NEW WINNERS ALL THE WAY IN CHRISTMAS SHOOTOUT

JOHN SMITH.... 2023 Christmas champ

THE ANNUAL CHRISTMAS SHOOTOUT NIGHT at Matlock's Edgefold Club attracted 23 entries, only one short of the all-time highest turnout, and ended up being a memorable one with all three trophies  going to first time winners and the presentation concluding well into the witching hour.
Sean Dobney put up a stiff resistance in his bid to retain the Alan Hopkinson Trophy (6 reds individual handicap) on home baize, and fought back from the snooker required stage on pink and black to edge past Scott Brooks in his opener before wins against Ricki Slack, Jack Lowe and Jamie Wright saw him contesting another final.
His opponent was John Smith, of Alfreton Palmer Morewood, taking part in his maiden league final after beating brother Des, Rob Mulliss and nephew Cole to make it there.
Cole Smith, son of Des, was the youngest player there and for him it was a great achievement to reach the semi final on his Christmas competition debut, one to look out for in the near future.
The final itself was a closely fought battle and after the Alfreton cueman had gone close by rattling what would have been a match winning pink, he made no mistake second time around when the chance presented itself to enhance Alfreton's impressive record of honours at the event.

SCOTT BROOKS...speed king

Often it has been their very own Andrew Haggarty lifting the Eddie Lomas Trophy (speed snooker handicap) and he put up a brave bid to register a fifth win as he sailed into the final once more in defeating Roy Taylor Steve Bullock and James Travis but found himself against the up-and-coming Scott Brooks, who has recently converted from the game of pool and made a very promising start for his Edgefold team.

Brooks came through against Ben Christon, father Martin Barwick, Jack Lowe and Trevor Wright to contest the big one and in a grandstand finish, he just got the black away in the nick of the time with Haggarty homing in on it himself a matter of seconds away in a real thriller.

PHIL LEVERTON and MARTIN BARWICK, pairs champs

And it was like father like son as Martin Barwick, ex Matlock Cons Club, who now frequents the Edgefold, teamed up with Crich Comrades' Phil Leverton to combine superbly and make it a hat trick of first time winners as they took the George Mills Trophy for the scotch doubles handicap event.
Victories over Des and Cole Smith, Dobney and Christon, and then Bullock and Travis saw them into the final against Ricki Slack of Bolehill and youngster Tommy Smith of Edgefold.
Smith potted some fine balls in their run to the final to show himself to be another great prospect and which also saw them come through against John Smith and Sam Kniveton and afterwards Brooks and Rob Mulliss.
The final itself featured some bizarre flukes, mostly in favour of the vanquished it has to be said, but when the chips were down, great mid to long range pots on blue and pink saw Barwick and Leverton over the line for a deserved success.

Elsewhere, Ben Monk had runs of 32 and 30 as he progressed to the quarter final of the OMYA Cup whilst, in the Billiards Captains Cup semi final, Whitworth Institute came through 300-246 against league leaders Tansley Potters.

Alan Hopkinson Trophy (six reds individual handicap), winner John Smith (Alfreton Palmer Morewood No1); runner-up, Sean Dobney (Edgefold No1).
Eddie Lomas Trophy (speed snooker, clearing the colours, handicap), winner, Scott Brooks (Edgefold No1); runner-up, Andrew Haggarty (Alfreton Palmer Morewood No1).
George Mills Trophy (six reds scotch doubles handicap), winners, Martin Barwick (ex-Matlock Cons / Edgefold) and Phil Leverton (Crich Comrades); runners-up, Ricki Slack (Bolehill Institute) and Tommy Smith (Edgefold No2).
Breaks (inc. comps): B Monk 32,30; R Slack / T Smith (scotch doubles) 23.

Billiards Captains Cup  semi final: Whitworth Institute 300, Tansley Potters 246.

UPDATED DRAWS FOR SECOND ROUND (JANUARY)

 BOB McCARTIN SIX RED TEAM CUP Semi Finals
Best of 7 Frames - 7.30pm
Four singles and three scotch doubles frames (use six red handicaps
(N.B. Players cannot transfer from other teams in semi finals or finals)
Tue Jan 02: Bolehill Institute v Edgefold Matlock No1
Tue Jan 02: Alfreton Palmer Morewood No1 v Belper Royal British Legion

OMYA CUP (Individual Scratch) Second Round
Best of 5 Frames - No handicaps - 7.30pm (w/c January 1st)

Tue Dec 19: Ben Monk (Alfreton PM 2) v Joe Neville (Tansley)

Tue Jan 02: Sam Kniveton (Edgefold 2) v Rob Mulliss (Crich Coms)

Tue Jan 02: Ade Smith (Crich Coms) v Phil Leverton (Crich Coms)

Wed Jan 03: Steve Burton (Edgefold 1) v Jack Lowe (Alfreton PM 3)

Wed Jan 03: Justin Weller (Belper Strutt) v Sean Dobney (Edgefold 1)

Wed Jan 03: Martin Byard (Crich Coms) v Scott Brooks (Edgefold 1)

Mon Jan 08: Ricki Slack (Bolehill Inst) v Rob Muxlow (Edgefold 2)

Tue Jan 09: Lee Hage (Clay Cross Brth) v Nick Berry (Crich Coms)

CAPTAINS CUP (Team Aggregate) First Round

5 Frames - Overall Points Aggregate To Count

Mon Jan 08: Alfreton Palmer Morewood No2 v Edgefold Matlock No1

Tue Jan 09: Alfreton Palmer Morewood No1 v Tansley Potters

See second round for other entries who have received a bye.

OPEN INDIVIDUAL HANDICAP Second Round
Best of 5 Frames - Normal League Handicaps apply - 7.30pm

Sun Jan 07: John Smith (Alfreton PM 1) 0 v Paul Trevett (Crich Coms) 0

Sun Jan 07: Duncan Harwood (Edgefold 1) +5 v Justin Weller (Strutt) -15

Mon Jan 08: Jamie Wright (Edgefold 2) +10 v Lee Hage (Clay Cross Brth) -20
Wed Jan 10: Scott Brooks (Edgefold 1) -10 v Andrew Haggarty (Alfreton 1) +5

Sun Jan 14: Ben Monk (Alfreton PM 2) -35 v Roy Taylor (Edgefold 2) +5

Sun Jan 14: Rob Muxlow (Edgefold 2) 0 v James Travis (Edgefold 1) +10

Tue Jan 16: Ricki Slack (Bolehill Inst) -20 v Steve Burton (Edgefold 1) -10

Wed Jan 17: Sean Dobney or Nick Berry v Ade Smith (Crich Coms) +15

"B" (INTERMEDIATE) INDIVIDUAL HANDICAP Second Round
Best of 5 Frames - Normal League Handicaps apply - 7.30pm

Thu Jan 04: Andrew Haggarty (Alfreton PM 1) +5 v Joe Neville (Tansley) -5

Tue Jan 09: Duncan Harwood (Edgefold 1) +5 v Paul Trevett (Crich Coms) 0

Tue Jan 16: Nick Berry (Crich Coms) 0 v Roy Taylor (Edgefold 2) +5

Wed Jan 17: Jamie Wright (Edgefold 2) +10 v Phil Leverton (Crich Coms) +15

Thu Jan 18:  Ade Smith (Crich Coms) +15 v Scott Brooks (Edgefold 1) -10

Sun Jan 21: John Smith (Alfreton PM 1)  0 v Martin Byard (Crich Coms) 0

Sun Jan 21: Rob Muxlow (Edgefold 2) 0 v Jack Lowe (Alfreton PM 3) +5

Tue Jan 23: Ian Doe (Bolehill Inst) -5 v James Travis (Edgefold) +10

SEMI-FINAL LINE-UPS OF SIX RED CUP ARE NOW KNOWN

STEVE BULLOCK ... pivotal win

BELPER ROYAL BRITISH LEGION featuring the old Strutt Club players moved into yet another semi final in their favourite competition which honours their former team-mate Bob McCartin with a 4-2 home victory over Tansley Potters in the six red knockout stages.
Mark Newby took the opener 44-22 before Radford Neville quickly levelled with a 43-12 triumph.
Gray Astle then gave the visitors the lead with a 39-12 verdict in frame three but a pivotal black ball win from Steve Bullock once again had the teams deadlocked.
From there on, the Legionnaires bossed the scotch doubles contests with Bullock teaming up with Wayne Shooter to edge his side ahead and Newby joining forces with Paul Jarrett to engineer the decisive blows in a 53-37 success.

They now travel to Alfreton Palmer Morewood No1 who scored an excellent 5-2 win at Clay Cross Brotherhood, putting the game to bed in the first four singles contests.
Andrew Haggarty, Phil Longden plus Des and John Smith were all successful one after the other to render the scotch doubles stages academic.

Bolehill Institute fell behind in their home clash with Edgefold No2 when Roy Taylor potted a storming long pink in the first to come down and gain perfect position on the black which he duly took.
But from thereon, the home side found their mojo and Ricki Slack (24 break) and Simon Zoppi nudged the Wirksworth side ahead with strong performances.
Ian Birks made it 3-1 soon after and then Slack teamed up with Colin Marchington to put the game beyond the visitors.

League leaders Edgefold No1 now travel to Bolehill after a 5-2 win at Alfreton No 3.
Sean Dobney struck first aided by a 22 clearance before two black ballers were shared with Jack Lowe and Steve Burton each victorious.
Scott Brooks took another tight game in the next to make it 3-1 with some of the escapes from snookers top drawer in tit-for-tat duels before Dobney teamed up with James Travis to seal the deal with a run of 27 in the first of the scotch doubles.

Ricki Slack rolled back the years in the Denis Morton Pairs Handicap Trophy first round with a run of 57 as he and Ian Birks moved into the next stages.

In the Billiards Captains Cup semi final, Mayfield Institute defeated Bolehill Institute 293-266 with Keith Gregory coming from way adrift to put his side into the ascendancy.
There was a barnstorming finish to the Williams Cup singles match between Mark Jennings and Jim McCann when despite a break of 64, the latter fell just short of the winning post with Jennings edging over the line in a grandstand finish.

Bob McCartin Six Red Cup quarter finals: Belper Royal British Legion 4, Tansley Potters 2; Clay Cross Brotherhood 2, Alfreton Palmer Morewood No1 5; Bolehill Institute 6, Edgefold Matlock No2 1; Alfreton Palmer Morewood No3 2, Edgefold Matlock No1 5.
Breaks (inc. comps): R Slack 57,24; R Muxlow 32; S Zoppi / I Birks 28 (scotch doubles);  S Dobney / J Travis 27 (scotch doubles); S Burton / S Brooks 25 (scotch doubles); S Dobney 22.

Billiards Captains Cup semi final: Mayfield Institute 293, Bolehill Institute 266.
Breaks (inc. comps): J McCann 64.