Report by Chris Gill
1st Division
Mere Brow A beat Tarleton BC A 4-2 to move top of the table, all be it on level points, in a match where the result could have gone either way in the end. The opening frames saw John Nelson continue to show good form beating Andy O’Hara 59-39, making a crucial 32 break to seal the win, as Martin Brown stole the frame away from Chris Hoare when potting the final black. It was the third black ball defeat on the trot for the Tarleton player who had his chances earlier in the frame to give the visiting team the perfect 2-0 start. Mere Brow then made it a 3-1 score line after wins as Andy Booth beat Colin Boston, 65-42, and Alan Waring edged out Rob Iddon 49-33 in a frame of many chances. Danny Jassi simply out performed Chris Gill for his impressive 100-14 win, making breaks of 25 & 28 with a fine clearance of 30 to hit the century mark of points. Tarleton’s Marcus Jackson beat John Greenwood in the final frame 55-39 to see the previous league leaders suffer their first defeat of the season.
Banks A thumped basement team Tarleton C 5-1 to move into a three way tie at the top of the table, with all three teams sat on 25 points. It was the third 5-1 win of the season for Banks who are making a real fist of it to stay in contention at the top of the table this year. Al Sutton moved to a perfect 6 out of 6 for the year when beating Dean Bond 60-17 as Andy Hardisty made it a 2-0start when beating John Moore 64-23. Two nil became 4-0 when Andy Bridge beat Mark Rollins and Trevor Wetton beat Shaun Fisher 60-45. One of the last frames produced the biggest story and shout of the night when Jimmy Jones beat Matthew Wetton for his first win in the 1st division proper. His two wins from last year both came from ‘Absent’ players, but it was the only highlight on the night for the home side as Roy Cookson put the finishing gloss on another good win for Banks when beating Phil Keep 42-34.
Churchtown Cons A made a dream start in their match against Fleetwood Hesketh A when racing to a 2-0 lead to only end up getting a 3-3 draw out of the match. Les Prescott made it a special night for him when beating Gareth Hibbott 66-42 with both players making breaks in the 30’s as Jamie Campbell out potted Stuart Evans to record a fine 78-25 win. Dave Harwood made it back-to-back wins when defeating Mike Roberts 59-46 as Neil Rimmer got Fleetwood up and running with a close 54-44 win over Dan Matthews. But Churchtown couldn’t get that all important fourth point and only 2nd team win of the season as Mick Coxon lost out 78-25 to Mike Reeder and Kevin Woodfull losing out to Ste Crane 36-55.
Birkdale Cons A moved to 6th in the table after they beat Waddington Cons B 4-2 last week, to leave the Waddy B side still looking for their first win of the season. Ste Cobb got the home side off to a good start when beating Les Sullivan 73-31 with Birkdale’s Mick Wardle getting the better of Phil Kitchen 59-44. The middle frames where shared as Andy Linaker found some good form to beat John Melvin 71-28 with Paul Shawcross staying unbeaten in his last three when beating Phil Gaskell 74-26. With the Waddy a player short it meant that Ronnie Brooks had to beat Ray Highton to get the win for his team, which he duly did running out a 66-31 winner.
Had Les Dodd’s B had the full complement of 6 players last week then they might have turned the 3-3 draw with Tarleton B into their first win of the season. Doddy’s Dave Mills played well to beat Ian Gautrey 64-27 as Andy Marsden edged out Joe Wade in a high scoring frame 72-68 on the final black. The home side then went 3-1 up with wins for Lee Holmes & Andy Reynolds over John Gautrey & Ste Harrison, but that first win of the season is still on hold as Neil Rigden beat Paul Rogers 65-30 to go with the ’Absent’ win to give the visitors a share of the spoils.
Argyle LTC drew yet another game this year 3-3, this time to a Waddington Cons A side who now sit just three points off the top three in the table. The Waddy might have thought that it would be win number 5 after going 2-0 up with wins for Paul Wilson & Gary Flynn over Barry Brookfield & Ste Cooper. But Captain fantastic Brian Jarrett managed to beat Paul Taylor 72-65 to stop the rot. Mark Tomlin managed to guarantee the draw was the minimum his side would get when beating Colin Coffey 44-52 but that was all it would be for the visitors as Ryan Curry & Paddy Tyndall won, both moving to 5 wins from their 6 matches played this year.
2nd Division
Southport Cons A moved to the top of the 2nd division table even though they could only come away from playing Banks B with a 3-3 draw. The opening frames were shared as Mike Marsh beat Nobby Lee with a bit to spare 66-10 with the Cons Lee Cromwell edging out John E Gearie 44-24. Matty Pollock managed to get the better of Bob Ashcroft beating the Banks player 68-12 with Andy Griffiths beating John Cromwell by the close margin of 8 points in a 42-34 victory. The sides couldn’t be separated in the last pairings as Harry Caunce made his best score of the season so far when beating Ste Cromwell 71-37 as the visiting Mike Langford beat John Gearie 45-33 to split the points 3 apiece.
Bretherton B slipped from top spot after going down 4-2 to a Mere Brow B side who at last registered their first win of the season last week. Kyle Prescott beat William Moulton when taking on an impossibly thin, full length of the table, black to the corner pocket 43-37 with Alan Venables replying for Bretherton when beating Dale Roberts 65-36. Phil Iddon lost out in to David Forshaw 39-47, in a close tussle as Simon Moulton moved to 5 wins from the opening 6 matches when beating Paul Crabtree jnr 53-30. Crabtree senior made up for juniors loss when beating Stephen Fiddler 53-43 with Harvey Webster completing the first win of the season for Mere Brow when getting the better of Neville Marsden 54-17.
Although they do have a game in hand over the top two in the table Banks C slipped to their second defeat on the trot when losing to Bretherton A 4-2 last week. Martin Sephton gave his side a good start when beating Ron Dickinson 58-41 but the ‘not so young pup’ Gordon Russell made the best of his chances to level things up with a 60-39 victory over Steve Harris. Cliff Arnold went down 52-26 to John Hart as Alan Johnson made it 5 from 5 when beating Kevin Wigley 66-26. In the end Bretherton were too strong for Banks who saw Jim Holden beat Billy Cummings 56-30 and Dave Cottam getting the better of John Prescott in a high scoring frame 74-65.
Scarisbrick A seemed to have found their potting boots now after gaining their second win of the season when beating Churchtown Cons B 4-2 last week. Paul Horner & Graham Ball gave the home side the perfect start when racing to a 2-0 lead, Graham beating Colin Tennant on the final black 57-50. Norman Hallsworth made it hard work for Paul Connor running out a 61-6 winner as Lawrence Richards got the Con club their first point of the night when beating Ian Tinsley 58-45. Guy Hudson played well for his 58-44 victory over Ron Calder but Chris Starkie made sure of the home win when seeing off Richard Butterworth on the final colours 52-48.
The biggest winners of the division were Our Lady’s who thumped the visiting Les Dodd’s A team 5-1 last week. That youngster at heart Tommy Tickle rolled back the years with a fine 62-29 win over Karl Bellman as Luke Marshall made it the perfect start when beating Martin Matthews 52-34. With a 2-0 lead, and their first league win of the season within touching distance Graham Booth managed to make sure of at least the draw when beating Jordan Scutt 64-31 with Keith Turner losing out to Graham Marshall narrowly 49-40. But that first win did come when the final pairings for the Formby side both won with wins for Alan Parker & Paul Heery over Peter Parkinson & Peter Jackson. The defeat for the Doddy’s side leaves them as the only side now in the division still looking for that first win, while Our Lady’s move up to 7th place after this big win.
3rd Division
Big wins a plenty in the 3rd division as Churchtown Cons D recorded their first 6-0 of the season when handing the thrashing to Birkdale Cons B last week. The win moves Churchtown top of the division which all came when Trevor Ford & Mick Quinn beat the opening home pair of Peter Wilding & Reg Dobson with a bit to spare. The middle pairings for the visitors then made sure of their3rd win of the season as Al Graham beat John Mullard 50-24 and Mike Pickles beat John Stringfellow 38-25 in a tight low scoring affair. The full house six came when Tony Wakefield & Russ Walsh both beat their opponents to leave Birkdale scratching their heads as to what went wrong on the night, though it doesn’t get any easier with next week’s trip to 2nd placed Scarisbrick B.
Scarisbrick B sit in 2nd place in the table after registering a fine 5-1 victory over previous table toppers Southport Cons B, whit Ian Higgins starring for the Bath street side again this season. The visitors took control early on when John Hardisty & Mick Hodge both won, Mick doing so on the final black against Jeff Wainwright. Then the potting fireworks came out as Scarisbrick’s Wayne Cooper made a very well taken 37 break in his 53-15 win over Colin Paul, only for Ian Higgins to surpass his previous best of 44, made in his last home match two weeks ago, with one of 53 this time round. Ian came up 1 point short of beating the divisions high break effort, a 54 made by fellow team mate Jeff Wainwright back in week two of the season. But it was Scarisbrick who were smiling come the end of the night with Peter Simpson & Matt Lowery both winning to make it their second 5-1 victory so far this season.
Fleetwood Hesketh B gave Banks D their first taste of defeat on the road this year when beating the 4-2 last week. Mark Beaver lost out narrowly to Darren McDonnell 50-40 as Ian Brownhill got the home side up and running with a 61-21 victory over Barry Holmes. Phil Marrow managed to get the better of Gerry Stone 45-15 as Banks levelled the score up to 2-2 when Graham Melvin beat Lawrence Renshaw 67-23. But it was to be the Marshsider’s night in the end as Terry Gowland & Brian Kimberly both won to secure their second win of the season and Banks first defeat away from home.
And the big wins continued in last week’s fixtures as the Birkdale Cons C team got their first win of the season a 5-1 thumping at the expense of the Waddington Cons B side. Both the home players of Guy Riley & Dave Brown could only must 10 points each as John McGee & Phil Horan both broke the 60 point mark to go 2-0 up. The symmetry carried on for the Waddy as Max Riley & Stefan Whyte did marginally better in both getting 19 points each but came up short as Ted Coghlan & Phil Green piled on the points to go 4-0 up. Steve Whyte eventually stopped the rot for the Waddy with a 55-19 win over Paul Rimmer but it was Birkdale’s Paul Murphy who topped the night off for the visitors when defeating Vince Langford on the final black 51-46.
Formby Sports stay unbeaten for the season after coming away from playing the Churchtown Cons C team with a 4-2 win. Joe Perberdy got things off to a good start for the Con club when he beat Mark Abbott 47-37 with Formby’s Alec Davies levelling things up when beating Peter Milford 49-24. Adam Rothwell moved to the top of his team rankings with a good win over Mark Winkley as yet again the Formby side replied to make it 2-2 when Adrian Morris beat Roger Hughes. But the match swung the way of the visitors in the last pairings when both Alex Fairley & Steve McCluskey won to seal Formby’s third consecutive 4-2 victory.
British Rail A v Les Dodd’s C – The result is not to hand yet.
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