The Islands Billiards final was played last Thursday at the Jersey Mechanics, between reigning Champion Clayton Coates and previous Island Champion Martyn Le Gallais.
After a cagey start with both players trying to get used to the table and the throw, Clayton reached the 100 mark first with several breaks in the teens before a quick fire 17 and 33 break by Martyn made the scores 104 – 87 in Martyn’s favour.
Clayton then had a magnificent break of 59 (the highest of the match) to make the score 162-139 in his favour before the match then went in to a tit for tat stage with both players struggling to get in with any decent scoring visits. During this, Clayton got to his second hundred leading by 207 – 167.
With the mid session break due at the 250 stage, Clayton found some form and had a 30 and an immediate 29 break to make the scores 272 – 189 in his favours.
At the commencement of the final after a 10 minute break, Clayton continued his consistent scoring with a 41 break to increase his lead to 315 – 193.
Amidst another lull in the scoring Clayton had a 28 break to increase his lead over Martyn by 396 – 219, needing 104 points to reach the magical 500 and to retains his Island crown.
With both players again not leaving their opponent an easy starter and the red spending a lot of time behind the baulk line, the score meandered up to 459 – 268 to Clayton. At this point with Clayton only requiring 41 to win, Martyn came alive with breaks of 41,31 and 30 to close the gap to 476 – 383, before a 20 break by Clayton put him on the brink of his second title. And a couple of visits later, Clayton won the match 500-383.
President of the JBSA, Richard De La Haye, presented the Trophy to Clayton before thanking Howard Smith for reffing, Karl Le Fevre for scoring and organizing and Aaron Canavan and the Jersey Mechanics for preparing the table and hosting.
