Cumbria Billiards & Snooker Association Reports.

ROUND 1

 John Airey                 4          Danny McDonald                3

The current county champion had a fight on his hands in round 1 against the cueist from Barrow. John looked good going 2-0 up with convincing score-lines of 71-18 and 70-32 including a small 34 break. Danny had other things in mind and proved a tough nut to crack levelling the match with two very close frames winning them 58-54 and 60-40. Danny then improved to take the lead convincingly 63-27. John showed no nerves though and coolly knocked in a break of 45 to secure frame six and claimed his second round slot winning the seventh frame 77-37.

Ray Briggs                 4          Tom Millington                    3

Another match going all the way with Ray taking the lead three times only to be pegged back each time by a resilient Tom. With scores of 63-32, 30-60, 78-18, 54-46 and 30-63 the match was always in the balance and the final frame ended up on the final few colours as Ray finally edged through 59-31 to secure the match win.

Ryan Ismay              0          Mike Park                             4

A quick-fire display put Maryport’s Mike Park through to the second round. With both these players having reached the semi-final stage in recent years it looked like a close match would ensue, but the score-line does tell a different story. However, with frames scores of 51-44, 56-40, 39-51 and 53-71 it does show there wasn’t a lot in it. An excellent moral boosting win to give Mike that extra confidence to perhaps go that one step further this year.

Kevin Basnett          4          Jordan Park                          0

A very good display from a previous finalist proved just too much for the young sixteen year old from Barrow. With breaks of 27 and 63 Kevin was soon 2-0 to the good. The third frame soon followed winning 68-9. Jordan showed some resilience in the fourth frame and tried to make it difficult for Kevin. A couple of mistakes let Kevin in though and he was in no mood to take it easy winning the final frame 78-22 to go through.

Alan Moore                4          Stephen O’Hagan                  1

Twice county champion Alan Moore made it through safely to round 2 with an excellent victory over fellow Workington player Stephen O’Hagan. A very good win over a difficult opponent which will please Alan with this score-line.

Mike Dawson            4          John Thwaites                       1

Three times champion Mike showed he still has what it takes since winning the county championship for the first way back in 1973. He eased passed John from Keswick with a decent display to progress.

Kevin Kirkham         1          Andrew Milliard                   4

Andrew secured his place in the next round against a young up and coming player in the form of Kevin Kirkham. Kevin is well known in the west Cumbria snooker scene and is a former county pool champion. Andrew, who himself is a former county champion had to be on his toes to overcome him. A solid performance ensured that victory though.

Mark Tunsall             4          Dave Chapman                     2

Mark took an early 2 frame lead in convincing style winning them 62-22, 69-9 with a 30 break to boot. First time entrant Chapman then dug in and won the next two frames 50-62, 35-60 to level the match. A 35 break from Mark secured the 5^th frame and a black ball shoot out ensued in frame 6. A missed chance by Chapman left Mark in to win 49-46 and earn his second round encounter.

Joe Bell                       4          Alexander Smith                   3

Ex-county chairman Joe showed he still has plenty left in the tank to overcome the younger generation with this hard fought win over Alexander Smith from Workington. Joe had a 2-1 lead but the Workington player then reversed the score-line by leading 3-2. A couple of scrappy frames followed but Joe’s experience showed the way to edge through.

Steve Garroway        1          Peter O’Hagan                       4

Two great players well known in West Cumbria fought out this tie with former finalist Peter taking the match in what looks to be in fine style. No large breaks to record but a good steady form is required against such a consistent opponent in Steve and one hurdle not many players like to face.

Other first round results are;

Neil Harrison              4          Shaun Moore             0

Lee Crookes               4          Andrew Austin           1

Chris D’Leny               4          Martin McDonald       2

Russ Posslethwaite     0          Paul Wright               4

Vince Peet & Jonathan Williams both go through after receiving walk-overs.