Workington’s Veterans Club have retained their L&L Property Contractors Snooker League Trebles Handicap Trophy with a thrilling 5-4 win over Maryport Social Club.
The final, hosted by Station Road Club, in its six red reduced handicap format saw a series of close frames pan out with the first ultimately setting the tone.
Vets’ Kevin Basnett (Scr handicap) looked the likely winner but as just the black remained Maryport’s Ben Scott (+17) was still in it. As the black sat on the side cushion it looked relatively safe until Scott stepped forward and with a double to the middle pocket he took the frame 43-37.
Frame two saw Vets’ Steve Garroway (+17) start with a break of 23 but as Social’s Andrew Sharp (+16) slowly pegged the Vets cueist back another black ball game ensued.
An attempt from Sharp looked to be finding it’s destination but in stopping over the pocket it was Garroway who duly obliged for a 56-45 win and a 1-1 scoreline.
The next produced another good start for the Vets but with some dogged play Andrew Scott (+13) could still win with pink and black left. A good pot on the pink left Scott the chance he was waiting for and with the third black ball win in a row the Maryport player put his side 2-1 up with a 37-31 victory.
Tactics continued to be the order of the day in frame four with Vets’ Basnett and Social’s Sharp battling it out. As the last two balls stood Basnett was presented with a relatively easy shot for frame to the middle pocket. However with a surprising miss Sharp pounced to deposit the pink and black for a 46-42 Social win.
At 3-1 to Maryport Social the pressure was on the Vets Club but Garroway was more than up to the task. Slowly but confidently constructing a lead the Vets cueist eventually converted the win as Andrew Scott conceded with the scores at 42-17.
Frame six saw the Vets side now starting to play better and even though Ben Scott put up a valiant fight he went down 41-12 as Vets pulled it back to 3-3.
Vets’ Basnett potted well early in frame seven but back came Andrew Scott and with the blue remaining the Maryport cueist led by five. Nevertheless in leaving a shot on Basnett grabbed his chance and in taking the last three balls the Vets player put his side 4-3 up with a 51-59 win.
From 3-1 up to trailing 4-3 Maryport could have been forgiven for feeling the strain a little but in producing his best performance of the night Sharp won the eighth frame 38-12 to take the match into a decider at 4-4.
The deciding frame pressure didn’t seem to bother Vets’ Garroway or Social’s Ben Scott initially as both players potted some superb balls.
This predictably changed with only the last few balls remaining as a few expected shots went awry. As the blue stood Ben Scott took on what he ultimately believed to be frame ball but as it stopped over the corner pocket Garroway struck with blue and pink to deliver frame, match and title with a 36-13 victory.
