Moppy cleans up

Post date: Jul 15, 2011 9:06:12 AM

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/othersport/9134582.Moppy_cleans_up/

The first silverware of the South London & Kent Pool Alliance Summer 2011 season was awarded on 10 July when the Pairs and Lower Division Singles competitions were contested at Woolwich Riley’s.

With some good teams in the lower divisions this season competition proved to be quite strong in the Lower Division Singles this season and was reflected when top of the rankings James Sheed was drawn against Interleague squad member Tony Gear in the first round with Gear going through by 3 frames to 1.

Other Interleague squad members Kevin Hewitt and Ian Cruwys faced each other with Hewitt squeezing through 3-2 in a hard fought match.

For the first time we had entrants from the Reserve League and two of them faced opponents from Tier Two East leaders Erith Snooker Master 8’ers in the first round.

John McGregor played well against Stephen Marsters but went down 3-2 and Richard Lenaghan lost to Ryan West 3-1 as both Master 8’ers went through.

The other Master 8’er in the first round, Glen Bradstreet didn’t fare as well going down to Interleague Captain Tony Frost by 3 frames to 1.

The final two first round matches saw Matt Flockhart and Sean O’Connor of Rack Pack play Jason Brunton and Lewis Brind of Leather Bottle respectively with both Rack Pack players winning through to the second round.

After both getting a bye in the first round, the match of the second round had to be Nick Gillet against Naf Ayieko with Gillet on fine form taking the match 3-1 to go through to the quarter final.

Gillet’s Rack Pack team mate and doubles partner Sean O’Connor went a frame down against Paul Thomas but overcame this to win 3-1 and set up a quarter final against his pal.

London County player Paul ‘Moppy’ Williams lost the first two frames against Tony Frost but won the next three to book his place in the quarter final.

He was guaranteed a team mate alongside him in the next round as Stephen Marsters played Kevin Hewitt, with Marsters edging it 3-2.

John Ratcliff made it three Master 8’ers in the quarters as he overcame Amy Bailey from the Reserve League’s Quid Pro Cue by 3 frames to 0.

There was another whitewash as Tony Gear beat Shailash Vekaria, while Joe Kane beat Matt Flockhart 3-1 and previous finalist Jeff Kingman beat Ryan West by the same score.

After playing together in the Pairs competition Nick Gillet and Sean O’Connor faced each other for a place in the semi final of the Lower Division Singles and Gillet narrowly took the spot with a 3-2 win.

He will face Stephen Marsters after he beat Joe Kane, who had come straight from a gruelling Pairs match, by 3 frames to 1.

Paul Williams made it two Master 8’ers in the semis as he overcame Jeff Kingman 3-1 but John Ratcliff couldn’t make it a third as he went down by the same score to Tony Gear to meet Williams in the semi.

The Gear v Williams semi was, as expected a hard fought close match with Moppy just taking it by the odd frame, 3-2 but Marsters couldn’t make it a Master 8’ers final as Gillet breezed past with a 3-0 win.

So Nick Gillet of Rack Pack faced Paul ‘Moppy’ Williams of Erith Snooker Master 8’ers in the final of the SLKPA Lower Division Singles and Williams got off to a great start winning the first two frames.

Gillet pulled one back but Williams won the next to retain his two frame lead.

Williams broke in the fifth frame but scratched the cue ball and Gillet cleared then left Williams with five balls on the table with a great clearance in the next to tie the match at three all.

The deciding frame could have gone either way but it was Williams who ‘mopped’ up to walk away with the title and £50 prize money.