In another compelling Channel Island Snooker Championship, between Jersey’s Aaron Canavan and Guernsey’s Adam Shorto, the Guernsey won a thrilling match 5-4 T The Jersey Mechanics recently.
After winning the toss, Adam put Aaron in trouble immediately off the break and following fouling, Adam knocked in a 23 break to take an early advantage before missing an easy red to the corner bag to give Aaron his first opportunity. On making 16, Aaron fell out of position and played safe to which a small safety battle ensued before a great snooker from Aaron earned him several points in fouls. Adam eventually hit a red but left Aaron in and he scored a small break followed by a 22 break to go 58-29 ahead. After missing a relatively easy red, Aaron again let Adam in with an easy starter for another 15 break to make the scores 58-44 in Aaron’s favour. However a few shots later, the game turned in Adam’s favour. After laying a fine snooker, Adam put Aaron in trouble, and with his first effort to hit either of the remaining 2 reds, Aaron knocked the pink in to give Adam 6 points and a free ball. Adam took the yellow as the free ball and went on to make a 25 break before missing the brown to lead 75-58. Aaron potted the brown and blue before missing the pink into the middle bag and with that miss, albeit a very tricky shot, Adam potted the pink to win the first frame 81-67.
An early safety battle commenced the 2nd frame before Aaron got a 20 point lead after potting a few reds without reply and with another error by Adam shortly after, let Aaron in to increase his lead to 27-0. Adam potted a couple of great balls down the rail to close the gap, but a miss gave Aaron another opportunity to which he scored a 28 break to lead 55-8. A further red for Aaron meant Adam now needed snookers and after several failed efforts, Aaron drew level on frames by winning the 2nd 64-12.
The 3rd frame again started with an early safety battle before Adam knocked in a 27 break to lead 31-13. After more tit for tat and with 1 red remaining, Adam led 42-26 before Aaron went in off into the middle bag to which Adam potted the long red along with the blue before missing the yellow, extending his lead to 52-26 with the colours remaining. With the green unavailable, Aaron had to weave his magic by potting the yellow and moving the green which was touching the pink ball at the time and unavailable into any pocket. However, he failed to get on the green and played a snooker to which Adam fouled twice before leaving the green on for Aaron. Aaron potted the green but missed the brown to which he left it over the middle bag for Adam. The Guernsey champion made no mistake and eventually potted the balls to win the frame 67-39 and took a 2-1 lead.
Into the 4th frame and after each player had several opportunities, Adam had a slender 9-0 lead until Aaron attempted a safety shot. However the cue ball struck another red when going back up the table and this left a golden opportunity for Adam. And Adam took full advantage by scoring a 58 break. He was unluck not to get a bigger break but he snookered himself on the 2nd from last red after potting a black. However it was enough to give him a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval.
After the interval, Aaron broke in frame 5., needing to get back into the match ASAP with Adam only needing 2 more frames in this best of 9 final. With an early visit of 14, Aaron played a good safety tight to the baulk end cushion. Adam tried to hit a very thin shot off a red, but missed it twice, meaning a third miss would be loss of frame. He did hit the red however he hit it a lot thicker than he had hoped and the white clattered into the pack. Aaron didn’t really take advantage though and made another 14 break, taking the score to 37-5 in Aarons favour. A safety battle followed before Aaron took the score to 47-12 before a Shorto mistake let Aaron in to get a 22 break and to close the gap to 3-2, winning the frame by 69-12.
An early fluke in frame 6 for Adam enabled him to make a 35 break to make the score 42-1. Before Adam let in Aaron with a good chance to close the gap. Aaron made a 19 break but broke down and left Adam with a very difficult long pot. However Adam ripped in the red to great applause and after scoring 9 put Aaron into an awkward snooker. After a miss out of the snooker and with the colours remaining, Adam lead by 31 points and Aaron required a snooker. And after a few shots, Adam won the frame by 76-21 to take a 4-2 lead and put him 1 frame away from the CI T title.
However, the Jersey Champion was not about to lie down without a fight.
Frame 7 started with a long safety battle but Adam took an early 13-0 lead. However a rare mistake from Adam let Aaron in and he made it pay with a nice 55 break before he ran into difficulty and lost position. With the score at 55-13 another long safety exchange took place before Aaron potted another great red. Aaron scored a further 15 points to take frame 7 by 75-17 with the overall score now 4-3 to Adam.
Another early visit by Adam in frame 8 got him off to a good start in frame 8, giving him a 15-0 lead, However Aaron scored a visit of 16 before missing a red into the corner. With that red needing a fine cut back into the pocket, Adam played a lovely shot and scored a further 11 points, taking him nearer to the frame he wanted. Aaron then missed a sitter of the red and it looked like he could be deep in trouble, leaving Adam an even easier red to pot. However, Adam missed it too and let Aaron in and he took advantage with a 38 break, to lead 63-26 with 2 reds remaining. With the nerves now starting to show with both players, Adam potted a great red, but missed a difficult black and then Aaron potted the final red before he attempted the black, but misciued the cue ball, jumping the black and jumping off the table to. However, with the colours remaining, Aaron had a 30 point lead and after potting the green and brown, Aaron levelled the match up by 71-36 and made it 4-4.
So it all came down to the final frame. An early chance for Aaron as he gets a 14 break, but was very unluck in potting the black, he couldn’t get the desired split on the reds and had to play safe, leading 14-1. But he was soon back to the table and a further visit of 16 gave Aaron a 30-5 lead. After a bout of safety, Adam scored an 11 break to make the score 30-16 with 7 reds left. Aaron soon had another chance but lost position on 7 and played a safety to the baulk end. Adam then let Aaron in again to which he potted another 2 reds and pink but misses the 2nd pink into the middle bag. With the score now 45-16 to Aaron. Adam then got the opportunity to score some points, albeit with some reds on the cuchion. However he made a beautiful 36 break, potting several good balls done the rails to take the lead in the frame by 53-45, with the blue, pink and black left. Aaron needing the remaining colours potted a very difficult blue but missed the match ball pink. But Adam missed a difficult pink too. Aaron then potted and in going for the black, leaves a straight black but with the cue ball tight on the cushion. He attempted the pot but unfortunately missed the pot. But he doesn’t leave an easy shot on, but undeterred, Adam took it on and potted a wonderful black to take the match 5-4, well after the midnight chimes had rung!
The trophy was presented by the JBSA President Richard De La Haye.
Many thanks to Howard Smith for reffing and the Jersey Mechanics for hosting the final.
