Last week’s Stone Pool League action saw some big match-ups in the Griffins Butchers Cup semi-finals and the subsidiary competition.
Griffins Butchers Cup Semi-Finals
The Lamb 1 The Joker 4
The first clash this season of the best team over the last few seasons – The Joker – with this season’s front runners – The Lamb – whetted the appetite, but proved to be somewhat one-sided.
Frame 1 featured two very different styles as John Grobnik’s flair was neutralised by Gaz Cummings’ grind! John had a good chance to clear up but surprisingly missed a pot by a good margin to present Gaz with a dish-up and he duly obliged – 1-0 to The Joker.
Two flair players faced off in frame 2, with Tony Douthwaite beating Paul Loughhead Jnr easily in four visits to the table. 2-0 to The Joker.
Simon Key has won his last 14 frames in the league, and was favourite to beat Joker new boy Mark Welton after ‘The Doc’ went in off on the break. Si however snookered himself on his final object ball presenting Mark the opportunity to lay a series of good snookers to obtain the two shots needed for the clearance. Si escaped from the first two but third time was unlucky and a clinical finish by the Doc made it 3-0 to The Joker.
In a clash of the titans, in-form Gav Davies faced Melvin Archer. At the start both players seemed nervy. Gav missed an early easy pot before Melvin overcut his final object ball in obtaining perfect position on the 8. In a mirror image of the previous frame, a series of snookers enabled Gav to pull one back for the Lamb. 3-1 to The Joker.
Much like frame 1, the final singles tie saw ‘The Ginger Ninja’ Mark Perry, a natural grinder, take on the flair of Brendan Ruttledge. The frame was very evenly matched until Brendan unluckily potted his opponent’s ball, giving Mark the opportunity to clear for frame and match. A well worked clearance gave the match to The Joker and a place in the final on 16th June.
The two teams meet again in league action this week – and The Lamb will be out for revenge!
The Lamb A 1 The Lamb Hot Pots 4
The Joker will play last season’s league runners-up, Lamb Hot Pots, in the final on 16th June after they swept away the challenge of league chairman Andy Conner’s men. This was also expected to be a close game, but within 15 minutes the away side were 2-0 up as Ben ‘The Force’ Smith overcame Dave ‘Dopper’ Clift and Neil Dale beat Steve Loughhead.
Paul ‘Knighty’ Knight beat Staffordshire County Pool Association Committee member Scott Price however to pull one back and give the Lamb A hope. Ian Lewis beat Paul Loughhead Snr (at the same time Gaz was beating his son in the adjoining room!) for 3-1 to The Hot Pots.
It was down to Captain Conner to keep the match alive but he was, against expectation, beaten by Alan ‘Pinky’ Pinkstone to send Lamb Hot Pots through to the final. Conner has been struggling in tense situations with a previous back injury forcing a change of technique which struggles under scrutiny.
Griffins Butchers Subsidiary Cup Semi-Finals
Longton Snooker Club 4 Lamb Phall 2
After unluckily drawing, and being knocked out by, The Joker in round 1, Longton Snooker were always going to be big favourites for the Subsid competition. With all of their big guns turning out, they overcame stiffer resistance than expected from perennial wooden spoonists’ Lamb Phall.
‘The Rocket’ Rich Lewis beat seasoned performer Graham Gilbert, Liam Flaherty overcame Chris Smith and Alan ‘AB’ Brown found some much overdue form to beat Chris Why for 3-0 to Longton Snooker. Andy Smith put in a captains performance to beat Dave Roberts to give The Phall hope and when Longton captain Nick Backhouse was defeated by Mark Tolley an unlikely comeback seemed possible. However Nick put The Rocket and Liam in for the first doubles match and they proved as strong a partnership in the flesh as they appeared on paper, defeating Chris Smith and Mark Tolley for the frame and a 4-2 victory.
Langtrys 4 Jokaz 2
Bottom of the league table, Langtry’s produced a great performance, beating the fancied Jokaz 4-2 to earn a subsid cup final appearance. This is likely to be the highlight of their season, as they are struggling for league form, remaining the only team without a league win so far this season. It seems they are a cup side however! The exact details of their win are unknown, as, yet again their competition card hasn’t been submitted to the website!
[box type=”shadow” ]This week sees a rematch between several teams involved in last week’s cup action. The Lamb face The Joker in the pick of the league fixtures. Will The Lamb pick themselves up from their cup defeat, or is this the beginning of the traditional Joker charge for the league title? Jokaz play Langtry’s again in the league, with the opportunity to avenge their cup defeat, as do Longton Snooker and Lamb Phall. Lamb Hot Pots face a tricky journey to the steady Eccleshall outfit.[/box]
