In the Carlisle and District Snooker League Rock A are fighting against relegation from Division One.
They were at Longtown last night and the 5-1 defeat did not help the cause, although several frames could have gone the other way.
In the opening frame Willie Cairns got Longtown off to a great start against John Metcalfe from The Rock A, in a game where in the early stages he hardly missed a pot.
John was restricted to long pots and was unfortunate to not land perfectly on the black on three occasions. Each time he missed the black and left it in the jaws of the pocket. John needed four snookers with the colours left, but could only manage two before Willie clinched the frame 58-17.
Next up was Tony Steele against Neil Walby. Both players are exceptional potters and it was Neil who got off to a good start with a 24 break. The break broke down when he was unlucky not to land on the black after playing a deep screw shot in the middle pocket.
The frame’s major turning point was on the final couple of reds, when Neil miscued on a red into the middle. Tony took full advantage, potting both reds with colours, to reduce Neil’s lead to a handful of points.
Neil then went in-off on the green, which Tony then potted, along with the rest of the colours to win a black ball finish 56-48.
The third frame saw Andy Story extend Longtown’s lead to 3-0 on the night, when he beat John Steventon in a strange game, where both players went in-off multiple times.
The cue ball just didn’t seem to want to stay on the table! The frame went to the colours after John had potted the final red up to the green. He missed a chance in the middle with the brown. Andy potted that and the blue and then doubled the pink to snatch the frame 54-37.
Frame four saw Simon Elston win for the Rock A against Jamie Jackson to make the score 3-1 to Longtown.
Both players are very dangerous at the table when the opportunity arises, so the pair were reluctant to leave chances for their opponent. Once again, the white spent more time in the pocket than on the table.
There were no big breaks but Simon was able to win the match 53-35 by potting the brown, blue and pink when it got down to the colours.
The final frame of the night was between Dave Murray for Longtown and Paul Scott for The Rock. Dave took a 15 point early lead, which Paul was slowly able to peg back as this was another frame that was destined to go to the colours.
Both players had a couple of half chances to win on the final black, but it was Dave who got it, with a mid-range pot that didn’t touch the sides!
Ther final score was 5-1 to Longtown, which could have easily been the other way round, but that’s snooker.
Other results: DH QZone 4, Annan Blue Bell 1; Ex C 4, RAOB A 1; SECC A 1, Qzone 4; The Rock 3, Inter Qzone 2.
In Division Two, there was nothing between Qzone Originals and SECC heading into the top of the table clash for the second promotion place.
Mark Taylor opened with a 23 and took a stranglehold on the frame as Kenny Alecock was unfortunate to keep leaving reds over pockets. Mark took the frame 60-15 to get SECC off to the perfect start.
Matt Lowrie started well against Andy Foster before being pegged back with a nice 23. Andy got his reward by laying a second snooker on the pink when 14 behind but couldn’t find the pot on the final black. Matt took it, to take the frame 56-48 and tie the match at 1-1.
Dan Sanderson took on Harry Ruddick in frame three. Harry struggled to score and Dan took full advantage for Qzone Originals to win the frame 47-18, and put the home side 2-1 up.
It was Youth v Experience next. A superb 25 break on the final five colours capped some relentless scoring by Martin Milner which gave opponent Peter Lowrie little chance in a frame which finished 78-20.
With the match score at 2-2, a tactical battle developed in the final frame between Gordon Berry and Stuart Telford with some very canny safety from both players.
It ended with bad luck for Gordon as he handed the frame to Stuart 62-31 and the match to 3-2 to SECC. Importantly they also pocketed two crucial bonus points for an away win making the final score 5-2.
Other results: Eastriggs Social Club A 2, St Margaret Mary`s 3; RAOB B 2, Ex B 3; SECC D 2, Conservative Club 3.
