Workington Golf Club A have retained their L & L Property Contractors Snooker League Division One title.
A 3-2 victory against their closest rivals Workington’s United Club A clinched a second successive crown.
Workington Golf Club A have now completed all their fixtures and even though United A are 5 points behind, and have the potential to match that total in next week’s final fixture, they cannot pass the defending champions’ superior win ratio.
In the first frame of the match Mark Brasted played solidly to outwit his opponent for a 1-0 Golf Club A lead and as Ryan Ismay won a real heavyweight contest in frame two the champions lead was doubled.
In frame three it was the United Club A’s chance to get back into the match as Clive Lister won a close contest, however the league title was secured in the next as Mark Cowen won on the last couple of balls to ensure the Division One trophy remained in the hands of the current champions.
The last frame of the fixture still had some weight with play-off positions at stake, and in maintaining his focus it was Mark Suitor who took the frame to make the United Club A massive favourites to finish second and secure a home play-off tie in the process.
Workington’s Veterans Club A may have already confirmed their status as Division Two champions but they were in no mood to take things easy as they defeated the now confirmed runners-up, Workington’s United Club B 4-1.
The away fixture certainly didn’t faze Vets A’s Craig Davies in the first, as with a thumping victory he put the new champions 1-0 up.
An early contribution of 32 quickly followed with a break of 30 enabled Kevin Basnett to make it 2-0 for the Vets A outfit but with a gruelling win on the black Andrew Carter gave the United Club B side some hope by reducing the deficit to 2-1.
Mark Tatton was in the groove yet again as another impressive display put the Vets A team 3-1 up, but the performance of the evening went to Steve Garroway as in putting aside recent health problems the Vets cueist played superbly to win and finish the match 4-1.
Workington’s Station Road Club guaranteed a Division One top four play-off place on the back of a 3-2 victory over Division Two’s Maryport Social.
A Tom Thompson win followed-up by a victory from team mate Darren Lawson put Station Road 2-0 up. However, a break of 37 from Maryport’s Andrew Sharp was enough to pull the match score back to 2-1.
A win on black from Andrew Scott in frame four completed a fine comeback for the Social side to make it 2-2, but it was Mike Walker who took a low-scoring final frame to top off a workmanlike team performance and end it 3-2 in Station Road’s favour.
Flimby Social are also certain of a Division One play-off place after a 3-2 home win over Workington Conservative Club, but with one game to go the position is yet to be decided.
As good a win it was for the Social side it was equally as disappointing for the Cons Club. The defeat sees the Workington outfit relegated to the second tier for the first time in their League history of over 60 years.
Kevin Kirkham got Flimby off to the start they were looking for with a win in the first, however a break of 30 from Dave Holland was enough to take frame two as Cons levelled at 1-1.
Richard Kirkham played brilliantly to win the next for a Social 2-1 lead and with Michael ‘Sid’ Walker taking frame four an unassailable 3-1 Flimby lead was gained.
The last frame still had pride at stake for the Cons side and in maintaining his concentration superbly Brian Kendall took the frame to end the match just one frame adrift at 3-2.
Finally, Whitehaven’s Rack Shack ensured they made the top four in Division Two with a 3-2 away win against second tier opponents, Workington’s Veterans Club B.
Luke Richardson got Vets B off the mark with a victory in frame one but Peter McAvoy soon cancelled this out for the Haven side as he took frame two convincingly.
Neil Dougherty put the Rack Shack ahead with a hard-fought win in frame three, but with Vets B’s Simon Tootle taking frame four the fifth, and final frame was to be the one to decide the fixture.
Needing calmness under pressure Andy Moore executed his game plan extremely well and in scoring the highest points total of the match the Whitehaven cueist won the frame to take his team over the line in a 3-2 match victory.
Tables (after round 21 of 22)
Division 1
1. W’ton Golf A P20 W17 Pts69
2. United A P19 W14 Pts64
3. Flimby Social P19 W14 Pts61
4. Stat Rd P19 W14 Pts59
5. W’ton Cons P19 W9 Pts51
Division 2
1. Vets A P19 W14 Pts61
2. United B P19 W9 Pts46
3. M’port Social P19 W5 Pts36
4. Rack Shack P19 W6 Pts32
5. Vets B P19 W1 Pts25
6. W’ton Golf B P19 W2 Pts16
