2007-2008 NEWPORT & DISTRICT POOL LEAGUE
For immediate release
Thursday, February 21st, 2008
MUXTON STUN THE SHAKE IN POOL ROUT
NEWPORT (Shropshire): The Sutherland Muxton stunned the high-flying Shakespeare with a 5-1 victory, which dropped the visitors from second to fourth place in the league and pushed the Muxton outfit up to fifth.
Luke Hayward started the rout with a useful win over Luke Jones and Charlie Hayward maintained the hosts’ dream start with victory over Matt Hester. The Shake were on wobbly ground throughout and Keith Warrington disposed of Don Brenen to give the home side at least a draw.
But Dave Worrall completed a clean sweep of the singles matches with a stunning win over Ben Clewns. Worrall and Luke Hayward made it five with victory in the first doubles match, but Clewns and Hester prevented Muxton achieving the most unlikely bonus point by edging Brian Tulis and Warrington in the final frame.
“To be honest it was a very close game and the score does not reflect how tight the matches were,” reflected a stunned Hester.
The Wheatsheaf produced a thrilling performance at Lilleshall Sports Centre, but eventually lost a marathon match 4-2. The in-form Nigel Sandbrook got the visitors off to a cracking start with a snooker and safety-dominated opener against Neil Perkins, which lasted 26 minutes.
But Greg Heathcote produced a quick-fire response to dispose of Al Harvey and level the scores. Chris Cooper played an excellent tactical game to outwit Ben Longstaff and put the visitors into the lead, only to see Nick Clewley win a tense affair against Paul Skitt to level the scores.
The standard of play was below par in both the doubles matches, with the tension obvious from the outset. Heathcote and Longstaff scrambled a scrappy win in the fifth frame against Sandbrook and Cooper and Perkins sunk the winning pot in frame six, after Clewley, Harvey and Skitt had all missed potential chances to seal the crucial frame.
The win pushed LSC into third place in the league. “No asterisk for the bonus point tonight,” quipped a relieved Neil ‘Hurricane’ Hazeley of LSC.
Andy Lycett admitted that the Audco’s scrappy 4-2 victory over the Junction B at Norbury was one of their worst performances of the season, but it was enough to keep them in the title race and lifted them into second place.
Terry Taylor threatened to upset the applecart with a stunning win over Anthony Heathcote, who actually potted the black twice and lost. “I potted the black on the break, there was a re-rack and then I accidentally potted the black during the game,” said Heathcote. “How many people pot the black twice and lose a frame?”
Paul Trevor returned the Audco to winning ways by beating Mick Ashforth and Tom Sayce and Andy Lycett overcame Sue Fletcher and John Owen to give the visitors a 3-1 lead. Jack Jones and Lycett sealed the three points in the first of the doubles matches, but Taylor and Fletcher capped a miserable night for Heathcote, partnered by Trevor, by snatching the final frame.
The Junction A restored their pride with a 5-1 away win at the struggling New Inn and climbed to sixth place in the league.
Would teams ensure that all match forms are returned to the Railway Tavern after games to ensure that league tables and player statistics are as accurate as possible. Please also text the result to 07831 123153.
2007-2008 Newport & District Pool latest league table @ 21/02/08
Team P W D L F A Pts
King’s Head 8 6 2 0 34 14 21*
Audco 8 5 3 0 30 18 18
Lilleshall SC 10 5 2 3 35 25 18*
Shakespeare 9 5 1 3 31 23 17*
Sutherland Muxton 9 4 1 4 29 25 13
Junction A 7 4 0 3 23 19 12
Boat Gnosall 7 3 2 2 20 22 11
Wheatsheaf+ 9 2 4 3 25 29 10
Navy Club+ 8 2 0 6 17 31 6
Junction B 8 1 1 6 17 31 4
New Inn 9 0 2 7 15 39 2
* denotes bonus point awarded for 6-0 wins
+ denotes annual fees paid
League matches still to be played to date.
Audco v Boat Gnosall
Boat Gnosall v Junction A
Junction B v Navy Club
Junction A v King’s Head
Ends
For further information:
Neil Perkins, NDP Publicity Services, Tel: 07831 123153
www.ndp-publicity.com