Stourbridge & District Snooker League Report 5-6 February 2020

Premier Division results:

Amblecote Inst A 3 (D.Oakes, A.Sidaway 102, R.Clark) Baggeridge Social A 2 (J.Donoghue, E.Bastable)

Hotshots SC A 4 (N.Beckley, C.Downing, M.Sutton, J.Brown 58) Norton Social A 1 (R.Pitt 35)

Pockets SC A 3 (G.Smith, T.Pepperall, A.Smith 42) Brandhall Labour 2 (S.Perry, P.Caldeira)

Bearwood Cons 3 (J.Chester, J.Anderson, P.Gibson) Kingswinford Cons C 2 (A.Coley, W.Whitmore)

West Midlands Police 4 (G.Sloan, M.Sheehan, P.Gibbons, K.Franklin) Hotshots SC B 1 (D.Konior)

Townsend Social bye

First Division results:

Kingswinford Cons A 1 (J.Byng) Pockets SC B 4 (G.Evans, G.Ward, J.Shuck, A.Kidd)

Baggeridge Social B 4 (M.Whale, M.Collingridge, L.Whale 37, A.Baker) Bahia’s SC A 1 (R.Bahia)

Norton Social B 3 (L.Grosvenor, P.Bowen, C.Webb) Moor Pool & Snooker 2 (S.Dingley, I.Priest)

Kinver Constitutional A 3 (G.Tranter, J.Woodhouse, K.Rollinson) Amblecote Inst C 2 (M.Skidmore, R.Vanes)

Amblecote Inst B 2 (M.Cook, A.Moore) Kinver Const C 3 (G.Reece, T.Postings, S.Nicholls)

Amblecote Inst D 4 (Jordan Taylor, A.Kensett, C.Butcher, M.Robson) S/b Old Edwardians A 1 (D.Woodall)

Kinver Const B 2 (R.Smith, M.Dowler) Dudley Ex-Servicemen 3 (C.Foster, R.Thompson, M.Short)

Second Division results:

Stourbridge Inst D 1 (Dino Bacciocchi) Wombourne 4 (J.Wooldridge, R.Mason, P.Tristram, D.Flavell)

S/b Old Edwardians B 2 (B.Ball, Sam Ball) Bahia’s SC B 3 (P.Jukes, N.Harrison, M.Reece)

Kingswinford SC 3 (S.Ballinger, M.Surmacz, P.Curry) Amblecote RBL A 2 (P.Botfield, S.Norton)

Amblecote RBL B 2 (R.Conway, W.Crowther) Stourbridge Inst B 3 (H.Jones, L.Ward, C.Green)

Amblecote Inst E 2 (S.Marsh, L.Edwards) Kinver Const D 3 (D.Barker, C.Barker, M.Hines)

Premier Division report: Two of the top the teams in the Premier Division clashed, with Amblecote Institute A beating the leaders, Baggeridge Social A 3-2 to trail by a single point. Ashley Sidaway, who has come so close to a century in league play so often, finally hit the mark with a great effort of 102 against Dave Hall, and Rob Clark and Dave Oakes secured the win before Justin Donoghue and Eliott Bastable countered.

Hotshots SC A eased their way into a share of the lead with a 4-1 win at home to the 4th placed team, Norton Social A. Neil Beckley, Callum Downing, Mark Sutton and Jamie Brown, who had a break of 58, all won although Bal Sembi was outpointed by Rob Pitt.

Pockets SC A edged a point above Norton with a hard-fought 3-2 result at home to Brandhall Labour: Gary Smith and Tom Pepperall put them 2-0 ahead but Paul Caldeira and Stuart Perry levelled before Andy Smith won the decider against Andy Round.

Similarly, Bearwood Cons went 2-0 up at home to Kingswinford Cons C, only for the visitors to make it 2-2. Paul Gibson secured the win for Bearwood in the decider against John Cartwright.

West Midlands Police duly completed the pattern of home wins with a 4-1 success against Hotshots B, thereby exacting a little revenge for their team knock-out defeat by the same team two weeks ago. Dawid Konior took the opener for the visitors before Gavin Sloan, Mark Sheehan, Pete Gibbons and Kev Franklin combined to great effect for the Police.

First Division report: There was little change at the top of the First Division, with the top four teams all winning. Luke Grosvenor, Paul Bowen and Carl Webb struck for a winning lead for Norton Social B but Moor Pool and Snooker’s Simon Dingley and Ian Priest won narrowly to restrict the score to 3-2.

Kinver Constitutional C remained two points behind with a 3-2 win away to Amblecote Institute B. Gregg Reece, enjoying his best-ever season with his 16th win out of 17, won comfortably but Tom Postings was taken to the black by Sam Harrison before Steve Nicholls’ pink in the decider against Mark Colbourne clinched the win for the visitors.

It was a similar story for Kinver’s A team who edged past Amblecote Inst C 3-2 thanks to Graham Tranter, Jim Woodhouse and Keith Rollinson in the deciding frame against Roger McManus, to remain two points further away in 3rd place, but this was a much more encouraging result for the visitors, beaten 5-0 the week before, taking two frames through Mitch Skidmore and Ray Vanes.

A 4-1 win for Pockets SC B on the tables of Kingswinford Cons A enabled them to draw level with Kinver A in third place, but with two black ball frames and one decided on the pink, there was really very little between the teams. Jamie Shuck eventually won well, extending his winning sequence to a remarkable 16 frames in only his third season.

Dudley Ex-Servicemen, in their first season, climbed into 5th place, only 10 points off the top, with a 3-2 win on the tables of Kinver’s B team, thanks to Colin Foster, Rob Thompson and Matt Short, taking the place of Bahia’s SC A, who lost 4-1 away to Baggeridge Social B. Luke Whale, with a break of 37, his brother, Matt and black ball wins for Mart Collingridge & Alistair Baker established a 4-0 lead in their local “derby”, before Reece Bahia cleared the colours to rescue a point for his team.

Amblecote Institute D maintained their revival in form to defeat Old Edwardians A 4-1 at home. Carl Butcher did well to beat Chris Cowley on the black, and there were also narrow wins for Jordan Taylor, Adam Kensett and Mark Robson before Dave Woodall struck back for the visitors.

Second Division report: Kingswinford Snooker Centre’s form had dipped, and three defeats in four matches had seen their lead at the top of the Second Division dwindle to a single point but Matt Surmacz and Paul Curry helped the still-unbeaten Steve Ballinger to produce a timely 3-2 win against one of their promotion rivals, Amblecote RBL A, while their two closest rivals both slipped up at home and both continue to share second place, but now three points adrift.

Stourbridge Institute B upset Amblecote RBL B 3-2, with Harry Jones, Lee Ward and Carl Green just coming out best in five very even frames, while Old Edwardians B came unstuck against Bahia’s SC B, also 3-2. Neil Harrison, on his debut for the team, Pete Jukes and Mark Reece won for Bahia’s with Brett and Sam Ball replying for Old Eds, whose run of 6 wins in their previous 7 matches had taken them to within a point of the leaders.

Four successive wins had given Stourbridge Institute D a promotion chance but Wombourne produced one of their better displays to win 4-1 away from home to edge above them in the league table. Dino Bacciocchi gave the Institute a good start but John Wooldridge, Bob Mason, Paul Tristram and Dave Flavell, who beat Chris Crumpton in the last frame, helped to reignite Wombourne’s own bid for honours, and they sit 10 points off the top.

Finally there was another very close match between Amblecote Inst E and Kinver D. Dan Barker, his father, Chris and Marcus Hines all won for Kinver, but with very little to spare, while Lee Edwards and Shawn Marsh, who was able to celebrate his first league success, gave the home side two consolation points.

WORCS INTER LEAGUE OVER 40s at Stratford Sports Club: EVESHAM 3 STOURBRIDGE B 2. Evesham beat the 2018 and 2019 champions, Stourbridge B to give themselves a good chance of reaching this season’s final. The last county individual champion, Carl Saidler, former Countdown champion, Tony Baylis, and the tournament’s secretary, Dean Powell all won, with Neil Rollinson and Rob Pitt taking a frame each for Stourbridge. Having lost the previous week in Kidderminster, also on a deciding frame, Stourbridge need two convincing home wins against these same opponents during March to give themselves a chance of reaching this season’s final.

Report submitted by Stourbridge and District Snooker League