By Brian Phillips
Coddy Shack Looe and District Pool League latest round-up
WITH the rest of the league taking a break, Sunday, December 22 was used as a catch up week with two matches played in Division One.
Sports Club B played host to stable mates and league leaders Sports Club A.
Hot on the heels of the A team, the B’s knew a good result would close the gap at the top.
With derby games always adding that bit of added needle, it was all to play for.
The Bs got off to a cracking start as stand-in Mark Dustan proved to strong for Luke Penhaligan, winning 2-0 in quick time although Luke did miss a straight forward 8 Ball to win the first.
Skipper Ian Penhaligan then turned the course of the match when he defeated Brian Reed in straight frames for an upset.
The A’s were given a glimmer of hope as Rob Banfield went down 2-0 to Will Doidge in a one-sided contest.
But Darren Hooper restored the two-frame advantage as, for the second time in two seasons, he took Brian Phillips’ unbeaten record.
Brian comfortably won the first but couldn’t get that chance to finish the tie, Darren playing a double in the last frame and getting a treble instead, leaving a straight forward 8 Ball for victory. With the points secured the Bs were looking to heap on misery with Jeremy Rendle taking on Rob Ivey in the decider.
With Jeremy only just losing the lag by some seven table lengths, Rob found his potting boots to dispatch his opponent without reply, cider being the only winner in this match up.
In a repeat of last season’s result, the Bs ran out 3-2 winners to move within three points of their stable mates.
In the other game of the night, the lowly Moonshiners played host to third-placed Cutouts in what promised to be a decent match up, but it was the Shiners that whitewashed their opponents.
Roger Hawken got the Shiners off to good start by taking out Gerry Markwell 2-0 with a good finish in the first and ball in hand on the black in the second after Gerry found an in off.
Aaron Simmons looked to pull things level taking on Mark Stevens.
Aaron won the first but some good positional play saw Mark level the tie.
In the decider Mark had too much and ran out a relieved 2-1 winner.
In the next, time literally stood still as Ollie Rounsevell took on old team mate Jimmy Stephens in a match that lasted well over an hour and went three frames.
Having finally got his monies worth, Ollie secured the match for the Shiners 2-1 in what can only be described as a tense, long affair.
In the next, Colin Penhaligan proved to be in formidable form as he swept aside Darrell Hidson without reply in double quick time.
In the last match up of the night, Steve Eastley took on Keith Armitage.
In a topsy, turvy game, Keith won the first but some decent potting by Steve and some missed chances by Keith saw Steve clinch a 2-1 victory putting the icing on the cake for his team.