This handicap competition is an annual tournament in honour of one of the club’s life members, Harry Penfold.  It is one of the most memorable of the club’s tournaments as it brings many of our members together in a one night show down, with scrumptious Setchfield’s pie and peas to boot!!

Last year’s champions, Tierney and Hammond were paired together again and  had high hopes of progressing deep into the tournament this year. Sibal and Kumar, two of the most consistent players in the club, were the bookies favourite.  However, only one of these pairs would make it into the second round, as the draw brought them together in the first round.  After a high scoring and close match, last year’s winners prevailed.

Two pairs stood out as of particular interest on the night.  Steele, one of the highest handicapped players in the club was partnering one of the best players in the club, Lintott.   Sykes was another of the highest handicapped players and he was partnered with Sibal Junior.  Sibal Jnr, still in his teens, was the youngest player of the competition.

Both playing some good snooker, these two pairs made it to the final.  With a 4 point handicap lead, Sibal Jnr. and Sykes hoped to increase this as soon as possible, thereby putting pressure on their opponents, early doors.  This didn’t happen. In fact the reverse occurred with solid potting by Lintott making a number of good breaks.  One of these pots was a tremendous double on a red.  The cue ball was close to the black cushion and the side cushion, the red was  on the same side cushion close to the middle pocket.  A pot just wasn’t on was it?  Lintott purposively smashed the cue ball onto the right hand edge of the red, the white flew off out of control up and down the table.  That didn’t matter because Lintott knew exactly what the red would do –  it doubled and  flew straight into the middle pocket on the other side of the table.  This was met with generous applause from the watching crowd.  Steele wasn’t to be out done by his partner with some brilliant cuts into the middle pocket and good safety play.  Sibal Jnr. and Sykes had played well in three matches to get to the final, but unfortunately didn’t get a ‘look in’ here.   They conceded the match after Lintott made a 13 point break putting Lintott and Steele ahead 44 points on the brown.  The president, Dave Tierney presented the trophies.

Congratulations Tim Lintott and Roy Steele,

Penfold Doubles Champions, 2024.

And let’s not forget the runners up, Jai Sibal and Dave Sykes

As usual, the Spring Handicap this year has been very popular with members of the club, with 32 entrants. And so, Rich Murphy and Adam O’Donnell have had to win four matches to reach this final.  Indeed, on their way, they have both beaten some of the best players in the club.  Well done guys.

Good mates, they both wished each other an emotional ‘all the best’ before the break off.  This final was always going to be a little different.  The players had the same handicap, used the same cue and both liked the music of the Arctic Monkeys to accompany the match.    

Unfortunately for O’Donnell the scores did not stay equal for very long and an ‘in off’ from the break was a sign of what was to come.  Murphy potted well right from the start and when the fifth red was potted he was already 20 points ahead.  O’Donnell was clearly not on his best form and missed a number of pots he would have expected to get.  His frustration was heard after one miss through a self critical expletive. 

In contrast, Murphy was in top gear, smoothly potting reds and colours at will.  A fantastic four reds, three blacks, and one pink – 31 break by Murphy seemed to put the match beyond O’Donnell’s reach.  At 57 pts to Murphy and 10 pts to O’Donnell, six snookers were required well before the reds were down.  Nevertheless, with great determination, O’Donnell stuck to the task and achieved three snookers and brought the deficit down to 33 with only 3 more snookers needed.  Murphy looked concerned at this point and admitted to sweaty palms – the game seemingly won after his 31 pt. break.   Alas, there was no miracle come back, and Murphy won on the brown 71 points to 26.     

Congratulations Rich Murphy and commiserations Adam O’Donnell.   May you enjoy your Arctic Monkeys in less stressful situations in the future.   Vice President Dave Sykes presented the trophies to the finalists.

Champion                                     Vice President                    Runner Up

Rich Murphy                                   Dave Sykes                      Adam O’Donnell

A fantastic time was had by everyone who came to our Burns Night Supper on January 27th. Read all about the night here

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

Plans are underway to bring the Burns Night Celebrations back to the Parochial and Home Guard Club in January 2024. A piper, a fabulous band, food and whiskey as well as a well stocked bar are all in store. Come back for more details following our ticket launch in early October

Potter v Sibal

The handicaps of the two players meant that Shiv Sibal would give Ian Potter a start of 26 points before a ball was played.  This could be daunting for many players.  But for Sibal with his cool and calm persona combined with confidence in his own ability this is unlikely to be an issue here.

As expected with no obvious chances to pot a red, safety play dominated at the start.  This safety  game was on balance won by Sibal.  Potter, too often left the cue ball amongst the reds, and Sibal began to claw back the deficit.  The reds have now been spread all around the middle of the table; the sort of table that Sibal could well exploit.  And he did ……… with a break of 21, taking him into the lead.   Undeterred, Potter traded small breaks with Sibal from now on, restricting Sibal to a modest lead.  Sibal had more luck in the game than Potter with a few flukes which could have been a little irksome to the opponent.  For example,  a red went flying into the middle pocket at an incredibly acute angle when it was intended to be a safety shot bouncing off the side cushion to baulk.   After all the reds were down, Potter was 14 behind.  Yellow and Green were taken by Sibal (the latter a fluke) and Potter needed all the colours. Still fighting, Potter potted a long brown to the corner and a good blue to the middle.   He then had a choice of doubling the pink or putting it safe.  Potter by name, potter by nature, Ian went for the double. He missed and soon after Sibal potted the pink to win the match.

Congratulations Shiv.  Well done Ian for reaching the final.