The Peoples Hall march on

Nazareth House Snooker League



Week 4 League Matches (21 October 2008)

DIVISION 1

Improving Beeston Snooker Hall secured a valuable point against Pegasus Snooker Club as the match ended 4-4. With two senior players unavailable for Pegasus, a weakened away leg travelled to Beeston and found themselves totally outclassed by a strong Beeston line-up. Beeston's Clint I'Anson got the home team off to a good start by beating Mike Langdon by 40 odd points. On a lightning quick table I'Anson's safety play was assured and he forced Langdon into too many mistakes to carve out several good opportunities from which he scored well. Neil Jones was too strong for Pegasus's Scott Bates as he won by a similar margin which included a good thirty something break. Beeston were soon three nil up as Kaleem Ashraf knocked in a classy 47 break in his win against Pegasus youngster Eric Towle. Jones and I'Anson then saw off the Pegasus pairing of Langdon and Bates in the doubles frame to record a four nil leg win. At Pegasus it was a different story, Chris Piech made the most of a rare home frame comfortably running out a 74-13 winner against Chris Hodgkinson. Steve Booth recorded his third win of the season with a cool 22 clearance against Beeston's Shane Kidd whilst Andy Orange picked up his first win for the club with a solid performance against Chung Cheung. The Pegasus pairing of Piech and Booth then ensured a point for the club in the doubles against Beeston's Steve Chueng and Shane Kidd.

BCI Snooker Centre had a solid 6-2 win against Stadium Leisure, winning 3-1 at home and away. It was a great match that was closer than the scoreline suggests. At BCI, Bettridge got the better of Steve Butler, Tony Collins lost to Matt Ellis, Neil Elliott was comfortable against Pete Gormley and the partnership of Coleman and Elliott were comfortable against the Stadium pairing of Butler and Gormley.

At Stadium Wayne Martin displayed some form with breaks of 36 and 48 against Bob Walker. Sam Haugh had a very close frame with Danny Di Folco, losing out on the pink. Jon Mason made an excellent 32 break against Clary Plowman in a comfortable win. Wayne Martin and Kwok Yip came from behind against Walker and Di Folco with breaks of 24 and 36 from Martin.

The Peoples Hall maintained their 100% start to the season with a 7-1 win over strugglers Arnold Civil Defence “B”. At Peoples Hall, Alan Cunningham lost to Zeb Ahmed who fluked frame ball pink. Ken Cunningham fought back strongly from 30 points behind and was unlucky to lose his frame on the black 54-48. John Marshall was too strong for Kirk Wesselby, winning 80-30. In the pairs Marshall and Ahmed beat the Cunningham brothers to make it 4-0 to Peoples Hall.

At Arnold, Sean Kelly was leading Zed Zubair 28-21 with one red left but Zubair showed his class with an excellent 32 clearance. Andy Nichols had a great frame against Nav Hussain winning 60-12. Pete Ellins was losing 52-59 to Yasin Abbas but the Peoples Hall player potted a tremendous black to win by 14 points. Zubair and Abbas comfortably won the pairs against Nichols and Ellins.

Defending champions Arnold Civil Defence “A” only just managed to beat Cotgrave Welfare 5-3. At Arnold John Fountain and James Notman both won but James Booth lost. Notman and Booth were victorious in the pairs.

At Cotgrave, Richard Tooley lost but Chris Winter and Malc Belshaw both won. Winter then paired up with Belshaw in the doubles but they were defeated by the Cotgrave pair.

DIVISION 2

Mapperley Community Centre maintained their good early season form as they beat bottom club City Hospital Leisure Centre 5-3. Mapperley’s Len White easily beat Russ Kirk 52-4 but Doug Bough lost to Dennis Peet and Raj Landa lost to Rob Wallace. In the pairs Wallace and Peet beat White and Landa.

Mapperley did not drop a frame at home as Chris Wright beat Alan Taylor, Geoff Merry beat Lee Archer and Andy Carnell hammered Barry Chadwick 93-25. The pairs frame was much tighter but Merry and Wright eventually sealed it against Archer and Taylor.

Lenton Liberal Club drew 4-4 with Wollaton RBL. At lenton, Steve Dixon and Mel Smith both won their frames for the home side. James Wood lost his frame but Lenton won the pairs frame for a 3-1 home win.

At Wollaton the score was reversed as Wollaton’s Gordon Gunn and Ivan Noon beat Jim Wright and Roy Hamlin respectively. Lenton’s Adam Goodall only just lost 38-41 to R Benson but the pairing of Goodall and Matt Savage made sure of the draw as they beat Jack Packer and Benson.
RESULTS

DIVISION 1
Arnold Civil Defence “A” 5-3 Cotgrave Welfare
BCI Snooker Centre "A" 6-2 Stadium Leisure
Pegasus Snooker Club 4-4 Beeston Snooker Hall
The Peoples Hall 7-1 Arnold Civil Defence "B"

DIVISION 2
Lenton Liberal Club 4-4 Wollaton Royal British Legion
BCI Snooker Centre "B" 6-2 Phoenix Cue Sports
Sherwood Social Club 7-1 Oakleigh Lodge SC
Mapperley Com Centre 5-3 City Hospital Leisure Centre

More information including the latest league tables is available on the league's website.

Rampant BCI whitewash Arnold

Nazareth House Snooker League



Week 3 League Matches (14 October 2008)

DIVISION 1

BCI Snooker Club “A” had a convincing 8-0 win against Arnold Civil Defence “B” with solid performances both at home and away. At BCI, there were comfortable wins for Jason Bettridge, Tony Collins and Neil Elliott with a tighter frame in the pairs between Neil Elliott and Steve Coleman and Alan Cunningham and Ken Cunningham.

At Arnold, BCI were rampant with Wayne Martin making three 20+ breaks against Sean Kelly. Jon Mason was convincing against Kirk Wessleby and Sam Haugh was also impressive against Pete Ellins. In the pairs Kwok Yip and Wayne Martin were on fire against Sean Kelly and Kirk Wesselby, with Yip making a good opening 24 and Martin then making a terrific 49 break.

Newly promoted Peoples Hall made the most of their double header against Pegasus Snooker Club and Stadium Leisure, with The Hall winning both matches 6-2 to go one point clear at the top of the table. At Pegasus Chris Brooks' remarkable run of 34 straight league wins came to an end against Nav Hussain. It was a good quality encounter with the talented Hussain getting in first with an excellent 36 break before Brooks replied with a good 32 which would have been more but for a freak black jumping back out of the pocket which had both players scratching their heads. Hussain calmly took the remaining reds to put the frame beyond Brooks and end that winning streak which dates back to 2006. The night soon got worse for Pegasus as Jamie Mathers failed to get going against Zed Zubair who eventually won a scrappy encounter on the colours. Peoples Hall's Shafiq Mohammed damaged Pegasus's hopes further by sinking a good pink to deny Andy Orange a first win for the club but Brooks and Mathers did win a re-spotted black for the home leg against Hussain and Zubair. Mathers, realizing the importance of the long black he was faced with, decided it was time for his 'lucky black snooker glove' to make it's first appearance before getting down and sending the black right into the heart of the pocket.

At Peoples Hall the score line could have been so different but for Zeb Ahmed who swung things in Peoples Hall's favour. Chris Piech having sunk the green and brown looked all set for victory with Ahmed requiring a snooker. Ahmed was not finished though and after laying a successful snooker potted the blue, doubled a speculative pink before forcefully potting an eleven foot black into the top bag to stun Piech. Steve Booth struggled throughout his frame and was punished by a good pink and black by Yasin Abbas to pinch the match. Mike Langdon put in his best performance so far this season knocking in a good 29 break before potting from brown to pink to beat Peoples Hall's John Marshall and get a frame on the board for the away leg. It looked likely that the leg would be shared as Piech and Langdon opened up a lead going into the colours against the pairing of Ahmed and Abbas in the doubles. However once again Ahmed came up with the goods for Peoples Hall with an excellent clearance from yellow to pink to cap off a superb night for the club.

Peoples Hall were lucky 6-2 victors over Stadium Leisure in a match that had been postponed from 30th September. At Peoples Hall Yasin Abbas demolished Pete Gormley who never really got to grips with the table. Matt Ellis played some terrific snooker but just lost out to Zeb Ahmed. Steve Butler needed a snooker against John Marshall but he fought back well to find himself only 14 behind with 22 on the table. Unfortunately for Butler, Marshall fluked the brown with the blue over the middle bag and it was all over. Ahmed and Abbas took on Gormley and Ellis in the pairs and it was pretty tight until Ahmed had a run of 30 which included no less than two flukes.

At Stadium 87 year old Clary Plowman had a good 58-51 win over Zed Zubair and Bob Walker had a great 69-28 victory over Shafiq Mohammed. Any hopes of a draw were scuppered by Eastwood Open runner-up Nav Hussain who beat Danny Di Folco 67-47. Walker and Plowman were then defeated by Zubair and Hussain in the pairs. Three wins out of three then for Peoples Hall who, with luck on their side, have found the step up from division 2 a breeze.

Newcomers Beeston Snooker Hall fought out a tough 4-4 draw against Cotgrave Welfare. At Cotgrave Shane Kidd beat Billy Johnson in a tight frame, winning by just a single point. Steve Richards beat Chris Hodgkinson. John Cyrek beat Steve Cheung and in the pairs, Johnson and Cyrek beat Kidd and Chung Cheung.

At Beeston Neil Jones beat Edward Cope, Clint I'anson beat Colin Armstrong, Kaleem Ashraf beat William Campbell. In the pairs Cope and Campbell beat Anthony Bonner and Andy Hopcroft.

DIVISION 2

Phoenix Cue Sports moved to the top of the table with a 6-2 win against Lenton Liberal Club. At Phoenix, Ash Goring beat Adam Goodall 59-45. Stephen Lally beat Jim Wright 49-46. Fifteen year old Ryan Baker had an excellent 56-11 win against Roy Hamlin. It was Baker’s first ever league game. G Birks also won 55-30 against M Smith to complete a home whitewash for Phoenix. At Lenton the teams drew 2-2.

Oakleigh Lodge Social Club won 6-2 against City Hospital Leisure Centre. At City Hospital, Jason Turner beat Rob Wallace and Jason Butler beat Des Oldham. Steve Tring gave City Hospital hope with a good 49-5 win over Colin Tutin but Jason Turner made an excellent 38 break in the pairs as he and Butler beat Wallace and Oldham 75-15.

At Oakleigh Lodge, Ryan Cooper beat Lee Archer, Paul Wilkinson had a run of 32 as he thumped Alan Taylor and Steve Roe beat Dennis Peet. The City Hospital pairing of Peet and Archer did well in the pairs as they beat Wilkinson and Rob Selby 63-28.

Mapperley Community Centre missed the chance of going clear at the top of the table as they could only draw against BCI Snooker Centre “B”. Mapperley’s wins came from Raj Landa, Doug Bough, Len White and Payne and White in the pairs.

Sherwood Social Club kept up the pressure on Phoenix Cue Sports as they had a good 5-3 win against Wollaton Royal British Legion.

RESULTS

DIVISION 1
BCI Snooker Centre "A" 8-0 Arnold Civil Defence "B"
Cotgrave Welfare 4-4 Beeston Snooker Hall
The Peoples Hall 6-2 Pegasus Snooker Club
The Peoples Hall 6-2 Stadium Leisure
Arnold Civil Defence “A” P-P Stadium Leisure

DIVISION 2
Phoenix Cue Sports 6-2 Lenton Liberal Club
BCI Snooker Centre "B" 4-4 Mapperley Community Centre
Sherwood Social Club 5-3 Wollaton Royal British Legion
Oakleigh Lodge Social Club 6-2 City Hospital Leisure Centre

More information including the latest league tables is available on the league's website.

Arnold suffer Pegasus backlash

Nazareth House Snooker League



Week 2 League Matches (7 October 2008)

Division 1

Pegasus Snooker Club 8-0 Arnold Civil Defence “B”
The scoreline may suggest Arnold 'B' were on the end of a Pegasus backlash after last weeks loss at Cotgrave but those watching had to endure a very scrappy nights snooker. The Pegasus away leg understandably still bruised from last week failed to impress again but will all be pleased to get that first win under their belts. Chris Piech and Mike Langdon were both guilty of squandering good scoring opportunities against Arnold's Sean Kelly and Ken Cunningham respectively. Piech missed some routine pots and Langdon's positional play was woeful and although both frames were won comfortably the pair both know that they need to up their game. One positive so far this season has been Scott Bates who made it two wins out of two with a solid performance against Pete Ellins. In the pairs Arnold's Bill Burton and Alan Cunningham very nearly got the better of Pegasus's Piech and Langdon. Cunningham showed no signs of being rusty after a fortnight in the sun and was finding the pockets far to regulary for the Pegasus pairs liking as the frame went into the colours before Langdon wrapped up the frame sinking a long brown to leave Arnold at the snooker's required stage.

At home Pegasus welcomed back Jamie Mathers who got off to winning start against Arnold's Kirk Wessleby and Chris Brooks only just scraped past Stan Candler winning the frame on the blue. Steve Booth came through after a fightback from Andy Nichols to record his second win of the season before Brooks and Mathers comfortably completed the home legs first 4-0 win of the season against Candler and Wessleby in the doubles.

Arnold Civil Defence “A” 4-4 BCI Snooker Centre “A”
This promised to be a tight match and didn't disappoint.

At Arnold Wayne Martin comfortably beat John-Paul Fountain, Kwok Yip narrowly lost to Chris Winter, Jon Mason just pipped Brian Kinton following some fantastic snookers laid by Kinton. Sam Haugh lost to James Booth.

At BCI Jason Bettridge got the better of James Notman, Neil Elliott lost to Gary Spencer, Steve Coleman comfortably got past Richard Tooley and the pairings of Bettridge/Elliott v Notman/Spencer fought out the final frame, with Spencer potting a fantastic black to level things up overall at 4 each.

Beeston Snooker Hall 7-1 Stadium Leisure
Stadium Leisure welcomed back two of its old players, Bob Walker and Danny Difolco, but they still couldn't help prevent a 7-1 defeat to a team that lost by the same scoreline to BCI 'A' last week.

At Beeston Steve Butler found himself 26-0 down against Clint I'Anson but he made a good 28 break to edge into the lead. However, the England under-21 pool player then put together an excellent run of 35 to take the frame 61-28. Neil Jones won comfortably against Pete Gormley 58-21 which included a good 24 break from Jones. Kaleem Ashraf fluked the blue to win a tight frame against 87 year old Clary Plowman 55-37. In the pairs Ashraf & I'Anson gave Butler & Plowman no chance, romping to a 56-28 victory to ensure a 4-0 win at Beeston.

At Stadium Bob Walker lost to Shane Kidd, Matt Ellis lost to Chris Hodgkinson and Danny Difolco lost to Chung Cheung. Stadium's only win of the night came from Difolco & Walker in the pairs against Steve Cheung & Kidd.

Peoples Hall 5-3 Cotgrave Welfare
An excellent 51 break from Cotgrave’s Harry Briody couldn’t help his team avoid defeat.

Division 2

Mapperley Community Centre 5-3 Oakleigh Lodge Social Club
Sherwood Social Club 4-4 Phoenix Cue Sports
BCI Snooker Centre “B” 4-4 Lenton Liberal Club
Wollaton Royal British Legion 6-2 City Hospital Leisure Centre

More information including the latest league tables is available on the league's website.

Unstoppable Martin does it again in Eastwood

Eastwood Snooker Open

A very strong field turned up to compete in the Eastwood Open on Sunday 5th October 2008. The popular round robin format was used again which provided every competitor with at least three matches. The top two players in the four man group and the top three in the five man groups progressed to the quarter-finals.

Group A
Group A was a tough group which included ex-professional and defending champion Wayne Martin, England under-21 pool player Craig Lakin and the natural talent from Belper, Jimmy Gratton. Gratton won all four of his matches, only dropping one frame, to finish top of the group. Martin, Lakin and Steve Butler all won two matches each, but Butler missed out on a quarter-final place due to a worse frame difference. Tournament organiser Steve Lally failed to win a single frame but still thoroughly enjoyed the day.

Group B
Stuart Crosswell won all four of his matches to top group B. Peoples Hall players Hav Hussain and Zed Zubair finished second and third respectively, securing their places in the quarter-finals.

Group C
In four-man group C Chris Peich only dropped one frame as he topped the group. His Pegasus team-mate Mike Langdon needed to beat Zeb Ahmed to take the other quarter-final spot but Ahmed potted his way to a 2-0 victory and a place in the knockout stages.

Knockout Stage

Quarter-finals

Zeb Ahmed 2-1 Stuart Crosswell
Crosswell was disappointed with his performance in this match as he missed too many chances against an in-form Ahmed.

Wayne Martin 2-1 Jimmy Gratton
This was the match everyone had been waiting for. Gratton had been on fire all day and he looked set to knock out the defending champion, particularly when he made a superb 46 break. However, Martin never rolled over and he dug deep for a 2-1 win against the Belper player.

Chris Piech 2-1 Craig Lakin
A tight match was just edged by the young Pegasus player.

Nav Hussain 2-1 Zeb Zubair
The other three quarter-finals all went to deciding frames and this encounter between two Peoples Hall team-mates was no different, however Hussain produced some classy snooker to win the match and book his place in the semi-finals.

Semi-finals £15

Wayne Martin 2-0 Zeb Ahmed
It was a good day for Ahmed who reached the semi-finals in his tournament debut, however Martin was just too strong for the Peoples Hall player. A nice 40 break from Martin in this match.

Nav Hussain 2-0 Chris Piech
Hussain came out all guns blazing against Piech and he won the match in no time at all. A run of 33 effectively sealed the match for Hussain as Piech was left with too much to do.

Final £60 / £30

Wayne Martin 3-1 Nav Hussain
A quality tournament was capped by a quality final. Hussain was buzzing whereas Martin was, by his own admission, struggling. Hussain went 1-0 up with some superb potting and he looked set to go 2-0 up but Martin had other ideas. A terrific 27 clearance stole the second frame for Martin and provided a timely reminder for Hussain that Martin was not going down without a fight. In the third frame Hussain again looked set for victory as he left Martin needing two snookers and all the colours to win the frame. Martin showed his class as he got the snookers he required and then cleared the table to go 2-1 up. The way Martin stole the third frame seemed to unsettle Hussain as he started to go for everything. This allowed Martin to start flowing and he took the fourth frame and the match 3-1. A superb display by Martin who never fired on all cylinders but still did enough for his fourth successive Eastwood Open.

Highest Breaks

Jimmy Gratton 59,46,32,31 (£10)
Nav Hussain 47,33
Stuart Crosswell 43
Wayne Martin 40,39
Craig Lakin 31,31

View group tables and full results on the Nottingham Snooker Forum

Shock defeat for Pegasus in NHSL

Nazareth House Snooker League



Week 1 League Matches (30 September 2008)

Division 1

Cotgrave Welfare 5-3 Pegasus Snooker Club
As the new season got underway at 8pm on Tuesday evening nobody could have predicted that last season’s runners-up Pegasus would lose 5-3 against a Cotgrave side that only stayed in the top division by the skin of their teeth.

Most of the damage was inflicted at Cotgrave where the Pegasus team failed to win a single frame. Pegasus nemesis Anthony McMahon got the better of Chris Piech in a long tactical encounter after he doubled the pink to win. Piech was unfortunate on several occasions not to open up the frame with some excellent long potting but could never seem to land on the next ball.

Eric Towle made his debut for the Pegasus team and at only 13 years of age matched his experienced opponent John Cyrek shot for shot eventually only going down after a huge slice of good fortune from Cyrek. With both players needing blue and pink to win the frame Towle appeared to be in the driving seat after Cyrek snookered himself on the blue. However, Towle could only watch on in disbelief as the cue ball travelled up and down the table and knocked the blue ball four feet into the bottom pocket and land perfectly on the pink.

Steve Richards was worth his win against Mike Langdon, opening up a healthy lead early on in the frame. Langdon hung in though and after laying some excellent snookers found himself back in contention only to see the frame slip away after a fluked blue from Richards.

At Pegasus, Chris Brooks picked up his cue for the first time in three months and won. Steve Booth made it 2-0 to Pegasus when he came out on top of a topsy-turvy frame and Scott Bates got his season off to a good start winning his frame by forty odd points.

Cotgrave picked up what would prove to be the match-winning frame when their pairing outscored Steve Booth and Scott Bates in the doubles who had played far too open and were punished by some ruthless Cotgrave potting.

Arnold Civil Defence “A” 7-1 Arnold Civil Defence “B”
Despite the result, Arnold’s “A” team were not convicing against their “B” team. The only casualty for Arnold “A” was an out of sorts Chris Winter who went down to a solid potting display by Sean Kelly. All of the other frames were relatively close, particularly James Notman’s frame against his best friend Kirk Wessleby. Notman was playing with a new cue that he only picked up on Monday and Wessleby took the frame to a respotted black which Notman sunk for victory.

BCI Snooker Centre “A” 7-1 Beeston Snooker Hall
A rampant BCI side demolished the league’s new boys with only Neil Jones winning for the Beeston side. Tony Collins starred for BCI with a terrific 62 break in his frame against Chris Hodgkinson.

The match between Stadium Leisure and The Peoples Hall was postponed.

Division 2

Mapperley Community Centre 6-2 Lenton Liberal Club
Sherwood Social Club 7-1 BCI Snooker Centre “B”
Phoenix Cue Sports 6-2 City Hospital Leisure Centre
Oakleigh Lodge Social Club 5-3 Wollaton Royal British Legion

Ruddington looking favourites for division three

Bulwell & District Snooker League – Week 13

DIVISION 1

BCI 'E' secured the runners-up spot when they beat Sherwood ‘A’ 4-1. The result also relegated Sherwood to division 2, however they have the consolation that they are in the final of the knockout cup which will be played on 20th October.

DIVISION 3

Ruddington moved a step closer to the division 3 title with a convincing 4-1 away win at bottom of the table Oakleigh Lodge 'A'. Oakleigh Lodge 'B' remain in second place despite not having a match. BCI 'C' moved into third spot with a 3-2 away win at Sherwood 'D'.