The L&L Property Contractors Snooker League Top Four play-off semi-finals saw Workington Golf Club A and United Club A going though in Division One and Rack Shack and Maryport Social victorious in Division Two.
The first of the Division One semi-finals saw Workington Golf Club A make massive strides towards the league/playoff double with a 3-1 win against Workington’s Station Road Club.
The match started with a relatively convincing win for Darren Lawson over Mark Brasted to put Station Road Club 1-0 up, but as Ryan Ismay was triumphant over Tom Thompson in frame two the Golf Club cueist delivered parity for 1-1.
Phil Sorfleet ensured he put the Golf Club A 2-1 in front with a win over John Teasdale in frame three and it was team mate Bryan Walker who closed out the match in the next with a strong finish over Station Road’s Chris Hunter to put the two times league champions into Wednesday’s final.
In the other Division One semi-final a heated contest ended in a black ball game as Workington’s United Club A beat Flimby Social 3-2 in the second versus third match-up.
The first frame saw Kevin Kirkham make a late charge to defeat Dave Chapman for a 1-0 Flimby lead but as Andrew Mitchelhill produced a break of 30 in frame two the United A captain defeated Richard Kirkham by 80 points to draw level at 1-1.
Geoff Banton hit top form in frame three with the tier three leading player defeating Clive Lister to put Flimby 2-1 up.
However everything went up a notch in the next as United A’s Peter O’Hagan took on Sal Cakmak in frame four. With an old rivalry renewed it took a cool break of 32 from O’Hagan to separate the players as the United A sharpshooter ensured the match went to a decider with an intense victory.
In the final frame the inevitable scrappy encounter developed, but with patience it was Mark Suitor who eventually fell over the line on the final ball of the match to put the United Club A through to a final against league champions Workington Golf Club A.
The first of the Division Two semi-finals produced one of the shocks of the season as Whitehaven’s Rack Shack came from 2-0 down to defeat league champions and the home side, Workington Veterans Club A, 3-2.
A solid display from Mark Tunstall put the Vets A side 1-0 up with a win over Chris McKelvey and with a contribution of 47 Kevin Basnett made it 2-0 as the tier one leading player defeated Neil Dougherty convincingly.
An Andy Moore break of 30 was the difference in the third as the Rack Shack captain started the comeback in making it 2-1.
Phil Denvir took full advantage of an out-of-sorts Mark Tatton in frame four as the Rack Shack player pulled it back to 2-2 and take the match into a decider.
In the final frame an early lead of 30 for Vets A’s Steve Garroway looked like an important one, nevertheless with guts and determination Rack Shack cueist Adam Morilla delivered a performance to be proud of to take the frame and match in dramatic fashion.
Meeting the Rack Shack in Wednesday’s DivisionT wo play-off final will be Maryport Social who defeated Workington’s United Club A 3-1 to set up a surprising third versus fourth final contest.
Stephen Harrison has produced some excellent snooker since returning from a shoulder injury and in continuing this he defeated Maryport’s Ben Scott to put United B 1-0 up.
In frame two Andrew Sharp scraped home against United B’s Jamie Flitton to draw level at 1-1 but it was Andrew Scott who plied the pressure on as he beat United B captain Stephen Jackson tellingly for a 2-1 Social lead.
Gary Miller has probably had one of his best campaigns this season and while he didn’t quite reach the heights of some of his previous displays he still had enough to take out United B’s Andrew Carter and put his team through to the final with a dogged performance.
