The 2025 Derwent Valley Individual league is now underway with a series of players making strong starts in the quest for individual honours.
Peter O’Hagan and 2024 Runner-Up Ryan Ismay take an early lead in Division 1 as both delivered whitewash wins over their opponents.
O’Hagan started quickly against Mark Tunstall with some steady scoring to take the first frame.
Tunstall started to settle into the match in the second, but as the game came down to the final colours it was O’Hagan that finally struck the closing pot to extend his lead.
O’Hagan dominated the third frame, producing a break of 39 to extend the scoreline to 3-0 and ensure match victory.
Tunstall rallied in the fourth, but was unable to halt his opponents momentum and O’Hagan further extended his lead. A further break of 40 aided O’Hagan in delivering the final blow and complete a perfect start to the seasons campaign.
Ryan Ismay’s match against Andrew Mitchelhill was a much closer contest than the scoreline suggests. Ismay took the opening frame with a concluding clearance of 30.
In the second Mitchelhill dominated the start of the frame and built a healthy lead aided by a break of 30, but a couple of errors allowed Ismay to respond with breaks of 30 and a closing 31 clearance to steal the frame and extend his lead.
The final three frames all followed a similar pattern as both players traded scores in the early part of the frames, but each time it was Ismay who delivered the closing blows on the final colours to leave Mitchelhill frameless.
The 2024 Division 1 Champion Kevin Basnett was pushed all the way by newly promoted 2024 Division 2 Champion Dave Chapman.
The first frame saw the players trade scoring chances until Basnett pulled clear and secured the opener. Basnett maintained the momentum in the second and a break of 39 set up a 2-0 lead.
However, Chapman showed his resolve in the third with some steady potting to reduce his arrears to 2-1 despite a break of 36 from Basnett. Chapman maintained his steady potting form in the fourth steadily building a lead and ultimately force the match into a deciding frame.
In the final frame Basnett showed his scoring power and a break of 72 was sufficient to close the match out and extinguish Chapmans hopes of an upset.
In Division 2, Chris Hunter declared his intentions towards the Division 2 title, compiling the third whitewash result of the weeks fixtures against Stephen Harrison. Hunter took the opener comfortably before his opponent settled into the match.
The remaining frames all proved to be much closer contests, but Hunter consistently proved the stronger at closing frames out leaving Harrison to rue missed opportunities.
2024 Division 2 Runner-Up Stephen Jackson also made a promising start to the season against Adam Sowden. Jackson was in fine form and quickly established a two frame lead.
Sowden displayed his capabilities in the third, to take the frame relatively comfortably and start a comeback.
The fourth frame turned out to be the most tightly challenged of the match ending up in a final black contest, but it was Jackson who kept his composure the best to deposit the black and move into an unassailable 3-1 lead.
Taking confidence from the match victory, Jackson dominated the play in the final frame and promptly secured the final frame for a well earned 4-1 victory.
