NARROW WIN FOR BOLEHILL No 1 IN SIX RED OPENER

IAN BIRKS... took the black in the scotch doubles to seal the win

THERE was a break from league action this week as the Bob McCartin Six Red Cup took centre stage with the first group games taking place.
Belper Strutt Club hosted Bolehill Institute No 1 and it was the visitors who took home a 4-3 victory.

Simon Zoppi and an impressive Steve Bullock (20 break) shared the opening frames though wins for Ian Birks (on the black) and Andrew Brough (on pink) swayed the game in Bolehill's favour.

Paul Jarrett and Wayne Shooter took the first of the scotch doubles legs for the hosts but Birks and Zoppi sealed the deal with another black ball win before Bullock and Shooter took the last three balls to cut the deficit to the minimum margin at the end of an entertaining contest.

Edgefold No 1 got off to a great start, taking the opening six frames against Matlock Cliub. Andy Russell (breaks of 29 and 22) and Neil Parkinson (25) were in excellent form though Keith Manlove and Graeme Wood avoided the clean sweep by taking the final scotch doubles leg.

Elsewhere, Edgefold No 2 were unable to raise a team at the eleventh hour for the trip to Bolehill No 2 so conceded the points while Alfreton and Matlock Golf Club will re-arrange due to a club function.
Bob McCartin Six Red Cup Group A: Edgefold Matlock No 1 6, Matlock Club 1; Alfreton Palmer Morewood v Matlock Golf Club postponed. Group B: Belper Strutt Club 3, Bolehill Institute No 1 4; Bolehill Institute No 2 7, Edgefold Matlock No 2 0 (match conceded).
Breaks: A Russell 29,22; N Parkinson 25; S Bullock 20.

TOPSY TURVY BATTLE GOES IN FAVOUR OF EDGEFOLD

NEIL PARKINSON produced a superb match winning pot on the final black

AN ENTHRALLING Harriotts Sweet Chariot Event Planning Snooker League encounter between the last two champions eventually saw Edgefold No 1 resume winning ways on the final black against visitors Bolehill Institute No 1.
A largely tactical opening frame ended with Richard Ferguson, seven ahead with just the black remaining, fluking it into a baulk pocket after a mishit safety before Andy Russell produced a powerhouse performance, earning the Mick Hodgkinson Transport player of the week award to make it 2-0.

Simon Zoppi pulled one back after Duncan Harwood's unlucky in-off on the brown presented him with an excellent opportunity he took with aplomb and then Ian Birks edged a narrow fourth frame on the black to take it into a decider.

And after taking the pink, Birks looked to have given Bolehill the spoils with his double on the black hitting the back of the middle pocket at pace only for the rubber to throw it back out on to the table from where Neil Parkinson pulled out a superb match winning pot in a topsy turvy thriller.

Matlock Club gained their second successive win, 3-2 at Bolehill No 2 with Paul Bryan top scoring before Dave Allen took the decisive fourth frame on the black. Ian Peacock won both his singles and doubles frames for the hosts.

In the other match played, Belper Strutt Club edged a 3-2 verdict over Alfreton Palmer Morewood. Mark Newby took the Viva Italian Restaurant weekly highest break accolade with a run of 37 in the deciding doubles leg as he and partner Steve Bullock were twice successful on the night.
Andrew Beardsley had given the visitors a 2-1 lead in frame three.

League week 3 results: Edgefold Matlock No 1 3, Bolehill Institute No 1 2; Bolehill Institute No 2 2, Matlock Club 3; Belper Strutt Club 3, Alfreton Palmer Morewood 2; Matlock Golf Club v Edgefold Matlock No 2 postponed.
Breaks: M Newby 37; A Russell 24; I Peacock 20.

Harriotts Sweet Chariot Event Planning Snooker League
                                         P      W      L      Pts
Belper Strutt Club            3        2       1        9
Bolehill Institute No 1       3        2       1        9
Alfreton P Morewood       3        1       2        8
Edgefold Matlock No 1     3        2      1         7
Matlock Club                    3        2       1        7
Matlock Golf Club            2        1       1        6
Bolehill Institute No 2       3        1       2        6
Edgefold Matlock No 2    2         0       2       3
Leading breaks: G Johnson 46; B Monk 39 .
Leading wins: I Birks 3/3; A Beardsley, J Rowland, S Zoppi & I McKay 2/2.

PLAY OFF WINNERS ALFRETON STUN LEAGUE CHAMPIONS

EVERGREEN RALPH EDGSON set the ball rolling for Alfreton

ALFRETON  Palmer Morewood Club continued their high profile start to the Harriotts Sweet Chariot Event Planning Snooker League as they entertained Edgefold Club No 1 team, the reigning league champions.

78-year-old Ralph Edgson, hero of Alfreton's play off win in May, set the ball rolling with a superb 68-24 win over doughty opponent Richard Ferguson in the opener, earning him this week's Mick Hodgkinson Transport player of the week accolade.

Andrew Beardsley (27 break) amassed 88 points in the next to make it 2-0 and then Jamie Rowland  secured the win, defeating last season's top player Andy Russell 79-54.

The rout continued as Simon Mayes with a run of 24, and doubles team Kevin Rowland and Will Salt completed a memorable whitewash.

Bolehill No 1 are a point in front at the top early doors after a 3-2 home win over Matlock Golf Club with the two Ians, Birks and McKay, top scoring for each team.

Matlock Club gained a narrow win by the same score against Belper Strutt Club, recovering from 2-0 down as Graeme Wood and Mick Mackfall took both their singles and doubles frames after Ben Monk (whose run of 39 takes the Viva Italian Restaurant weekly highest break) had given the visitors the opener.

Bolehill No 2 became the first away team to taste victory, 3-2 at Edgefold No 2. Rob Dicken with breaks of 37 and 24 was in fine form for the hosts but Ian Peacock and Martin Forster secured the deciding doubles leg in a tense thriller.

Harriotts Sweet Chariot Event Planning Snooker League week 2 results: Alfreton Palmer Morewood 5, Edgefold Matlock No 1 0; Bolehill Institute No 1 3, Matlock Golf Club 2; Matlock Club 3, Belper Strutt Club 2; Edgefold Matlock No 2 2, Bolehill Institute No 2 3.
Breaks: B Monk 39; R Dicken 37,24; S Dobney 27; A Beardsley 27; R Slack 24; S Mayes 24.

GARETH SPARKLES AS GOLF CLUB OFF TO FLYING START

GARETH JOHNSON ... 46 break tops the roster early doors

THE OPENING week of this seasons Harriotts Sweet Chariot Event Planning Snooker League saw the home teams hold sway with each one of them gaining 4-1 victories.
Alfreton Palmer Morewood travelled to Matlock Golf Club in what was effectively a rematch of last seasons play off final, with the Cons Club team having moved back across Matlock to their former home.

This also allowed them the services of evergreen ex-Derbyshire champion Graham Jones and he took the first frame to set them on their way with a hard fought 68-57 win.

Ian McKay, another returning to the fold, soon made it two and then Gareth Johnson sealed the deal in frame three before notching an excellent 46 break in the doubles to earn the Viva Italian Restaurant highest break of the week accolade and also the overall target to aim at so far.

Edgefold No 1, the reigning league champions saw off Matlock Club with Neil Parkinson settling the issue in frame three whilst Justin Weller's 53-52 verdict made sure Belper Strutt Club took the spoils over Bolehill Institute No 2.

Bolehill No 1 defeated Edgefold No 2 in the other game with Andrew Brough's pivotal black ball win proving vital before Ian Birks produced a fine performance to wrap things up, earning himself the Mick Hodgkinson Transport player of the week mantle.

League week 1 results: Matlock Golf Club 4, Alfreton Palmer Morewood 1; Edgefold Matlock No 1 4, Matlock Club 1; Belper Strutt Club 4, Bolehill Institute No 2 1; Bolehill Institute No 1 4, Edgefold Matlock No 2 1.
Breaks: G Johnson 46; R Ferguson 28,24; R Slack 23; S Dobney 20.

TEAM REGISTRATION MEETING DATE

THE TEAM REGISTRATION MEETING for the 2015/16 Darley Dale & District Snooker League season will be held at BELPER STRUTT CLUB on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1st (7.30pm). Alternatively, you can leave your entries in the Edgefold Club collection box, Matlock or send to the secretary before this date. Please try to attend if you can as there are some other important matters to discuss. Thank you.

ALFRETON LIFT JAEGER CUP AND RUSSELL EDGES MONK

ALFRETON PALMER MOREWOOD: L-R: Stephen Eames, Kevin Rowland, Will Salt,
Andrew Beardsley, Ralph Edgson (with cup) and Jamie Rowland.

THE JAEGER Trophy Play off final showed the open nature of this end of season event as out of the eight ranked qualifiers, the no. 7 seed were paired with the no. 8 seed as the higher placed contenders all fell by the wayside en route.So Alfreton Palmer Morewood and Matlock Cons took centre stage at Belper Strutt Club as the teams hitting form at the right time and none more so individually than Andrew Beardsley, who started the opening frame in storming style.
A 26 break contributed to a 43 point lead against Chris Parker with only the same number of points available, but some wily snookers and a never-say-die attitude from the latter meant the frame was still up for grabs with pink and black remaining and now only 5pts in it.
When Parker clipped in a superb pink with black resting close to a corner pocket, it looked like a remarkable turnaround had taken place but sadly for him the cue ball dropped into a baulk pocket on its way around the table and a relieved Beardsley stepped in to eventually make sure.
The next couple of frames were largely tactical with Jack Lynch defeating Kevin Rowland 58-25 to equalise after a marathon battle and Jamie Rowland seeing off Nick Kay 44-29 to edge Alfreton ahead.
So it fell to 77-years-young Ralph Edgson to strike the winning blow, as after a torrid start in which he accrued three foul shots in almost as many visits, he took control against Charlie Hodgkinson with some great potting to win 61-39, finally securing it on the blue after a mini fight-back.
So Alfreton lifted the cup once more having already secured this particular silverware a number of times in the now sadly defunct Belper League.

BEN MONK (Belper Strutt 1) and ANDY RUSSELL (Edgefold 1), Individual Handicap finalists

Meanwhile the much anticipated "clash of the titans" took place at Alfreton as local league giants Ben Monk and Andy Russell locked horns in the Open Individual Handicap final.
Monk, aided by successive breaks of 21, took the opener 81-59 before Russell hit back to equalise and then moved 2-1 ahead with runs of 31 and 30.
A 27 clearance saw Monk pull level on the black before contributions of 38 and 26 edged the Edgefold man back in front as the match swung back and forth.
Monk took the sixth frame 74-50 to force the decider but  it was to no avail ultimately as Russell soon took an unassailable lead and ran out a 76-20 victor to take a 4-3 win.
Jaeger Trophy Champion of Champions Play offs final: Alfreton Palmer Morewood 3, Matlock Cons 1 (at Belper Strutt Club).
Open Individual Handicap final: Andy Russell 4, Ben Monk 3 (at Alfreton Palmer Morewood).
Breaks: A Russell 38,31,30,26; B Monk 27,21,21,20; A Beardsley 26.

STRUTT No 2's HAT-TRICK & BULLOCK STRIKES AGAIN TOO

ADAM WINSON and JUSTIN WELLER stayed strong in the Jimmy Harper Plate final

THE penultimate week of action for the season saw the finals of the Jimmy Harper Team Plate and Intermediate Individual Handicap along with the semi finals of the Jaeger Trophy Play offs and in keeping with some recent results, it was previous winners who came to the fore.
Belper Strutt No 2 and Bolehill No 1 fought out the team final at Jaxx Q Club and Chris Stubbs took the opener despite Simon Zoppi potting the last four colours to reduce the deficit to 13.
Ricki Slack then defeated stand-in Malcolm Whiting 81-48 before Adam Winson took pink and black against Andrew Brough for a 71-60 verdict.
A superb run of 39 from Justin Weller in the next gave him an 82-44 success over Ian Birks and then despite a defiant salvo of 31 from Slack, it was Weller and Winson who remained strong for a 20-point pairs victory for overall scores of 328-279.

MARTIN FORSTER and STEVE BULLOCK (winner), Intermediate individual finalists

This meant a third successive win in the competition for Belper Strutt No 2 team and the following days singles event went to fellow Strutt cueist Steve Bullock, courtesy of a 3-0 win over Bolehill's Martin Forster at Edgefold Club.
Bullock doubled pink to take the first, then took blue and pink in securing the second before clearing green to pink to complete the whitewash after the scores had been level in frame three.

Meanwhile the Jaeger Trophy play offs saw seeds 7 and 8 make it through to the grand final as Matlock Cons defeated Matlock Club 3-1 with Graeme Wood giving the visitors an early lead on the black but Chris Parker top scored in taking the next and he and Charlie Hodgkinson later secured matters in the doubles leg.

Alfreton Palmer Morewood saw off Bolehill No 2 4-1 as Andrew Beardsley got them off to the best possible start  and Jamie Rowland delivered the knockout blow.
Jaeger Trophy Play offs Semi Finals: Matlock Cons 3, Matlock Club 1; Alfreton Palmer Morewood 4, Bolehill Institute No 2 1.
Jimmy Harper Plate (Team Aggregate) Final: Belper Strutt No 2 328, Bolehill Institute No 1 279.
"B" (Intermediate) Individual Handicap Final: Steve Bullock 3, Martin Forster 0.
Breaks: J Weller 39; R Slack 31; S Bullock 20.