Saturday 14 October 2017

Double delight for singles champion at Teesdale Summer Pool League finals night

Teesdale Summer Pool League, sponsored by Ace Taxis

THE finals night and presentation was held at Glaxo Sports and Social Club – the first event of its type for the summer league.

The night began with the team knock-out between the Three Tuns Inn B, Eggleston, and The Royal Oak Inn, Butterknowle.

Three Tuns captain Peter Gash got his team off to a 1-0 lead with a win over Peter Todd. However, the Royal Oak soon responded with Alan Stobart winning a tactical frame against Martin Goldsmith to make it 1-1.

Martin Walton took his frame against Steve Brown to give Royal Oak a 2-1 lead.

Colling Morris broke dry against Mark Little, who proceeded to make a great clearance to take his team to 3-1.

The first of the doubles was to be the final frame of the match as Keith Lithgow and Martin Coll broke off and cleared down to their last ball and it wasn’t long before the Royal Oak pair won the frame and clinched the trophy, winning the team knock-out event 4-1.

In the doubles knockout Three Tuns Inn B duo Colling Morris and Peter Gash started the first frame potting well, but the Diamond Inn’s Scott Parkin and Gary Close dominated, winning the first frame in one visit.

The second frame saw Peter and Colling potting well again but his time laying a snooker, which edged them the frame to make it 1-1.

The third frame saw Scott and Gary go in off on the break and the Three Tuns duo Peter and Colling used that to their advantage and took the lead 2-1.

Back came the Diamond lads in the fourth to make it 2-2 and take the match to a decider.

The final frame was a tactical affair until Scott and Gary took out an amazing finish to win the match. There were comments in the crowd that it was the clearance of the night.

The final match of the night was the singles knockout where reigning Winter League singles champion Martin Walton of the Royal Oak Inn, Butterknowle, took on the newly crowned Summer League doubles champion Scott Parkin, of the Diamond Inn, Butterknowle.

Martin started the better of the two to take a 2-0 lead.

However, the third frame saw him miss a sitter by his standards to the middle pocket to clear from Scott's break.

Scott then took control by covering a pocket and leaving a snooker with a safe white which Martin failed to get out of, reducing the arrears to 2-1.

Frame four was to be the final frame as Martin potted off the break and cleared all the way down to his last red.

Scott then replied with another snooker to tie up his opponent, using the subsequent free ball to attempt to take out the clearance.

However, he was one pot short of being on the black and Martin pulled out a great double to leave a straight black which he sank to win the match 3-1 and claim the accolade of being both summer and winter singles title holder in the same season.

The league championship was a closely fought contest throughout the season, but by the latter stages of the season it had effectively become a two horse race between the Royal Oak Inn and the Diamond Inn, both of Butterknowle, who were last season’s reigning champions and runners up respectively.

This time it was the Diamond Inn who had their noses in front in the run-in and managed to hold onto their advantage to take the title by one point from their rivals and near neighbours.

Despite spending a large part of the season in third place chasing the top two, the Three Tuns Inn ‘B’, Eggleston, had to settle for fourth place as they slipped to a draw in their last match of the season to allow Barnard Castle Golf Club to snatch third place on frame difference in their inaugural season.

Dale Brydon

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