Round 6 Match Report – Princess Garden Snooker & Billiards (Handicap) Team Leagues
24th & 25th Nov 2020
Snooker
Biggest Winners: N/A
Highest Break: 61 – Aaron Canavan (St. Aubin)
Billiards
Biggest Winners: 18 v 13 – Services v St. Aubin
Highest Break: 54 – Martin Le Gallais (Tower T’ree)
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Princess Garden – Snooker (Handicap) Team League
Services Short Cue Wonders 3 v 5 St Lawrence Miniature Rifle Club
St Lawrence, looking to maintain their pressure on St Aubin in the battle for top spot in the league came to a Services side struggling to pick up points thus far this season. St Lawrence though, found a way to win in a contest which was evenly balanced at 3-3 prior to the deciding frames of the evening. Ultimately edging a narrow win to capitalise upon St Aubin’s minor slip-up. Pushing past them by a slender point to sit atop the league outright – both teams, unable to be separated, having jointly occupied the top spot in recent weeks.
Proceedings began with Paul Destro standing in for Lee Travers, up against Jordan Proctor. A break of 19 put Jordan on his way to a comfortable first frame, but he was held by Paul in a closer second frame. The next match-up of the evening also ended in a draw but under more fortunate circumstances. A scrappy encounter between Darren Malzard and David Proctor ensued, David making the most of easy openings in the first to cruise to a comfortable win, the second a tighter and lower scoring frame looked also to be heading the way of David and St Lawrence but for the gloss of an outstanding pot on the final black to be stolen away when the cue ball had just enough pace to agonisingly find its way to the opposite corner pocket. Robbie Kilpatrick achieved lift-off in emphatic manner with a cooly taken 41 clearance in the first frame. Assuring a stylish end to his hunt for an allusive and long awaited first frame win of the season, up against Pat Patterson. Pat, himself in good form with 8/10 this season, responded with good potting and solid scoring of his own in the second frame to draw things even, leaving the result of the match very much in the balance, with play tied at 3-3. Last on were Ryan Swann and Andre Bonjour, Andre had the better of two steady frames, remaining calm and collected to run out the winner by comfortable margins in both frames, and extend St Lawrence’s winning form.
St Aubin B 4 v 4 St Thomas’ Tower
After five consecutive wins St Aubin’s winning run was finally held, this draw the first blemish on their record all season, let slip there hold on the league’s top spot. Though, they remain unbeaten to this point as was reflected in the evenings play, with all players taking a frame each for honours even all round.
Strong scoring by Bob Denison secured the first frame against Martyn Le Gallais who was punished for being unable to take colours with the reds in the early stages. Though, in the second frame Martyn managed to keep pace with Bob, and a well played snooker on the brown gave Martyn the upper hand, accruing 11 points in fouls following which he potted brown and blue to leave Bob out of contention, needing snookers. In similar fashion to the previous frames, good potting from Andrew Vibert meant he established an unassailable lead in his first frame against Chris Blampied, however Chris was able to peg Andy back in potting the final black, to level the scores again. Having managed half-centuries in three consecutive weeks, breaks of 35 and 61 saw Aaron Canavan excel in his first frame, achieving a complete shut out against Connor Davies who failed to pot a ball. Connor replied to show his ability in the second frame, capitalising upon openings with a good display of potting to comfortably out score Aaron. Lastly, Robert Le Moel was the better man of a second black ball finish going the way of St Aubin against Herbie Bruggrabber. Herbie battled back to take a second, close frame, ending play with a fluked pink to seal a forth draw of the night and of course a draw overall.
St Brelade Steelers 3 v 5 Mechanics A
In hosting Mechanics A, St Brelade succumbed to the same scoreline as the previous week – falling to a 5-3 defeat and making no headway in the league table. Their only consolation being that the teams around them – Services and Tower Pirates also lost by the same scoreline leave things very much as they stood with regards to the standings at the foot of the table. By contrast, another win sees Mechanics A hold 4th in the league, up-front in a tight midfield battle.
Paul Bradbury opened up with a win on the pink in a high scoring first frame, after which Gary Boschat clicked through the gears to win by distance in the second frame. Craig Jones ground out a draw with Bob Salkeld, both winning a frame each, decided by tense black ball finishes. In his clash with Lloyd Letherbarrow, Steve Thomas was unable to make up the difference in handicap despite better play from the St Brelade’s man than in recent weeks. Lloyd securing a handy 4-2 lead for Mechanics A with two frames to play. With it all to do and despite beginning with a hefty 63 point deficit by way of handicap, Karl Le Fevre made light work of the first frame, aided by a lovely break of 43, almost entirely shutting out Ernie Bird who was limited to single figures. Karl was unable to expand upon his commanding first frame performance, with Ernie keeping proceedings tighter. Needing and getting a snooker on the colours, Karl looked like he might get the job done but that possibility was extinguished when Ernie sunk the pink to wrap up the match for the Mechanics.
Tower Pirates 3 v 5 Mechanics B
Stephen Morgan shaved a close but high scoring frame against Paul Bullock before Paul responded in kind by winning a second similarly high scoring frame on the black to kick start a five frame run for Mechanics B. Richard Corbert duly proceeded by winning two comfortable frames against an out of form Scott Le Noa. Following which Bob Rondel edged two very tight but high scoring frames against Steve Wilson. Last on were Ben Garnier and Bob Proper, Ben taking the first frame to end Mechanics run, before clearing the pink and black in the final frame to knick the win by just two points, and salvage a more respectable margin of defeat for the Pirates.
Tower Pocket Rockets 5 v 3 Tower Beans
With both teams on equal points before the nights play, and towards the front of the midfield battle, who ever ended up the victor of this match was poised to hold the bragging rights of being the leading Tower team in the league to this point. A close squabble ensued with three of the four head-to-heads drawn, and it was Nathan Piziura who ended as the man of the match being the only victor.
Daniel Cavey and Stephen Rive played out the opening draw. The first frame went Stephen’s way after some great battling from Dan, who performed well to make up a 35 handicap which Stephen played far above. With both players making good of scoring opportunities the finely balanced frame was settled when Stephen held his nerve to pot a stunning black, the full length of the table, off the bottom cushion. A scrappier second frame in which the colours became tied up quickly was taken by Daniel who took advantage of a missed snooker escape to clear blue to black and knick it at the line. Back-to-back breaks of 28 for Nathan Piziura up against an under-firing Dave Ferre secured the first frame and a further break of 28 in the second frame wrapped up a routine win for Nathan Piziura to put the Pocket Rockets in front. James Martin leant on his good all-round match play to be untroubled in putting away the first frame against Simon Wade. Having been limited to few chances in the first, Simon grew into the second frame, backing-up some stunning long pots with breaks in the high teens to keep James well at bay and out of contention in the second frame, ultimately earning a fair draw. Andy Richardson found parity with Alastair Simon in which both players blew hot and cold. Andy won the first frame comfortably and likewise Alastair the second to secure the win.
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Princess Garden – Billiards (Handicap) Team League
Services 18 v 13 St Aubin
Having fallen down the table two weeks ago, a good result last time out and a big win against top of the table St Aubin sees Services resurgent, leaping from third to first in the league, having made up a five point deficit across the past two rounds of fixtures to sit one point clear atop the table.
A steady performance from Robbie Kilpatrick inside his target of 5 points was enough for the frame win. Meanwhile Robert Le Moel was restricted to just 4 points, dipping after having put in some strong performances in previous weeks. Paul Destro performed well in earning himself six points, though this was not enough to beat Richard de la Haye to the frame win, who comfortably scored 5 points. Things really spiced up in the final frame when Malcolm Malzard scored 269 (the most of anyone in this round of fixtures) to make 7 points and build upon Services’ solid start. All the while, making a break of 31 amidst some tidy play up against Guy Heys who also had a break of 31 but stalled at the end of the match and not only lost the frame but could only manage 4 points – his handicap dropping for the first after a great start to the season.
Tower T’ree 15 v 13 Tower Royals
Tower T’ree’s match up with the Royals was a more routine affair with all players scoring 5 points except for Scott Le Noa who fell to just 3. All three Tower T’ree players took frame wins – Peter Robinson bettering Daniel Cavey, Howard Smith out scoring Stephen Rive and Martin Le Gallais most notably making breaks of 33 and 54 – the highest of the season so far to beat Scott Le Noa.
