Finals Night Review
This was probably the lowest key finals
night/week ever. The first final was contested on Tuesday night
with the grand total of 3 men and a sheep watching on.
James Hardy & Joal Stone (The Rock) who were on opposite sides
of the doubles final last season teamed up this year and made it
through to their second successive final with Joal defending the
title. They were playing Fran Sidebottom and Paul Smith
(Jiff) in their first final together. The first frame
started brightly with Jiff attempting a dish after Rock had
missed his first ball, however after working his way through the
balls he missed a tough black. James was left with little
snookering option and no easy first ball so he left a Chinese
snooker the length of the table. Fran made a stunning
double the length of the table which never touched the sides.
In the second frame Fran and Jiff had another good chance but
Jiff went in off and left James a one ball clearance which it
took out although both teams were clearly struggling on the
ultra quick Jubilee table. At 1-1 James was gifted another
2 visits and cleared 4 balls and a black with a visit to spare.
This put James and Joal 2-1 up when there was definitely an
argument for them being 2-1 behind. However the next frame
proved crucial as Fran went for the clearance which was tough,
however it broke down with 3 balls left. After a
succession of aggressive snookers by both Joal and James, they
were able to open everything up and get 2 visits. This
time Joal had 2 and all the time in the world to clear up.
He did so with no trouble whatsoever and defended the doubles
which is a great achievement, however the next night he had the
chance to defend the Individuals as well a feat which if he did
it would probably never be repeated.
Onto the Wednesday night game. Joal the
defending champion after defeating his doubles partner last year
in the final was up against Anthony Gee (Tony) probably the best
player never to win the singles title. Tony who saw
himself as favourite to win the title that had eluded him for
many years, was up against the defending champion who had
dropped only one frame throughout the entire competition and was
on a 13 game winning run as a singles competitor in the Glossop
League and had just won the doubles for the second year running.
As a footnote even the sheep had given this one a miss and other
than a bit of tumbleweed the Jubilee was deserted for the big
event.
The first frame was a bore fest (please start
playing world rules, EPA makes paint drying look like a quality
spectator sport), eventually Tony had a finish to put himself
one nil up which looked fairly routine, however he was
struggling on such an ultra quick table and went in off.
Joal potted one and opened everything up which allowed him to go
one nil up.
In the second frame Joal broke and clearly
bored of watching paint dry he went for the break and dish,
however he left his black agonizingly short of the middle bag
and it did appear that the black had hit something but it stayed
up giving Tony a stay of execution. Tony proceeded to move
the black away from the bag in potting a ball and eventually
worked his chance. However he missed his last ball which
would have given him a simple black for 1-1 and Joal capitalized
to put himself 2-0 up. In the next one Tony allowed The
Rock another clearance which he took out without any problem to
go 3-0 up and put himself in a very strong position needing one
more frame for the win. Joal was at this point potting
faultlessly and was very confident of wrapping up a 4-0 win.
He took on another tough clearance and missed a cannon on his
last ball which left him snookered. Joal didn't escape it
and Tony picked the frame off to stop the rot and start a fight
back. Tony must have been looking back at squandered chances in
the first and second frames as the score could have been
different.
In the 5th frame Tony was in control and on
another clearance although it wasn't easy. In stunning the
length of the table he misjudged where the pocket was and went
straight in to it. Joal with two was completely at ease
and took out the finish to give himself a 4-1 victory. I
can't remember Joal missing a ball in anger but Tony will rue
some of his mistakes in the early going. The Rock had
defended both titles which is completely amazing baring in mind
he had different doubles partners albeit both quality partners
(in there own way)! I personally doubt anyone will match
this feat.
The match contested on the Thursday night was
the Alan Sanders Memorial Cup which is a bit like the FA cup.
Contesting the final were the Junction Mottram A and the Pear
Tree. The Pear Tree had defeated runners up in the first
division Commercial A in the semi final. The Junction had
beaten their own B team in the other semi.
The first frame Malc Burgess played Paul
Dearnley. Both players were a little edgy but Malc was the
aggressor but put himself in a little trouble. Paul
started potting but left his bad ball at the top of the table
surrounded by Malc's balls which he could have got to earlier in
the finish. Eventually Malc got two and cleared up to put
the junction 1-0 up. In the second frame Andy Hamilton
Played Keith Skelly which both players having difficult chances,
however Keith did finish his balls to put the Junction 2-0 up
and the first division champions were looking the more clinical
team.
The third frame started in slightly farcical
circumstances between Dave Hughes and Lee Vincent. After a
dry break by Lee, Dave fouled bridging over a ball to pot
another. With yellows all in the open Lee decided to go
for Reds and rolled a long one over the bottom bag trying to pot
it. He then tried to pot the same ball but sat on the
table with his shirt draped over a ball on the cushion and also
fouled. After that neither player really found any rhythm,
until Dave was able to get 2 visits. Dave planted one of
his remaining 3 reds in and the finish was a formality until he
missed his last ball into the middle and it rolled past and
unpottable. Dave was forced to pay a snooker (a shot he
rarely uses, lol) but Lee was able to get out of it. After
a few tense shots Lee had a tough black which he missed
and Dave was left a simple task of potting his last ball and the
black. Pear Tree will see this as one that got away as Lee
was favorite once he had escaped the snooker.
The next frame was a far more pleasing one on
the eye as Ollie Berry went for it from the off against Wayne
Howden. With 2 balls up Ollie got out of a succession of
snookers, until eventually the pressure told and he narrowly
missed one. Wayne went for the clearance and had done all
the hard work without missing a ball. But with the black
for the match looming he went in off on his final ball gifting
Ollie two visits to pull one back for the Pear Tree.
The next frame was between Graham Bowie and
Paul "Robbo" Roberts, both players were playing quite attacking
but Graham was often ahead in the frame. After a bit of
jockeying both players had a couple of balls up with Graham
perhaps potting one he hadn't intended and was left and awkward
roll up to his last ball half covering the bottom left corner
bag. The ball definitely drifted out, however it was a
very tough shot to make. Robbo got two visits and cleared
up to give the Junction a 4-1 win and the Alan Sanders Cup!
Final Night Review
Due to playing commitments of Joal
Stone & James Hardy the doubles final was pushed
to Wednesday night. This has been a frequent
problem as one player has been involved in both for
the last 3 years. However this time both the
individual finalists were contesting the doubles
final. read
more...............
Team Of The Year Results
The division 1 team of the year for 2006
consists of 3 players from the champions Junction Mottram A.
Those players are Perry Roberts, Geoff Pearson and Paul
Roberts. read
more..........
2006 Honours
Leagues
-
Division 1 Champions- Junction Mottram
-
Division 1 Runners Up- Commercial
"A"
-
Division 2 Champions- Whitfield Working
Men's Club
-
Division 2 Runners Up- Jubilee
Alan Sanders Memorial Trophy
Rose Bowl
Divisional Cups
-
Division 1 Winners- Commercial
"A"
-
Division 1 Runners Up- Melandra
"A"
-
Division 2 Winners- Whitfield Working
Men's Club
-
Division 2 Runners Up- Glossop Caravans
Individuals
-
Winner- Joal Stone (Junction Mottram
"A")
-
Runner Up- James Hardy (Commercial
"A")
-
Semi Finalists- Dave Hughes (Junction
Mottram "A"), Perry Roberts (Junction Mottram
"A")
Doubles
-
Winners- Dave Hughes/ Joal Stone (Junction
Mottram "A")
-
Runners Up-James Hardy/ Chris Mohan
(Commercial "A")
-
Semi Finalists- Perry Roberts/ Paul
Roberts (Junction Mottram "A"), Chris Brookes/
Dave Fisher (Friendship)
Most Wins
