Dumfries and Galloway Seniors Snooker Association

Apr 15 2011 Dumfries Standard Friday

THE Albert Club was the venue on Monday night for the final of the Hytek Car Sales trophy, the last of the four team Cup KO competitions in the D and G Seniors Snooker Association's 2010/11 Programme.

The format of this competition consists of two singles frames split between a pairs frame, with the victor being decided on the aggregate scores over the three frames.

Sands Gold and Annan Ex were the finalists for the occasion, the Ex seeking to secure back-to-back victories after their success in last week's Albert Club Three-Man trophy final.

The first singles frame saw the Ex's in form Glen Mundle take on Gold's Roy Handley.

This was a close affair, the Annan player having the edge in the safety exchanges, building and maintaining a comfortable lead going in to the colours.

A poor safety shot on the brown then opened the door for Handley who stepped in for the brown, blue and pink to reduce his deficit to only 11 points.

This was followed by an unfortunate in-off the black by the Gold player, resulting in the tie ending with the Ex having an 18 point lead going into the second frame.

The second frame pitched Annan's Neil Sharkey and Archie Walker against the Gold duo of Davy Little and John Furfey.

A cautious start by both pairings saw the Gold pick up an early lead only to see it overturned by Sharkey who, with a succession of small breaks, took Annan into a 20+ point advantage.

Although both sides failed to maximise subsequent opportunities, it was the Gold pair who had the edge in managing to level the game on the final red. Furfey and Little then continued to pick up points and when Little potted the brown, blue and black balls their lead stood at 10 points.

A cross-double on the final black by the Ex reduced the deficit to only three points.

The final frame of the evening saw the Ex's Lindsay Currie take on Paul Jamieson, the Annan player starting the frame with a 15-point aggregate advantage.

In a frame which was dominated more by safety play than outright potting it was no surprise that the tie lasted nearly an hour.

The Ex player managed to keep his opponent relatively tight throughout, both players failing to take full advantage of the one real high scoring opportunity that arose in open play. It was Currie however who managed to pick off more colours from his reds which allowed him to build a relatively healthy lead. A good snooker on the penultimate red turned out to be a critical factor in the match which resulted in two fouls and 11 points from Jamieson. When Currie then potted this red it left the Gold player needing a snooker. A long period of safety exchanges then followed with Jamieson laying some good snooker's. With the Annan player managing to eventually pot the final red and the low colours it made Jamieson's challenge more difficult and when Currie potted the blue the Gold player's task was insurmountable. The concession was then made with an overall aggregate margin of 44 points in favour of the Ex.

Thanks go to the Albert Club for hosting the event and providing the buffet and also to referee Roy Bartsch for his time.

In the final weeks leading to the May 6 presentation evening, attention turns to the finals of the singles, pairs and two-man championships, the first of these being the two-man event to be staged at Locharbriggs Social Club on Monday. The final is being contested by the Ex pairing of Lindsay Currie and Glen Mundle who will face either the Gold pairing of John Furfey, Brian Gillespie or Billy Redpath or Paul Jamieson.