CLAY CROSS No2 & EDGEFOLD No1 COLLECT THE SPOILS

CLAY CROSS BROTHERHOOD No2 Jaeger Trophy play-off winners 2025/26
L-R: Mark Bower, John Roseman, Callum Greenfield and Lee Shaw.

EDGEFOLD MATLOCK No1 - Bob McCartin Six Red Cup winners 2025/26
L-R: Tommy Smith, Duncan Harwood, Steve Burton, Richard Ferguson and Rob Muxlow.

TWO MAJOR finals were contested this week with the Jaeger Trophy league play offs coming to a conclusion at Crich Comrades fought out between the league's top two teams who finished level on points in the regular season and the Edgefold Club hosting the Bob McCartin Six Red Cup showdown which was deferred from earlier in the season.
Alfreton Palmer Morewood No2 had pipped Clay Cross Brotherhood No2 to the league title on the most wins rule and in the meantime both had scored convincing victories in the play off semi finals over Edgefold No2 and Bolehill No1 respectively.
Callum Greenfield, who has taken his play to a higher level in the second part of the season, was again in imperious form as he took the opener for Clay Cross reeling off his twelfth straight win with a run of 20 - just one of a string of contributions in that period - as he delivered an 81-23 success.
The second frame was the tightest and most pivotal of the night with Jack Lowe, most successful player of the current season, up against Mark Bower but after a tense battle it was the Clay Cross cueman who fired home the deciding black for a 47-46 verdict and a 2-0 lead.
And a high quality third frame saw Lee Shaw (22 break) battle hard to edge out hotshot youngster Kai Hopkins by taking brown, blue and pink for a 60-47 success and a win for the team in straight frames.

The six red contest played simultaneously saw Edgefold No1 taking on Clay Cross No1 with Rob Muxlow taking an extended opening frame 44-14 before Tony Blant equalised with a 37-13 salvo.
Veteran Graham Jones (25 break) has been in an excellent run of form lately and he engineered a 38-27 success to put Clay Cross into the lead but a black ball win for Tommy Smith 37-36 kept the scores level again.
All was down to the scotch doubles events, and Smith stayed on the table to partner Muxlow to a 46-22 victory and put his team on the verge of lifting the trophy.
However, Blant and Duane Parsons were having none of it and came back strongly to equalise again before Steve Burton and Smith (Clay Cross Brotherhood sponsored Player of the Week) finally saw the Matlock side home with Burton potting a sublime long pink after Smith had doubled the blue for a 41-20 success and overall 4-3 victory.

Jaeger Trophy play-off final: Alfreton Palmer Morewood No2 0, Clay Cross Brotherhood No2 3 (at Crich Comrades).
Bob McCartin Six Red Cup final: Edgefold Matlock No1 4, Clay Cross Brotherhood No1 3 (at Edgefold Club, Matlock).
Breaks: G Jones 25; L Shaw 22; C Greenfield 20.
Clay Cross Brotherhood sponsored Player of the Week: Tommy Smith (Edgefold No1).

ALFRETON PM No2 & CLAY CROSS No2 TO MEET IN FINAL

MARK BOWER put Clay Cross No2 ahead

THERE was a calm before the storm as three semi finals took place before the main showdowns at the end of the T & M Motors Snooker League season with the Jaeger Trophy playoffs taking centre stage alongside the remaining Jimmy Harper Cup fixture.
The league champions Alfreton Palmer Morewood No2 took on fourth placed Edgefold No2 in the end of season top tier competition and were firm favourites with the Matlock side having struggled for personnel in recent weeks and were again missing hotshots Scott Brooks and Reece Johnstone for this encounter.
Ben Monk took the opener for the hosts 82-58 in what looked one of the toughest match-ups of the night with last season's open handicap winner Josh Dakin.
Young Kai Hopkins added the next with a 78-35 success and the outcome was secured with Jack Lowe's 55-13 win in frame three, which meant a tenth consecutive occasion the team at the summit had made the final.
Carlos Zaragoza made it four as he spoiled the return of Trevor Wright who was back from an enforced layoff before Lowe and Hopkins completed the nap hand in the doubles.

Bolehill Institute No1 travelled to runners-up Clay Cross Brotherhood No1 bidding to improve on their less than stellar play-off record but it was Mark Bower who struck first for the hosts with a 67-37 salvo.
Ricki Slack (55 break) was in his best form for some time to equalise, having been unlucky earlier in the frame when in splitting the pack from the black, he saw the cue ball disappear in-off but recovered in fine fashion to engineer a 85-18 success.
However, that was as good as it got with John Roseman (21 break) re-asserting the home team's advantage with a hard fought 77-47 victory and then Callum Greenfield (29 break) always holding sway to seal the deal with a 68-30 win and leave Bolehill with just one final appearance (albeit a winning one) from 12 play-off ventures.

There was drama in the Jimmy Harper Plate contest, with Belper Royal British Legion thinking they had snatched overall victory when potting the black in the doubles leg but there had been an error in scoring and the incorrect target had been set meaning it was the hosts Clay Cross No 1 who were actually still in front.
The select committee deemed a replay of that leg later in the week to be the fairest option, but the Clay Cross pair of Duncan Waring and Graham Jones made no mistake in that so the result stood.
Wayne Shooter edged the opener on the black before an 88-49 Graham Jones riposte was followed by Tony Blant's 57-42 success.
Justin Weller, turning out for the second time as the reserve, took a 67-46 triumph to keep them in the hunt but ultimately it was to no avail when the mathematics were finally sorted.

Jaeger Trophy play off semi finals: Alfreton Palmer Morewood No2 5, Edgefold Matlock No2 0; Clay Cross Brotherhood No2 3, Bolehill Institute No1 1.
Jimmy Harper Plate (Team Aggregate Consolation) semi final: Clay Cross Brotherhood No1 293, Belper Royal British Legion 290.
Breaks: R Slack (Clay Cross Brotherhood sponsored player of the week) 55; C Greenfield 29; J Roseman 21.