Stalemate at the Top
By Graham Clark

The latest matches in the Formby & District Snooker League have resulted in a stalemate between title chasers Con Club B and Les Dodd’s C, they drew 3-3 at the Con Club.

Tony Bellas and Adam Maylor sent the home side 2 up, Tony cashing in on some erratic play from Andy O’Hara and Adam potting for fun against Les Sullivan. Peter Brown continued the early misery for the visitors with a fine performance to beat Tim Nelson 60-22. However the game then swung full tilt as Phil Fitzgerald did a seasonal double over Mark Bellas, Steve Sullivan came from behind to overhaul Ritchie Bell and Will Jerram secured a debut Black Ball win over Graham Clark.

The leaders stalemate allowed Les Dodd’s B in with a chance to close the gap which they did in style by defeating Ince 6-0. Peter Tomlin and Dave Hagan proved the pick of the visitors, the former notching up a 28 break in his 62-13 win over Andy Pope. The Southport based side are now joint leaders with their C team, one point ahead of Con Club B.

Our Lady’s A had a 4-2 derby victory over their B team and are now just 5 points off the leaders. Jimmy Tristan starred for the A team, a 24 break helping him to a 91-14 defeat of Dudley Lidiard. Andy Hesketh won well for the visitors, beating John Mycek 67-39.

Les Dodd’s A overturned their 5-1 early season defeat to Con Club A by beating them in similar fashion this time. Jamie Campbell, Dave Mills (27 break), Graeme Booth and Andy Rae sent them 4-0 up, the latter hitting a fine 51 break. Keith Turner saved the Con Club from a whitewash by beating Tom Wilson 54-20.

The C verses B Legion derby ended in a 4-2 victory for the C team. Key to the victory were wins for Terry Barlow and George Howells over the B team big guns Carl Finlayson and Gary Rimmer respectively. The victory was finely sealed by Alan Morris’ Black Ball win in a high scoring encounter with Mark Rimmer.

The final match of the week saw Holy Trinity draw 3-3 away at the Brook club. Colin Robertson and James Holman won well to swing the game in Trinity’s favour. However a narrow win for Karl Wall and a masterclass of potting from Phil Harbon levelled matters at 2-2. Phil chalked up a fine 44 break and then finished the frame with a 25 clearance. The last 2 frames were then shared as Luke Palethorpe and Steve Hollinshead both secured victories.