Paul Brockway v Craig Glover

A best out of three frames match with no handicap has been the format for all rounds of this tournament.  The tournament is therefore highly likely to bring the cream of the players in the club to the top.  There was certainly no doubt that the Brockway and Glover were indeed two very good players:  – Brockway, the defending champion of the Scratch tournament, and Glover, a previous winner.

Early doors of frame one, good safety play, in offs, and missed opportunities for substantial breaks were the name of the game.  No player settled into their usual rhythm of play and good break making.   Hence there was still all to play for when only the colours remained.   However, when Brockway fluked the blue,  Glover needed one snooker.   Unfortunately he didn’t get chance, as Brockway rubbed salt into the wound and went straight onto potting the pink.  One nil to Brockway; 54/34 with black left on the table.

The second frame produced some good potting, albeit both players repeatedly hitting pocket jaws accompanied by loud sighs and lowering of heads. Perhaps frustrated by this, Glover played a rather reckless shot which spread the reds widely over one half of the table, but Brockway didn’t take advantage.  Then, a slight touch of a red with Glover’s hand as he addressed the cue ball was a foul and led to a 15 point break by Brockway.  Glover will be kicking himself: the red/black, red pink break should have been his.   Nevertheless, the laying of a number of good snookers by Glover, and Brockway’s resulting fouls, meant that Glover took a 44 to 32 lead into the colours.  Then Brockway went in off the yellow and Glover was 16 ahead.  Surely the final was heading to a third frame.   Alas no, Glover immediately gave Brockway 4 points, again an in off the yellow, and then potted all the colours up to black. His 56 to 48 lead was unassailable.

Two nil to Brockway meant he retained the trophy.  Congratulations Paul and well done Craig for reaching the final.  

Adrian Nock (President) presenting to winner Paul Brockway

Runner-up Craig Glover receiving his trophy from Adrian

15 November 2023

This handicap is reserved for the over 55’s.  That’s not to say the standard of snooker is going to be lower for it.  At 16, Jas Bhamra has one of the lowest handicaps in the club and Bali Chana, at 23 is not much higher.

Bhamra’s quality of potting was on show right from the start.  A difficult red cut precisely into the middle pocket, led to good positioning on, and the potting of, brown, red and black.  Chana’s handicap lead was wiped out. Missed reds and uncontrolled canons took 7 reds up the table passed the baulk line.  Hence the middle of the game was dominated by safety play and the cue ball spending most of the time on or near the ‘black’ cushion.   

A half chance then became available to Chana on a red, with a good angle to get onto the black.  The cue ball rolled into perfect position for the black, but alas the red was missed.  Frustratingly for Chana, as well as black, there were also a number of reds around the black which looked inviting for Bhamra to exploit.  He did, and a 17 point, three red/two black break materialised.  Both players then each scored similar small breaks, until Bhamra set to on another 17 break with considerable skill in the positioning of the cue ball.  Despite further potting and some good luck, Chana could not eat into Bhamra’s 30 + lead and only one red was left on the table.  Bhamra extinguished all hope for Chana when he potted the last red, along with brown, yellow and green.  With his 26 points compared to his opponents 67 points, Bali Chana conceded the Veterans handicap trophy to a well deserved winner Jas Bhamra.

Competitions Secretary Dave Sykes with Winner Jas Bhamra and Runner up Bali Chana

October 2023

The Prize Pairs 2023 final promised to be a thrilling pot-fest between two pairs of potting giants, namely Shiv Sibal and Jas Bhamra against James McManus and Dave Tierney. Will the giants stand tall or fall  short of their billing? 

As is often the case where one team took a good handicap lead into the match (18 in this case to McManus and Tierney), the match began very cagily. Neither team wishing to let the other impose themselves at the start.  The encirclement of the black and pink by red balls, and the somewhat below par play by all players, also didn’t help the potting flow.

And then, out of the blue (well yellow actually) the snooker hall was suddenly a buzz.  It came from the next table when attention happened to be drawn to an emaculate three cushion escape from a snooker on the yellow and the yellow was potted. The room exploded with applause.  This excitement and the freeing up of the black, ignited some better play from Tierney and McManus – both players striking some good red/black combos.

Sibal and Bhamra were 30 points behind with only a few reds left on the table. These last reds provided S&B with several opportunities to even up the score up. They were not taken full advantage of and most of the colours were required by S&B.  Sibal potted a good green and a fabulous brown from distance with the cue ball badly hampered by the black.  S&B were now only 6 points behind and your money was probably on them to play safe for the rest of the match and force T&McM into errors with safety play on the three remaining colours.   However, it was the other way round.  Tierney was left a half chance on the blue, which he calmly potted; clinching victory with a follow up pink. A 60 to 43 pt win, with black left un-potted, was recorded for Tierney and McManus.

Winners: James McManus and Dave Tierney

Bennett v McManus 25 October 2023

A mere 5 point handicap lead for Bennett, combined with McManus’s recent good form, including the bagging of the Prize Pairs trophy meant the bookies had McManus as slight favourite to win the Tony Stone Handicap this year.  Tight safety play dominated the start.  Then Bennett increased his lead with a couple of good breaks.  No need for McManus to panic and sure enough he returned the compliment with similar point scoring himself.  It was nip and tuck throughout, though both players deny any cosmetic surgery was involved. 

Only one point between them after all the reds were down, created a tense atmosphere on the colours.  It was too close to call.  McManus scored more heavily on the low scoring colours, leaving Bennett having to pot pink and black and McManus only needing the pink.  A half chance on the pink was just missed by Bennett and worse, the cue ball was perfect for the black.  Bennett’s head in hand, play continued until he played a very good safety with almost full table distance between the white (top cushion) and the pink on the baulk cushion.  Against the odds, McManus doubled the pink into the top corner pocket and the match was over.   Well played James and Ed.

Winner James McManus with Adrian Nock (President) and runner up Ed Bennett