleigh Lodge Social Club 5-3 Lenton Liberal Club "B"
Phoenix Cue Sports 5-3 Arnold Civil Defence "B"

Nottingham & Notts Institutes Association Snooker League - Week 16

Division 1

CITY HOSPITAL L.C. 3 - 2 SHERWOOD S.C.'A'
BCI 'A' 4 - 1 SPOT ON (HUCKNALL) 'A'
TOP SPOT 'B' 4 - -5 TOP SPOT 'A'
SPOT ON (HUCKNALL) 'B' -5 - 4 CARLTON LC
BCI.'D' 1 - 4 BCI 'E'

Division 2

RUDDINGTON C.C. 2 - 3 SHERWOOD SC 'D'
MAPPERLEY C.C. 'A' 3 - 2 BCI 'B'
OAKLEIGH LODGE 0 - 5 CUE CLUB
BCI 'C' 4 - 1 MASTERS S.C.
SHERWOOD SC 'B' 0 - 0 BLANK

Nazareth House Snooker League - Week 22

DIVISION 1

Pegasus Snooker Club 6-2 Sherwood Social Club "B"

Pegasus Snooker Club remain two points clear of Arnold Civil Defence ‘A’ in division 1 after a comfortable victory over bottom of the table Sherwood Social Club ‘B’. At Sherwood, Chris Piech had looked comfortable leading by 28 with only 25 points left on the table against Sherwood’s Gareth Evans. However Piech failed to secure the frame with a relatively simple green and very nearly came unstuck as Evans potted Green, Brown and Blue before laying a good snooker behind the Black, which cost Piech his comfort zone. Evans failed in his attempt to sink the Pink with a tricky cut and a relieved Piech regained his composure to win the frame. Mike Langdon should have been home and dry in his frame against Phil Evans but a succession of careless shots and fouls meant that come the colours Evans was still very much in the frame. The Sherwood man became favourite after sinking Yellow, Green, Brown and Blue and looked set to pinch the frame but a miss on the Pink proved to be his last shot as Langdon finally wrapped up the frame with a good cut. Steve Booth was the away legs only casualty of the night as his wretched season continued losing a tight frame against Andy Fitton who had fluked the Brown to leave the luckless Booth looking towards the heavens. Piech and Langdon made it 3-1 in the doubles with victory over the Sherwood pairing of Gareth and Phil Evans.

At Pegasus, the home leg didn’t really get out of second gear, Chris Brooks knocked in a 30 break as he successfully defended his 100% singles record whilst Jamie Mathers won his 13th frame of the season on the Blue. Pegasus stand-in Andy Orange was once again denied his first win for the club, losing out in a Black ball frame (again!) whilst the reliable pairing of Brooks and Mathers had no problems in the doubles to give the Pegasus team a good 6-2 win.

Next week Pegasus will play Arnold in a tie that will surely decide who will be crowned league champions.

Arnold Civil Defence "A" 5-3 Lenton Liberal Club "A"

At Arnold, wins for Chris Winter, Gary Spencer (69 break), John Fountain and Spencer & James Notman in the pairs gave Arnold a 4-0 lead.

At Lenton, it came down to the experienced Tony Hart to seal a much needed win for Arnold. Malc Belshaw and Richard Tooley both lost their singles frames and their night went from bad to worse as their paired up in the doubles only to suffer another defeat. Thankfully, former Notts Amateur Champion Hart won his singles frame to secure a 5-3 win for Arnold.

Cotgrave Welfare 4-4 BCI Snooker Centre

Strugglers Cotgrave nearly suffered another league defeat as the Cotgrave pair of Anthony McMahon & Billy Johnson were trailing the BCI pair by 54-7 in the final frame of the match. However, McMahon & Johnson somehow managed to find some form and they ended up winning the frame 62-54 on the pink.

DIVISION 2

Peoples Hall 5-3 Arnold Civil Defence "B"

At Peoples Hall, John Marshall was too strong for Alan Cunningham beating him 60-22. However, Arnold's Bill Burton overcame Terry Wong 62-28. Alan's brother Ken Cunningham held his nerve when playing the cue ball from tight up against the top cushion to pot the deciding black into the green bag. This left Alan Cunningham & Burton playing Marshall & Wong in the pairs and with the Arnold pair leading by 13 points, Marshall, trying to play a full-table-length safety, clattered into the pack and fluked a red from which he went on to make a 32 break. Later in the frame, Wong fluked a pink into the middle pocket from which he made an 18 break. The Arnold pair were demoralised by this point and they conceded frame.

At Arnold. Nav Hussain beat Sean Kelly, Y Abbas beat Dave Robinson and NHSL Scratch Singles finalist Zeb Ahmed beat Stan Candler. With the pairs frame still to play, Peoples Hall already knew they had won the match and they eased up a little as Ahmed & Abbas lost to Kelly & Candler.

City Hospital Leisure Centre 4-4 Lenton Liberal Club "B"

At City Hospital, Russ Kirk and Rob Wallace both played well to win their singles frames. Lee Archer was out of sorts as he lost, but Kirk & Wallace won in the pairs for a 3-1 home win.
At Lenton, Dave Buckley won in style to put City Hospital in a strong position but Dennis Peet, Alan Taylor and Peet & Taylor all lost leaving Lenton delighted with a draw.

Other Results:

Rutland Club 6-2 Mapperley Community Centre
Oakleigh Lodge Social Club 4-4 Wollaton RBL
Phoenix Cue Sports 8-0 EMI Snooker

The final league fixture in division 2 is played next week and it could not be more exciting as Mapperley, Peoples Hall and Arnold B can all still finish top and one of the three teams is going to miss out on promotion.

Nottingham & Notts Institutes Association Snooker League - 10/3/08

Division 1

City Hospital LC 4-1 BCI 'D'

Division 2

Cue Club 5-0 Oakleigh Lodge

Knockout Cup Semi-finals

Sherwood SC 'A' beat Spot On (Hucknall) 'B'
BCI 'C' beat Sherwood SC 'D'

Knockout Plate Semi-finals

Masters Snooker Club are through to the final of the Knockout Plate after a good win at Carlton Liberal Club. Wins from James Robinson and Paul Bell saw Masters through by 35 points which was exactly the handicap that they started with. Cary Davies and Nigel Bradford played well in their respective matches to keep the scores evenly balanced going into the last frame.

The other Semi-final will be between Mapperley Community Centre and Top Spot 'B' after the latter beat Sherwood SC 'B' in the a re-arranged Quarter-final match.

Intermediate Singles Semi-finals

Nigel Bradford (Masters) will play Wayne Martin (BCI) in the final of the Intermediate Singles Competition. Martin, fresh from his win in the Eastwood Charity Snooker Open, beat Tim Hudson 2-0 with the help of a 51 break. Nigel Bradford beat Cary Davies 2-1 in the other semi-final.

More success for Hamilton

Former Pegasus player Anthony Hamilton has won the third Championship League Snooker group. Hamilton beat Ali Carter 3-2 in the final despite suffering with a neck injury for the majority of the final day. Hamilton now joins Ryan Day and Ken Doherty in the final group in May with a further four players set to join them in the coming months.

Current Pegasus pro Michael Holt, fresh from being knocked out of the World Championship, finished bottom of the group which means his Championship League campaign is over for this year.

Full group 3 results and table on the Nottingham Snooker Forum.

Hamilton through to Crucible, Holt crashes out

Anthony Hamilton cruised past Scott Mackenzie in the final qualifying round to secure his place at the Crucible and keep his hopes of maintaining his top 32 ranking alive. Mackenzie was a poor second in this match as he finished on the wrong end of a 10-2 scoreline. After the match Hamilton hit out at the snooker calendar for the lack of other 'proper' events.

Meanwhile, fellow Nottingham potter Michael Holt crashed out of the Championship with a 10-6 loss to Michael Judge. This marks the end of a disappointing season for Holt as he has not qualified for the only other remaining ranking event, the China Open. This result also means he will start next season outside the top 32 which will require him to play more qualifying matches for next season's tournaments.

Frame Scores

Michael Holt 6-10 Michael Judge 43-66(52), 94(57)-9, 1-91(87), 48-70(44), 2-77(43), 77(43)-47, 22-109(109), 63(57)-13, 0-96(96), 34-58(48), 93(93)-0, 80(76)-6, 22-70(70), 86(48)-7, 4-82(82), 54-62

Anthony Hamilton 10-2 Scott MacKenzie 63-60, 60(60)-36, 81(81)-46(46), 42-70, 108(100)-6, 93(63)-0, 1-94(86), 67(66)-33, 50-37, 83(49)-4, 64-47, 68(63)-0

Nazareth House Snooker League - Week 21

DIVISION 1

Arnold Civil Defence "A" 4-4 Cotgrave Welfare

With league rivals Pegasus not having a game this week Arnold had the chance to regain the initiative against a Cotgrave side who had only won three games all season. However the absence of influencial player Chris Winter proved to be decisive. At Arnold, Tony Hart and Brian Kinton won their frames but Richard Tooley was defeated. Tooley then partnered Kinton in the pairs and they managed to win to ensure a 3-1 home win.

Cotgrave have been strong at home all season and so it proved again as the Arnold trio of Malcolm Belshaw, Gary Spencer and James Notman all suffered defeat. This left Arnold in the rare position of having to win their final pairs game to secure a draw. Thankfully for Arnold, Spencer and Notman managed to beat the Cotgrave pair to spare the away team's blushes and keep the pressure on Pegasus at the top of the table.

Other Results:

Stadium Leisure 4-4 BCI Snooker Centre
Lenton Liberal Club "A" 6-2 Sherwood Social Club "B"

DIVISION 2

Arnold Civil Defence "B" 5-3 Lenton Liberal Club "B"

At Arnold, Sean Kelly and W Burton both won their frames. Andy Nichols lost when Lenton's Savage fluked the pink. Kelly and Burton won the pairs for a 3-1 home win.

At Lenton, team captain Alan Cunningham won, as did his brother Ken. However, Stan Candler lost to Lawrence Richards just as he did in the pairs where he partnered Alan Cunningham.

This win for Arnold "B" ensures that it remains a three-way battle for promotion along with Mapperley and newcomers Peoples Hall. Next week's fixture between Arnold "B" and Peoples Hall will prove decisive.

Other Results:

City Hospital Leisure Centre 4-4 Wollaton RBL
Oakleigh Lodge Social Club 4-4 The Rutland Club
Mapperley Community Centre 7-1 EMI Snooker
Peoples Hall 6-2 Phoenix Cue Sports

Nottingham & Notts Institutes Association Snooker League - Week 15

Division 1

TOP SPOT 'A' -5 - 4 BCI 'A'
SPOT ON (HUCKNALL) 'A' P - P SHERWOOD S.C.'A'
BCI 'E' 4 - 1 SPOT ON (HUCKNALL) 'B'
CARLTON LC 1 - 4 TOP SPOT 'B'
BCI.'D' 0 - 5 CITY HOSPITAL L.C.

Division 2

CUE CLUB 4 - 1 MAPPERLEY C.C. 'A'
BCI 'B' 3 - 2 SHERWOOD SC 'D'
BLANK 0 - 0 BCI 'C'
MASTERS S.C. 4 - 1 OAKLEIGH LODGE
SHERWOOD SC 'B' 4 - 1 RUDDINGTON C.C.

Click on the image to the right to view the latest league tables.

Eastwood Charity Snooker Open - 1st March 2008

Everyone who played in the inaugural Eastwood Charity Snooker Open held at Phoenix Cue Sports on Saturday 1 March 2008 said they had a terrific day of snooker. The tournament was well run by Stephen Lally and the round robin format provided excellent value for money. The club has seven lovely tables that are well maintained by the staff.

Numbers were lower than expected due to some entrants not turning up on the day for various reasons, however that benefited the ten competitors on the day because it enabled two groups of five to be formed, guaranteeing everyone at least four matches.

Group Stage

Group 1 proved to be very tight. Mark Harmon (Kingston-upon-Thames) won the group with his only defeat coming against Lenton’s Adam Shaw. Shaw, one of the pre-tournament favourites, surprisingly lost three of his four matches, finishing next to bottom. Ultimately, the second semi-final place was to be decided in the very last match of the group, where Farnsfield’s Matt Ellis played Awsworth’s Ash Goring. Ellis, whose three previous matches all went to deciding frames, seemed to run out of steam and it was Goring who sealed his semi-final place.

Ex-professional Wayne Martin (Bulwell) was the runaway winner of group 2 as he only dropped one frame on the way to winning all four of his matches. Steve Butler lost to Martin 2-0 in his first match but he managed to recover, winning his next three matches to take second place in the group.

Semi-finals

Mark Harmon, helped by a break of 37 and some solid play, beat Steve Butler 2-0.

Wayne Martin went 1-0 down against Ash Goring and he looked to be heading home as he found himself requiring three snookers. Amazingly, Martin not only managed to get the required snookers but he also cleared the table to pinch the frame. That seemed to spur him on and despite a determined fight by Goring it was Martin who secured a place in the final.

Final

The final proved to be a very one sided affair as Martin played some terrific snooker, including a 40 break, to win the match 3-0 in less than an hour. Harmon had very few chances as Martin produced some excellent safety play.

Prize Money

Wayne Martin £50 plus £5 for the highest break (53)
Mark Harmon £25
Steve Butler £10
Ash Goring £10

£2 from each players entry fee was given to the Nazareth House Snooker League who will ensure that the money goes to a worthy cause.

High Breaks

Wayne Martin 53,40,37,32,31
Mark Doyle 47,31
Mark Harmon 37
Steve Butler 33

RESULTS SHEET

The next tournament will be held at the end of April or early May.

Nazareth House Snooker League - Week 20

DIVISION 1

Just one re-arranged league match this week and an important one for Pegsasus who are challenging Arnold Civil Defence for the league title.

Pegasus Snooker Club 5-3 Stadium Leisure

Pegasus extended their lead in the title race to three points over second placed Arnold Civil Defence ‘A’ who now have two games in hand. Pegasus once again ran out 4-0 home leg winners with the help of two black ball wins against a plucky Stadium Leisure side. Chris Brooks knocked in the first real high break of the NHSL season, an outrageous doubled black completed a superb 84 clearance in his frame against Steve Butler. Jamie Mathers kept his composure in clearing up from the blue in an important win over Matt Ellis whilst Stadium’s Pete Gormley must be sick of playing at Pegasus. For the second time this season he lost out in a black ball match as stand-in Kevin Boyes won once again for the club. In the doubles frame Brooks and Mathers comfortably overcame the Stadium pairing of Butler and Ellis to once again ease the pressure on the fragile away leg. If Pegasus are to realise their dreams of winning the league this season the away leg has got to start standing up and being counted as for the second match running they only picked up one frame on their travels. The opening frame saw Stadium’s Barry Stark knock in a good 35 break, an agonizingly under hit red stopping Stark in his tracks. Chris Piech immediately replied with a 24 break but it was Stark who used all his experience to close out the frame and in the end won by 38 points. Pegasus’s only win of the evening was achieved by Mike Langdon, a 25 break helping him to notch up his 10th win of the campaign with a much improved performance against Ross Wilkin. Scott Bates never really got going in his defeat to Stadium’s Mark Bradley, a missed red over the middle bag proved costly as Bradley took control of the frame with a 21 break. In the final frame of the evening a fluked yellow gave the Pegasus pairing of Langdon and Bates a glimmer of hope but Bates could not capitalize and Barry Stark who had struggled throughout the frame showed his class by clearing up to give Stadium a 3-1 leg win.

KNOCKOUT CUP SEMI-FINALS

Lenton Liberal Club "A" beat Arnold Civil Defence "A"

Lenton A stayed on course for a third successive Knockout Cup title with a terrific win over league title holders Arnold A.

At Arnold, Matt Savage lost a tight leg to Tony Hart by 8 points after Tony potted blue, pink and black. Adam Goodall beat Malc Belshaw in a scrappy frame by 10 points. Daz Hewitt lost to Brian Kinton by 21 points, in a close frame up until the colours. Savage and Goodall lost in the pairs to Belshaw and Tooley by 25 points. Overall: Arnold +44 points

At Lenton, Joe Lunney beat Gary Spencer by 48 points. Phil Connolly beat James Notman by 50 points. Adam Shaw was leading Chris Winter by 30 points when frame conceded on the brown.
Doubles leg conceded by Arnold as they were already 184 points behind (including 80 point handicap in favour of Lenton).

Arnold Civil Defence "B" beat The Rutland Club

A really exciting semi-final here which was a great advert for team snooker.

At The Rutland Club, Alan Cunningham played Dave Martin. Cunningham was 5 points adrift with the colours on the table when he fouled on the yellow and Martin cleared the colours to win by 40 points. Andy Nichols had no luck against Clive Atkinson and lost by 32 points, leaving Arnold 72 points down after two frames. Bill Burton lost his frame by 6 points leaving Arnold 78 points down after three frames. Cunningham and Nichols played A Thompson and A Richardson in the pairs frame and it was the Rutland pair who came out on top, winning the frame by 28 points to give Rutland a 106 point lead from the leg.

At home, Arnold were 79 points ahead after Sean Kelly had beaten M Graham by 19 points and Dave Robinson had beaten S Pleasance by 60 points. Stan Candler then beat Wayne Atkinson by 24 points meaning that Arnold needed to win the final pairs frame of the night by 4 points for victory. This led to a terrific atmosphere and the away team returned to Arnold to find that just the black ball was left on the table and the Arnold pair were one point behind in the frame. Rutland player M Hewitt played a poor safety shot which left Ken Cunningham a pot on the black. Cunningham held his nerve and potted a tremendous black into the yellow bag to secure the victory by just 3 points and a place in the final for Arnold.

KNOCKOUT PLATE QUARTER-FINALS

BCI Snooker Centre beat Lenton Liberal Club "B"
Phoenix Cue Sports beat City Hospital Leisure Centre by 111 points
Sherwood Social Club "B" beat Cotgrave Welfare by 134 points
Peoples Hall received a bye in to the semi-finals

Nottingham & Notts Institutes Association Snooker League - Week 14

Division 1

CITY HOSPITAL L.C. 4 - 1 SPOT ON (HUCKNALL) 'A'
SHERWOOD S.C.'A' 1 - 4 TOP SPOT 'A'
BCI 'A' 5 - 0 CARLTON LC
TOP SPOT 'B' 5 - 0 BCI 'E'
SPOT ON (HUCKNALL) 'B' 1 - 4 BCI.'D'

Division 2

RUDDINGTON C.C. 5 - 0 BCI 'B'
SHERWOOD SC 'D' 3 - 2 CUE CLUB
MAPPERLEY C.C. 'A' 4 - 1 MASTERS S.C.
OAKLEIGH LODGE 0 - 0 BLANK
BCI 'C' 4 - -5 SHERWOOD SC 'B'

Click on the image to the right to view the latest league tables.