March 08, 2017

Watch the second half of the final here: https://www.facebook.com/max.burt.56/videos/749296651896787/

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The inaugural Knockout Cup proved to be a success with 23 players competing for the ultimate prize: Knockout Cup Championship Champion. There were a few shocks including Anthony Church, the Snooker Shootout runner-up, going out in the Last 16 to Michael Hebdige and the ‘Chiu Chiu Train’ Cookson Chiu, a first team veteran, went out in a low quality affair against Max ‘The Milkman’ Faulkner.

In the end, though, the final was a fantastic matchup: President vs Club Captain, The Milkman vs The Tour Guide, Max Faulkner vs Sam Matto-Willey. Max’s route to the final was far trickier than Sam’s; having to come through Sergiu Vonsovici, eventual Plate champion Max Burt, the aforementioned Cookson Chiu and Master’s Champion Harrison Whitworth. Sam, however, had a bye in the first round, followed by Plate semi-finalist Uzair Khan, Shootout winner Michael Wilson and ‘The Magic Man’ Bruno Sterner. So the stage was set; it was time to crown the very first Knockout Cup Championship Champion!

The opening frame was very similar to that of the previous weeks Plate final, scrappy. Neither player looked comfortable in this best of seven showpiece, thought to be the longest official match in WUSBC history, with pots being missed with alarming regularity. Sam, however, was able to take the frame with a sumptuous thin cut on the blue. It has to be said it was the finest of cuts, one my local butcher would be proud of. So it was advantage to the man who’s won three tournaments this year, albei none as big as this.

The second frame was of equally low quality, some dubious safety mixed with an inability to sight potting angles led to another frame which left the commentary box bemused. In fact, lead commentator Anthony Church noted, “This frame is worse than the first.” However, current League Champion was able to forge a 33 point lead with five reds remaining. It was a fitting end to the frame, then, that a poor safety shot followed by an equally bad pot attempt see Max seal the frame with a red left on the table.

With the match yet to get out of first gear the third frame saw a rerack, which caused many ‘oohhh’s’ from the crowd and co-commentator Harrison Whitworth described it as, “startling.” Max, though, seemed to partially stop the rot with a series stunning long pots. This seemed to really affect the Club Captains mind set with him particularly incensed by Harrison commenting, “this is awful,” on his backswing. Anthony Church described the incident to the viewers well; “Matto is getting really angry now, he’s riled up,” as well as noting that he, “glare[d] over into the commentary box,” moments before bashing his cue into the floor. All the drama seemed to fire Matto up, bringing him right back into the frame. However Sam missed a crucial blue when only needing the blue and pink to seal the frame from a promising position, which aloud Max to keep his nose in the frame. In the end it was a fluked snooker on the pink which gave Max a 2-1 lead.

The final frame before the mid-session interval was, therefore highly important; it would determine whether Desmond TuTu would make an appearance or Max would go one frame away from a second major internal competition victory. The quality seemed to increase immediately with both players making minor contributions which noticeably upped their confidence. However it was Max who was looking better with, “several fantastic long reds,” and he eventually sealed the frame with a red to spare.

The mid-session interval saw a chance for the pundits to give their views on the match so far. Anthony noted that Sam was, “not cueing well,” but he also suggested that, “maybe now the pressure will reverse back to Max,” which could help his fortunes. Harrison, though commented on Max that he’s had a, “couple of decent breaks,” and that, “that’s all you have to do.” So if Max could keep up his form from the end of the session he could be looking at a swift victory. Alternatively, Sam may need a bit of good fortune to turn the tussle around.

The fifth frame was by far and away the most entertaining of the match thus far, with the drama all coming at the climax of the frame. Max potted brown to pink, but missed the cannon on the black to develop it. He had a chance for the double on the black, but turned it down in order to play a poor safety. Matto, needing a fine cut on the black, over cut it and left Max with a similarly thin cut, but from bulk, to take the frame and match! I t was possibly the biggest shot of his life, to win the title against good friend and fierce competitor Sam, and he potted it! A great shot, but, hang on a minute, it appeared that John Virgo had ghosted into the Campus Crucible as a loud exclamation of, “where’s the cue ball going,” could be heard! It was a good question indeed as the three commentators then crescendoed in a cacophony of noise: “THIS. IS. DRAMAA!!!”  The cue ball had rolled agonisingly into the opposite corner pocket. Sam stormed off in delight, having earlier thought he’d lost on the pink, celebrating this remarkable reprieve.

Max grimaced in disgust at his bad luck that swung the momentum firmly in Sam’s direction. Frame six saw Sam in far more confident mood, and Max’s level dipped significantly. It was, therefore, no surprise to see Sam storm into the distance and win with a pair of reds left on the table.

So a decider it was. After roughly three hours of largely arduous play a decider was the result. So we once again ask the question would it be the President or the Captain, the Milkman or the Tour Guide, Max Faulkner or Sam Matto-Willey? Well, with a large crowd gathering for the impending club elections. In fact, the increased sense of pressure from an unprecedentedly large crowd caused a superb atmosphere for this final frame. Matto, who always says how much he loves the pressure, had the better start, earning an early lead of 10 points. But tension seemed to creep into the arms of both players with several pots missed due to apparent twitches. It was, however, Sam who was able to pull away further and ultimately Max couldn’t pull it back as Sam knocked in a 32 to seal the deal. So it was Sam who claimed victory quite literally from the jaws of defeat. So it was a devastating loss for Max but an unforgettable win for Matto, his fourth title of the season and very first WUSBC major.

In the post-match interviews Max said, “[I’m] obviously disappointed but I think the way both of us played, Sam deserved that one.” He went on to complement Sam’s performance saying that, “he was the better player, he refocused after the interval at 3-1 down and [it’s] commendable, really, to win that 4-3.” Sam, however, was less convinced saying, “I just don’t know how I was in that match from 3-1 down, I just didn’t deserve to be in that match at all after the first frame.” It has to be said that the first session was some of the worst snooker we’ve seen form the two-time 147 maker but, as it seemed at the time, the turning point when Max went in-off the black. Sam said on the incident, “Max was so unlucky to go in-off.” He was also thankful that, “the interval came at very much the right time for me; there was no chance I was going to win a frame the way I was playing.” So all that remains to say is congratulations Sam, our very first Knockout Cup Championship Champion!

March 01, 2017

The Knockout Cup Plate came to an exciting conclusion on Wednesday 1st March 2017 when Max Burt faced off against George Edwards in a highly anticipated match between two of this year’s second team players. The Plate is the second tier of the Knockout Cup, consisting of the losers from the first two rounds of the Championship competition. The three favourites for the competition, Anthony Church, George Edwards and Max Burt, who were dumped out of the Championship by Michael Hebdige, Cookson Chiu and Max Faulkner respectively, all went through to the Semi-Finals, although Carlo Mancini-Caterini gave George a scare in the Quarters, being only one ball away from dumping ‘The Outlaw’ out of the competition.

The fourth semi-finalist was fresher Uzair Khan, but his fantastic run to the semis was halted by his good friend Max Burt, who won 2-0. The other semi was far more competitive and saw Anthony ‘The Maverick’ Church take on George ‘The Outlaw’ Edwards. It was a match which, inevitably, went to a decider but a superb tournament-high break from George of 43, which was later described as “gorgeous” by his opponent Ant, proved to be enough for him to win the decider, which meant he ousted the only first teamer in the Plate by two frames to one.

So the final was ‘The Happy One’ versus ‘The Outlaw’ in a best of five tussle. The first frame was a cagey affair, with the lead toing and froing but eventually went the way of George, who took it on the pink. The second frame was crucial for Burt to get a foothold in the match and he duly responded with a magnificent 36 to level it up at one frame apiece. So whoever won the third frame would go one away from the title. The frame was cagey, just like the first, with the reds migrating towards the cushion early on making it a spectator’s nightmare. But those who watched were treated to a black ball finish which was sunk by Max, with the rest, which prompted him to say, “come on,” in celebration. In the fourth George looked nervy, on the brink of defeat, and in a much more open frame it was Flirty Wurty Maxy Burty who had the first chance to take the frame, and match, on the black with a similar shot to the one he had for the third frame. But on this occasion he missed! And as the black flew round the table it sat nicely for George who duly knocked the black in to bring up the Desmond, it was TuTu. At this stage the match was for the taking for both players, with commentator Anthony Church noting the importance of the frame by stating, “Max has thrown this away now, this is a huge momentum change.” The decider, though, saw no change in playing quality from the two frames which preceded it, in that, it was littered with mistakes. Hence, it was inevitable that the final frame was level with just one red to go. But it was Max who created the chance for the match with a magnificent 20 break, potting the yellow through to the pink, to seal his first, and surely not last, WUSBC title.

In the post-match press conference an understandably deflated Edwards commented that, “that was crap to be honest,” and he blamed, “playing pool at the weekend,” for under-performing in his biggest WUSBC match to date. He did however state that Max, “deserved to win,” which was unusual for a fierce competitor like George to admit. Burt, however, was overwhelmed by the achievement. Talking about his superb 36 in frame two, one of his high break, Max said, “it feels like the best break I ever did.” When asked about how he felt about his inaugural WUSBC win, in his second final, he said, enthusiastically as ever, “well done George. You are such a great guy and it was just so close. We were missing all sorts of balls in that last frame. I was kind of keeling the same pain that George was, it’s just the nerves. But he got really unlucky in that last frame, a few in-offs and I just cleared up. I feel like I was lucky but they just went in to be honest.” In the end, as George said, Max deserved to win and it was his extra cutting edge at the end of frames that saw him through to his first title. So congratulations to Max Burt, Knockout Cup Plate Champion 2017!

Mancini-Caterini proves there's more to his game than Billiards

March 05, 2017

Riley’s Sports Bar in Coventry was the venue for the 2017 Warwick Masters, the largest internal tournament on the WUSBC calendar. 15 members of the club took to the baize on Sunday the 5th of March to try to etch their name into WUSBC history. In front of the eager mass of players, Competitions Secretary Michael Wilson made the draw for the group stage, being careful not to make his group too easy. Whilst most of his draws show more evidence of rigging than Henry VIII’s warship, the Mary Rose (whose restoration can be seen first hand in the award-winning museum in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard), the sorting of first and second team players into separate pots ensured a balanced group stage would result. And so, the groups were settled. Group A: Anthony Church, Loong Sheng Chow and the two Georges, Edwards and Bender. Group B: Old Boys bottler Sam Matto-Willey, Harrison Whitworth, 3rd Team captain Ronan Love, and Tom Miller. Group C: the aforementioned Michael Wilson, President Max Faulkner, Carlo ‘Biliardo’ Mancini-Caterini, and the returning Zach Roberts. Group D: Cookson Chiu, Bruno ‘The Magic Man’ Sterner, and DirtyFlirtyWurtyCurlyWurlyMaxyBurty.

In Group A, the previous night’s partying had had a noticeable effect on Social Secretary Ant Church, who, despite going into the group stage as the favourite to emerge from the group in first place, managed just the one win from the three matches, losing to Edwards and Chow, before edging past Bender in a tense frame. In an equally tense frame, Edwards managed to win a black ball frame over fellow Second Teamer Loong, with the Malaysian returning the favour in a nervy black ball win over George Bender. Into the Championship quarter-finals went George Edwards and Loong Sheng Chow, and into the Plate quarter-finals went Ant Church and George Bender, although with work to do, Church decided to withdraw at this point, giving one quarter-finalist a clear run to the Plate semi-finals.

In contrast to the upset of Group A, Group B’s matches went according to expectation. In first place was Club Captain Sam Matto-Willey, who still seemingly had not recovered from Ball Bag’s Istanbul-like performance against him less than 24 hours earlier. Following Matto-Willey into the Championship was Harrison Whitworth, whose plans for a Sunday curry had been derailed by the moving of the tournament from its traditional Wednesday afternoon slot to the end of the week. Following behind, and into the Plate went last year’s Plate winner, Ronan Love, who would be hoping to emulate his performance of 2016, and Tom Miller, who would be looking to improve on his group stage performance to reach the later stages of the competition.

Group C promised to be one for permutations lovers. Going into the final match, any of Max Faulkner, Michael Wilson, and Zach Roberts could have finished in any of the top 3 positions, depending on the result of the final match, Roberts vs Wilson. In the end, the Welshman emerged with three wins from the group, Faulkner with two, Wilson with one, and ‘Biliardo’ Mancini-Caterini following his country’s fortunes in the 6 Nations with the wooden spoon, meaning a points difference battle was avoided. Perhaps the percentage of balls potted would have told a different story, alas, it was not to be.

With only three competitors, Group D became a fierce battle between Bruno Sterner and Max Burt. With Burt’s insistence that, despite giving away six or seven chances to Sterner, there was nothing he could do to avoid the heavy defeat, only Cookson stood in the way of Bruno’s path to the quarter-finals as Group D winner. And, despite tying the frame at 47-47 and then potting the respotted black, to his consternation, he watched as the white trickled agonisingly into the middle pocket, giving the seven points and thus the frame to Chiu, leaving him as group winner, and Bruno into the quarters as runner-up.

And so the quarter-finals were decided for both the Championship and the Plate. George Edwards vs Bruno Sterner, Zach Roberts vs Harrison Whitworth, Sam Matto-Willey vs Loong Sheng Chow, and Cookson Chiu vs Max Faulkner in the Championship, and Michael Wilson vs Tom Miller and Max Burt vs George Bender in the Plate, with Ronan Love and Carlo Mancini-Caterini both receiving byes into the semi-final stage.

The quarter-finals of the Plate saw one expected result and one upset. Max Burt, who had only made 14 points in total in his two group stage frames fell at the next hurdle to George Bender in a scrappy affair, but there was no such upset in the other, with Wilson moving past Tom Miller to face Bender in the semi-final. And, much like the quarters before them, the semi-finals proved equally noteworthy. Wilson progressed past Bender in a tight, nervous affair, whilst in the other semi it was game, set, and match to Mancini-Caterini, who emerged victorious in a shock victory over Love, ending Ronan’s chances of retaining his Plate title. And so the finalists were known, Michael ‘Juicy’ Wilson vs Carlo ‘Biliardo’ Mancini-Caterini.

The first Championship quarter-final was the last to finish. A two and a half hour epic between George Edwards and ‘Magic Man’ Bruno Sterner ended with a smash and grab clearance from Edwards to clinch it 2-1. The match, which contained a first frame with over 150 points scored and a subsequent respotted black with the scores tied at 72-72, became progressively worse in quality, with the second and third frames not the best showcase of each player’s ability at the table.

The second quarter final between Roberts and Whitworth was also a close one, ending 2-1 in Whitworth’s favour. Despite losing the first frame following a clearance from Roberts on the colours, Whitworth responded in the second with a number of decent-sized breaks, including a stunning long red that drew gasps of admiration from the onlooking crowd. A final frame decider ensued, and in a predictably nervy affair, it ended in a black-ball decider to see who would progress to the semi-final to face George Edwards. Whitworth went for the long pot and missed, and his heart skipped a beat as it seemed to nestle in the jaws of the green pocket, but fortunately for him the ball landed perfectly on the cushion just a few inches from pocket, leaving Roberts with a full-table cut to progress to the next round. He went for it, and unfortunately for him went in-off into the opposite pocket. Whitworth let out a sigh of relief as he was keen to progress a round further than he had in the Knockout Cup and reach the final.

The third quarter-final was perhaps the most straight-forward of the four, with tournament favourite Matto-Willey emerging victorious in a straight-set victory over flamboyant second teamer Loong Sheng Chow. Whilst not one of his most accomplished performances, Matto-Willey was nevertheless pleased to reach the semi-final, but who would he face?

It would take a drawn-out, three frame match between Faulkner and Chiu to decide it, but, with neither player really standing out, it was veteran Cookson Chiu who progressed to the semi-finals to face teammate Matto-Willey. Getting through into the last four was surely the limit for Faulkner in this competition, although with another WUSBC major final taking place in three days time, he will have a chance to redeem himself and add another title to the list.

And so, just four remained in the Championship, and with Edwards and Whitworth facing each other, there was guaranteed to be a second teamer in the final. Mentally drained from his marathon against the Magic Man, Edwards’ cueing was beginning to disintegrate, with what seemed to be a lower pot percentage than the alcohol content of his favourite Kopparberg cider. In the end, it was a fairly comfortable victory for Whitworth, whose long potting meant that no ball was safe, and ensured a place in the final with a succulent pot on the black into the yellow pocket.

Table 32 had seen its fair share of long matches by this point in the weekend, and the semi-final between Matto-Willey and Cookson Chiu was no different. A three-frame epic ensued, with Cookson’s trademark long potting counteracting the ever-reliable Matto-Willey, and with both wanting to take advantage of the opportunity to appear in the final, the final frame proved to be a nervy affair, with neither player able to stamp their mark on the match. Eventually, however, Matto’s patience prevailed, and he defeated his opponent to set up a final with Whitworth.

The two finals were therefore decided, in the Plate, Carlo Mancini-Caterini vs Michael Wilson, Italy vs England, ‘Biliardo’ vs ‘Juicy’. And in the Championship it was Sam Matto-Willey vs Harrison Whitworth, Rotherham vs Portsmouth, ‘Maximum Man’ vs ‘Did you Know?’. The Plate final was a cagey match, both players seemingly more afraid of losing the first than wanting to stamp their mark on it. In a close opening battle, it was Mancini-Caterini who took the first frame to go within one of winning the Plate. But Wilson was the favourite for a reason, and with a measured performance in the second frame, wrestled back control to level at one frame apiece. And with the title on the line, the third frame returned to the form of the first. A long safety battle on the final black ball left Mancini-Caterini with a half-ball cut to the right middle pocket with the cue ball on the top cushion, a difficult shot by anyone’s standards. But with a deep breath to compose himself, he rolled the black into the pocket to clinch the final frame and the title of Warwick Masters Plate Winner.

Fresh from his 2-0 victory over George Edwards, Whitworth was in a confident mood heading into the final of the Championship, and despite the pressure of the match, continued to go for his shots in the first frame of the final. The cueing wasn’t as arrow-straight as it had been in the previous rounds, however, and it was only for a number of flukes, combined with opponent Mattto-Willey’s new-found ability to go in-off on seemingly every shot that meant he could move into a commanding lead in the first frame. A trademark long pot with two reds to go, however, gave him enough of a lead for Matto to concede, and so Whitworth had his nose ahead in the best of 3 frame final. And things didn’t really improve for Matto-Willey in the second, going in-off a handful of times (perhaps he thoughts he was still playing billiards), and his disappointment was not helped by Stewart Ball’s comments that he had ‘at least got back to baulk’. Whilst he threatened to give Ball the same treatment that he gave to that lamppost on that infamous night, it was the action on the table that he should have been worried about. With the colours in a clearable position, he took a large chunk out of Whitworth’s lead, and left himself a cut on the black to bring the match level. Whilst he did manage to hit the ball, it wobbled agonisingly in the jaws and left Whitworth with a simple pot to win the match. He duly obliged, and with reserved celebrations, shook Matto’s hand and claimed his first WUSBC title, the Warwick Masters, adding his name to the side of the trophy. It took two matches won on the black ball along the way to win it, but congratulations to the winner of the Warwick Masters, Harrison Whitworth.

February 01, 2017

The final Wednesday competition of the season, the Handicap Cup, was the played on the 1st of February with twelve competitors battling away for the Jack Else Trophy. The competition saw first and second team players start with points deficits while non-team players had head starts.

Group A saw a rerun of the first team trials, with Max ‘Flukey’ Faulkner beating both his opponents, with the aid of a ten point start, and Anthony Church seeing off a frustrated Michael Wilson on the final black to see him secure the other quarter-final spot.

Group B combined the dark horse of the competition, Adam Bin Ahmad Suhaimi, with a very late Harrison Whitworth and the perennial Wednesday Competition bottler George Edwards. Adam, who held a ten point lead over both of his opponents, used this to his advantage, beating George on the black and then cruising to victory over Harrison with a 52-16 win. Harrison, however, was able to bounce back from the defeat with a black ball win over teammate George, consigning George to another early exit.

Group C was the least experienced group with Max Burt of the seconds alongside Samkit Shah and Laura Leijnen. This meant Max had to fight back from ten points down in both his frames but he had no problems in either, with the ball sitting down nicely for him, he was able to win both frames to top the group. Samkit then played Laura for the second quarter-final spot, and he looked in fine form with a 77-33 victory.

Group D was another tough group, with the former first team player Zach Roberts alongside Fresher’s Champion and second team player Loong Sheng Chow and thirds stalwart Bruno Sterner. Loong against Bruno was first up and, in an astonishing match, the pair ended at 38-38, giving a tie! This meant that they both just needed a win to go through. Zach played Bruno first but the experienced campaigner came through 52-33 meaning Bruno had to hope Loong would also slip up. But the battle of the Dragons saw Loong, ‘The Dragon’, knock in some seriously fiery pots to put himself through and leave Zach, ‘The Welsh Dragon’, in second spot.

The quarter-finals were, hence, ready to play with President Max first facing off against Samkit. It was a sensational display from the underdog, though, with Samkit aggressive throughout and pulverising Max to win 74-30, consigning Max to the commentary box once again and rueing that he’d used all his ‘Presidents luck’ against Michael earlier in the day. Second up was Adam against Zach. Both started on 28 points and Adam had the early momentum, but Zach found a bit of his old self to come through in the end with an 82-60 victory. Next was the second team show down between Max B and Harrison. Once again we saw a very tight match, which seemed to go up and down more times than a see-saw would if it was played on all day, but, it was Max who came through victorious with an 87-75 win which saw Harrison on crossword duty for the rest of the day. Finally, Ant played Loong in possibly the most exciting of the quarters. As you’d expect, both players went all out attack with Ant making up the fourteen point deficit to force yet another black ball decider. It was fate, however, that ‘The Dragon’ would fire in the black, because it was clear all Ant wanted was to review some more dubious food in the commentary box.

So the semi-finals were upon us without any first-team representation and this stage saw the Zach we know come to the fore; pots left, right and centre flew in in what can only be described as a rampage as he powered past Samkit by 100 points to 39! Max and Loong, however, we’re stuck in a much more tight battle, with both looking good, it was Max’s fantastic long potting which proved to be the deciding factor as he edged past Loong on the pink to take himself to his first WUSBC final.

So now we have it, the final: Zach ‘The Welsh Dragon’ Roberts vs Max ‘The Happy One’ Burt. This match was a best of three with Zach playing of 28 points and Max 14 points to decide who would take home the title of ‘Handicap Cup Champion 2017’. The first frame was a scrappy affair, with neither player able to make much headway or create a sizeable break, but, Zach was able to increase his inherited lead by virtue of making a better fist of his opportunities, and it was he who took the first frame, meaning Max needed the next the force a decider. In the second, Zach was still unable to find the form that took him past Samkit, but Max, on the other hand, had found his long game and started to knock in a series of stunning long pots to overtake Zach and never look back. He, as ever with a wide smile on his face, took the second frame to force the decider we had been waiting for. Zach was quick out of the blocks, making a pair of sizeable breaks to mean Max would have to quickly recapture his form from the second frame, but Zach was too strong and roared his way over the finishing line to take victory by two frames to one.

After the match Zach was very impressed with his opponents display saying, “I was just petrified of leaving him anything long,” but also that he was, “happy,” to win the Jack Else Trophy for the first time. So congratulations to Zach Roberts, the Handicap Cup Champion 2017!

January 18, 2017

On Wednesday 18th of January the Enstone Billiards Plate kicked off term two's Wednesday Competitions in fine style. Ten keen Billiards players took to the Campus Crucible in an attempt to show they can combine potting, going in off and random luck the best to take the title that Gwylim Enstone himself took last year.

In Group A Sam 'what's an in-off' Matto-Willey won both his matches, although they were both tight affairs, to top the group and Harrison 'I'd rather cook a curry' Whitworth beat off Max 'What's Billiards? I bet it's great' Burt for second place in the knockouts. Group B saw Michael 'I love Billiards' Wilson top the group and Jonathan 'My dad plays Billiards' Hall also impressed in seeing off Bruno 'Magic man' Sterner for second place. Group C was of particular interest, with Max 'No Bottle' Faulkner favorite closely followed by Ant 'I now love in-offs' Church. But it was Adam 'I won't miss a ball' Suhaimi who impressed most, beating both Max and Ant but defeat by Carlo 'Biliardo' Mancini Caterini left him second to Ant on points difference. Both Carlo and Max won one frame, but neither had enough to progress.

The quarter-finals took place next, with Harrison v Adam first up. Harrison played tactically as he knew he had to nullify the potting of an in-form Adam, and he utilised a tactic which put him out last year, double baulking to gain an advantage that couldn't be reeled in. Adam, who had played fantastically throughout the day was out, with the more experienced Harrison coming through 80-50. On Table 2 Captain Matto, looking for his third title of the year, was kept honest by some excellent Billiards play from Jonathan, but, with five minutes remaining Matto in his typical potting fashion, pulled out an unassailable lead to progress by winning 94-63.

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So the Semis were decided, as Mike and Ant had byes; Ant v Sam and Michael v Harrison. Sam, determined to show snooker is better than Billiards, potted his way to a solid victory against Ant, who was rumored to have thrown the match in order to eat a brownie, as his in-offs' radar wasn't quite as accurate as it was on Tuesday night. The scoreline was 138-71. Michael v Harrison was a rematch of last year's Quarter-final, and it was Mike who got a crucial 20 point lead which he was able to eek out with double baulks, much to Harrison's frustration.

So the Final was Pots v Cannons, Snooker v Billiards, Sam v Mike. The showdown we all wanted (well I did anyway) was to be live streamed to an enthralled audience. The match started in spectacular fashion, with Sam going all 'Jack Else' on his way to an early 20 point lead and, after the live stream was paused and restarted due to orientation issues, Matto's lead increased further to 40 with 20 minutes to go. But Billiards never gives up easily, with Mike pulling of several good breaks combining canons with in offs, and he was able to cut Matto's lead to just 10. But, after a double baulk in which Matto accidentally left the balls gathered Mike saw his chance to snatch the lead. But a cannon went wrong, Mike's intention to pot Sam's spot hadn't come off and he was left with only an in off which would lead to him being double baulked! In attempting to get the spot out of baulk Mike hit his plain ball too hard, meaning the ball jumped out of the pocket and off the table! Sam was then able to use the double baulking advantage to see out the match, with the scores finishing 126-106 at the buzzer.

If you want to rewatch that fascinating final you can at: https://www.facebook.com/faulks22/videos/1308261349195958/ followed by https://www.facebook.com/faulks22/videos/1308265779195515/ 

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Afterwards, an unenthraled Matto-Willey stated that he's, "very happy to win and we can look forward to the next tournament." Sam, now a three time internal champion, will look to add to his trophy room next time out at the Handicap Cup! All there is left to say is congratulations to Sam, the Enstone Billiards Plate Champion 2017.

December 07, 2016

Wednesday 7th December 2016 was the date of WUSBC’s inaugural Snooker Shootout. The tournament was much anticipated amongst the quick players in the club, with the explosive Zach Roberts, maverick Anthony Church and erratic, but often spectacular, George Edwards as pre-tournament favourites.

The first two groups went as expected, with Power Snooker and Giant Pool champion Sam Matto-Willey topping Group A, and Edwards also progressing, leaving Bruno Sterner to rue another tough draw. In Group B, 1st team legend Cookson Chiu and Giant Pool finalist Michael Wilson were able to overcome impressive fresher Carlo-Mancini-Caterini with three wins each. Chiu’s points difference was only one greater than Wilson’s, allowing him to top Group B.

Group C, after one player no-showing, had only two players, meaning both progressed. Max Burt was the only fresher to advance, beating Harrison Whitworth, two-time Power Snooker runner-up, to top Group C. The final Group was christened the ‘Group of death’ with Roberts, Church and President Max Faulkner united in Group D. Roberts was an unstoppable force. With several 30+ breaks and an unbelievable +167 points difference, he topped the group with ease. Church, in the battle of the commentators, saw off Max in both of their group matches, consigning Max to another evening watching on from the sidelines and reminiscing on his League triumph last year.

So the quarter-finals were decided: Matto-Willey v Whitworth, Chiu v Church, Burt v Wilson and Roberts v Edwards.

Matto-Willey defeated Whitworth in a re-run of the Giant Pool final, with the latter later commenting on his efforts, “Well, I’ve played three matches and lost all of them… so it’s not gone brilliantly.” In the second quarter-final, Church battled past Chiu to book his place in the semis, winning 56-42 in a high quality encounter. Burt v Wilson was a tight match, but a foul with less than two minutes to go allowed Wilson breathing space and condemned Burt to a third quarter-final defeat this year. In the final quarter, Roberts once again outclassed his opponent, Edwards this time, with a commanding 55-15 victory.

So the semi-final line up was complete: Matto-Willey v Church and Wilson v Roberts.

Both semis were streamed live on Facebook, see top of the article for the link, and with the introduction of walk-on music, there was a build-up of anticipation in the air. Matto-Willey, who came out to the sedate tune ‘Left Bank Two’, was the early leader and looked like favourite to progress to a third consecutive final but an uncharacteristic miss on a medium-range green left Ant, who looked inspired by his walk on music: “Take me to Church”, with 15 seconds to pot green and brown. The long green disappeared and with just three seconds remaining the brown went in to screams of “IT’S THERE, IT’S THEREEE!!!” from commentator Max ‘JV’ Faulkner. So a dramatic first semi saw Church progress to his first final of the year.

In the second semi, the walk on music was a masterclass in foreshadowing. Roberts, who entered the arena to ‘Crazy’, once again started off well but stalled, and with only a couple of minutes to go, an in-off allowed Wilson, whose music ‘Positive Thinking’ kept him in the right frame of mind, to draw level. Having been left a tricky safety shot, Roberts went in-off again to allow Wilson to pull out an 11 point lead! With fewer than twenty seconds remaining Roberts potted the final red but couldn’t pot the black, which he would have expected to get in normal circumstances, handing Wilson the victory. It’s fair to say Roberts did go crazy afterwards, with two of the snooker room doors bearing the brunt of his frustration.

So it was a Social v ‘Comp’s’ Shootout final, with both Church and Wilson aiming for their first victories. The final started off with Church breaking, and after the two in-offs that had handed Wilson the opportunity for victory in the semis, another came immediately allowing him to earn an early 12-point lead. Church appeared to be in a generous mood, another in-off (two in two shots) allowed Wilson to build a 30-point lead early on. Church fought back, though, with a 19 break that clawed him back to just a 9 point deficit. Wilson then lived up to his nickname of ‘Borey McIlroy’, attempting to stop Church coming closer to him with some fairly typical safety play. But Church went on the aggressive, smashing the reds which were tight together and one flew in allowing him the opportunity to eat a bit more into Wilson’s lead. However, after missing a difficult black followed by an easier red, Wilson was able to control the match again, taking a 19-point lead and allowing his safety to see out the remaining minute.

So, Wilson took his first crown saying it was “very good” and that he was “able to control the game from the start”. Asked about whether his slow play aided him he mentioned, “I think my safety play came into its own, especially at the end.” It’s safe to say nobody expected Wilson, rumoured to be the world’s most boring player, to win the Shootout title, but he showed that safety, in contradiction to the thoughts of many, is actually an important aspect of the game! Congratulations to Michael, Snooker Shootout Champion 2016!

November 23, 2016

The 23rd November was the date of the annual Giant Pool tournament with 16 competitors vying for the title.

Group A was tight with Scott Proctor coming away victorious with 4 wins out of 6. Scott Jenkins and Sam Coy, the latter winning two frames after black ball blunders by his opponents, tied with 6 points each, but, in a fascinating turn of events, a mixture of washing requirements and work meant neither could take up a quarter final spot. So, Jack Kay went through to the quarters in fortuitous circumstances!

Group B was also dramatic. Club Captain Sam Matto-Willey won the group, winning 5 out of his 6 frames. The fight for second place, however, was tight. In the final group game, Chris Musson v George Edwards, the winner would take the second quarter final spot, due to both having a superior balls difference to Adam Bin Ahmad Suhaimi who had beaten Sam earlier in the group. Chris, the only specialist pool player at the tournament, came out on top against an off form George meaning one point separated the three players. But that didn’t bother Chris as he was through to face Scott.

Group C, or as it was more commonly referred to ‘the stacked group’, consisted of 5 players who have all competed for Warwick’s teams. The group was, however, cut to 4 players and after Zach Roberts, Harrison Whitworth, Max Burt and Michael had all won one frame and lost one, it was down to the winners of Zach v Harrison and Max v Michael to determine who would progress to the quarters. Two time Power Snooker runner up, Harrison, had several chances against Zach, but, to his own amazement, was unable to finish the frame off which allowed Zach to win and go through. Max then took centre stage with some fantastic long potting giving him a chance to make his third quarter final of the year. But, having potted a tricky black to middle, the cue ball travelled the length of the table to jaw in the top pocket and agonisingly drop to send a relieved Michael through to a second quarter final of the year.

Group D consisted of two heavy weights: Anthony Church, last years runner up, and Max Faulkner, 2015/16 League champion. They played alongside fresher Mica Vernal who was competing at her first tournament. Max, who was undefeated, and Ant were both able to come through to complete the Quarter Final line up:

Scott v Chris, Sam v Ant, Zach v Jack and Max v Michael.

All four quarters were intriguing starting with Scott and Chris who played out a tactical battle that went the distance, Scott prevailing in a tense decider 2-1. Meanwhile Sam, Snooker Club Captain, and Ant, Pool Club Captain, played out a thrilling match and, after Sam went 1-0 up, it looked like Ant had levelled the match. But, from a tight angle, the cue ball dropped in the middle pocket after potting a tough black, causing heartbreak for Ant, however, it did confirm he would be sitting in the commentary box for the final! Max v Michael was also of good quality. Max should have taken the first frame with a superb early chance to clear, but some good safety play from Michael meant he went 1-0 up. The second frame was more scrappy and, after rumours Max wanted to join Ant in the commentary box, Michael went through as a 2-0 winner. The final quarter final was Zack v Jack. Zach looked in good form winning the first frame, but Jack opened an advantage in the second, only to be snuffed out by Zach late on.

The semis followed, firstly with Sam v Zach which was a battle of the first teamers. The match was of fantastic quality and both players rattled off a frame to go one each. In the decider, however, Zach’s experience wasn’t enough to hold off the in form Matto who won 2-1. Scott v Michael was far scrappier, with little rhythm in the match, but, tournament organiser Michael came through to play his first final at the snooker club.

So the final was 1sts captain Sam vs 2nds captain Michael. It has to be said when you think of Pool you often think of flamboyant potting, doubles and all-out attack, which is the exact opposite of both players playing style! Nevertheless the final, which was a best of 5, provided entertainment and was Facebook lived, as all our finals are, so you can rewatch it by clicking on the link at the top of this article! The first frame was close, and the crucial moment was when Michael missed a tricky red to middle to leave Matto a difficult chance to clear. Ant called that that was the key shot, and Matto went onto clear with a superb thin yellow, aided by his two fingered rest technique, to take the first frame.

The second frame was similar in that neither player was able to carve out an advantage for long and after a fluked yellow from Michael, he had the first chance on the black. It was a thin cut, which he missed and left a tough long red for Sam. He duly sunk it and then did the same on the following long black to take a 2-0 lead.

The third frame also went to the wire. Michael had a fantastic chance to snooker Sam late on to give him a frame winning opportunity, but, he nervously prodded at his red ball, falling foul of the cushion rule, allowing the superior Sam to take two shots from a foul snooker to pot the black and win convincingly 3-0.

Sam admitted in his post-match interview that he “hates pool” but it was also “one of the highlights of my career so far”. So, having won the first two tournaments of the year he’ll be hoping to add to his collection on the 6th November with the inaugural Snooker Shootout Crown!

November 09, 2016

This years Power Snooker tournament saw 16 members fighting for the prize of being the first winner of a club-wide tournament of the year. Kicking off at 1400 were Groups A and D, made up of George Edwards, Carlo Mancini-Caterini, Sam Matto-Willey, and Thomas Miller in Group A and Jonathan Walsh, Michael Wilson, Harrison Whitworth, and Jack Kay in Group D. This early half of the group stage saw few surprises, with Matto-Willey and Edwards going through to the quarter-finals in 1st and 2nd place respectively in their group, with Wilson, a former semi finalist, and last year’s runner up Whitworth following suit from Group D. Whilst Group B went largely according to form, with seasoned campaigner Cookson Chiu and reigning champion Max Faulkner emerging triumphant over Bruno Sterner and Adam Bin Ahmad Suhaimi, Group C saw perhaps the biggest surprise of the group stage. Unlike the other groups, no player emerged with a 100% record: 1st teamer Zach Roberts lost 81-47 to 2nd teamer and fresher Max Burt, whilst Anthony Church, in hot form following a 61 break in the league, played out a surprising 27-27 draw with Sam Coy, denting any hope he had of progressing from the group stage. When all was said and done, including a 60 odd break from Roberts in the PowerPlay to turn his match against Church around,  Roberts and Burt were the two who moved on to the next stage of the competition, completing the quarter-final lineup: Sam Matto-Willey vs Max Burt, Cookson Chiu vs George Edwards, Zach Roberts vs Harrison Whitworth, and Michael Wilson vs Max Faulkner.

The first quarter-final saw pre-tournament favourite Matto-Willey face up to Max Burt, hoping to go one stage further than he had managed in the Freshers’ Tournament, where he was knocked out in the quarter-final stage to eventual champion Loong Sheng Chow. Despite knocking in some impressive pots with plenty of cries of ‘siddown’ thrown in for good measure, Burt succumbed to Matto-Willey’s consistency, eventually losing the match by 182 points to 47. The second match in this stage of the competition saw Cookson Chiu take on George Edwards, who was looking to join fellow Yorkshireman Matto-Willey in the semi-final stage. Alas, his efforts were in vain as the veteran Chiu put in an accomplished performance to deprive Edwards of a place in the last 4, taking the match 129-56. The third quarter-final was the closest of the four, with winner of Group C, Zach Roberts, going up against last year’s runner up Harrison Whitworth, who was looking to go one better this time round, especially after having abandoned a trip home to his beloved Portsmouth in order to attend this event. At least for now, it looked as though his dedication to the sport had payed off, with some trademark ‘hit it hard and hope’ snooker carrying him through into a semi-final match-up with Cookson Chiu, despite Roberts’ best efforts. And so, fighting for the last spot in the final four were Michael Wilson and Max Faulkner. Despite a few good chances for Wilson, Faulkner emerged victorious by a comfortable margin of 70 points, meaning he would meet Matto-Willey in the semi-final, in a match-up Matto-Willey would have been dreading, given his questionable record against incumbent Presidents in competitive fixtures.

However, in reaching a semi-final, Matto-Willey was already in unchartered territory, and he wasn’t going to stop there. His semi-final with Faulkner was a cagey affair, with neither party really emerging as a clear favourite until some time into the match, and after a few breaks from Matto-Willey pushed him into the lead, he didn’t fold, beating Faulkner at the buzzer by 106 points to 75. He would be joined in the final by one of Chiu or Whitworth, and after a tense beginning, eventually the two began to pot balls in a more convincing manner. As the game went on, however, Whitworth grew stronger, with a series of two colour breaks followed by clever safety play left him with a forty point lead going into the final five minutes, and whilst Chiu fought back with a break in the final few minutes, it wasn’t enough to stop Whitworth from reaching his second consecutive Power Snooker final.

The final was an expectedly nervous match, with Whitworth looking to go one better than this time last year and Matto-Willey looking to end his wait for his first tournament win; both had good reason not to want to finish second. Although his potting had been enough to get him to the final, when it came to reproducing it in the final, Whitworth seemed unable to pot a ball in the first frame. One online spectator, namely Stewart ‘Ball Bag’ Ball, commented: ‘this is dire’, although whether that was directed at the snooker or President Max Faulkner’s commentary remains to be seen. After the first frame had concluded, Matto-Willey held a commanding forty-seven point lead. As the match went on, it became clear that fate was on Matto-Willey’s side, with Whitworth going in off a number of times, handing a further advantage to the Club Captain. Whilst Whitworth made a few breaks towards to end of a second frame interrupted by the delivery of a fridge, it was Matto-Willey who kept his cool to press home his advantage. In the end, whilst neither player was near their best, Matto-Willey emerged victorious at the final whistle, prompting scenes of disbelief amongst the audience, with the man himself commenting that it was: ‘a truly exceptional feeling’. Congratulations to Sam Matto-Willey, Power Snooker Champion for this season.

October 28, 2016

The inaugural Sheffield Star Cup was played on the 29/30th October 2016 with Warwick entering two teams with hopes of going deep into the team competition. The individual competition saw a strong field of 60 players vying for the title with 1st team captain Sam Matto-Willey and 2nds captain Michael Wilson both putting in strong performances to reach the last 16, where both were knocked out in close encounters.

The team group matches were played on Saturday, with the 1st team in Group A with York 2nds and Sheffield Alumni. The first team played York 2nds first with comfortable victories for each player: Sam Matto-Willey (C), Max Faulkner, Cookson Chiu, Zach Roberts and Richard Whitfield, in a 5-0 romp. The second match, against Sheffield Alumni, proved more tricky but frames from Sam and Cookson bought the 1sts back from 2-1 down to win 3-2 and top their group.

The 2nd team, consisting of: Michael Wilson (C), Anthony Church, Harrison Whitworth, Loong Sheng Chow and Max Burt, were drawn with Sheffield 1sts and Sheffield Hallam 1sts. First up was the crunch match against Sheffield 1sts which, after two close frames in which Michael missed a black for a 35 clearance and Ant missed a tricky frame ball pink, the 2nd team ended up losing 4-1 with Loong Sheng Chow the only one to win his frame. To get through the 2nds had to beat Sheffield Hallam 1sts and the team matched the 1sts in despatching them 5-0 in a confident performance.

This led to a tantalising quarter-final on Sunday morning: Warwick 1sts vs Warwick 2nds. The knockout stages were a race to 6 frames where two players were drawn to play two frames against each other. The first matches were Zach v Harrison and Max F v Loong. Zach started positively but Harrison kept within touching distance and when Harrison went in off a black over the hole, it seemed the match had turned in Zach’s favour. Zach had a frame ball green, over the pocket, but the frame turned again as he chipped the cue ball over the green and off the table, allowing Harrison to steal the first frame for the seconds! Zach, though, roared back in a typically aggressive fashion to take the second frame for 1-1. Loong, meanwhile, was in his potting mood to take the first frame against Max F but President Max summoned some extra energy to take a close second frame and also go 1-1.

Next up was Cookson v Ant, a strong matchup which could turn the tie either way. Cookson was not at his brilliant best, but, with Ant unable to find top gear, the ever-reliable Cookson was able to take both frames to put the 1sts 4-2 up. So the final two matches were Richard v Michael and Sam v Max B. Sam took hold of his match early on but was unable to pot the final red when Max needed several snookers, which allowed Max to play on, knocking Sam out of his rhythm for frame two. 5-2. Typically Richard v Michael was a grindy affair with the reds often found hugging the cushion. Michael, though, had a slender advantage throughout the frame and he had a chance at frame ball pink. The pink was in the middle of the table and white in bulk but the pink flew in to a roar of “Let’s go” from Michael to bring the tie to 5-3. Sam and Max’s second frame was scrappy. The balls were spread out and breaks were hard to come by. Sam, however, conjured up a mid-teen break which eeked out a lead which was just too big for Max to overcome after a valiant effort to take the second frame. With that, the match was over, 6-3 to the firsts in a fantastic encounter who went on to play York 1sts in the semi-final.

Since York and Warwick had both come through long matches, it was already known that Sheffield 1sts would be in the final. So the match took place with all players playing simultaneously. Zach, once again in aggressive mood, was unable to take the first frame but the rejuvenated Max F took his first frame and Cookson managed to take his first too to go 2-1 up. Captain Sam, though, looked to have lost his early form after his battle with Max B, and slipped up in his first frame to go 1-0 down. Zach and Max put Warwick back in front with wins in their second frames putting Warwick 4-2 up. Cookson, who looked to have found his form, slipped up and lost his second frame to allow the match back to 4-3. Richard, once again in grind mode was able to take his frame after what felt like an eternity on the colours to allow Sam the chance to seal the match at 5-3 up. As the frame went on his flow returned and after a particularly impressive long yellow, Sam finished off the match for a 6-3 win.

So the final: Sheffield 1sts v Warwick 1sts. The first three matches were Richard v Bian Hu, Max v Jamie Chui and Cookson v Bradley Andrews. Jamie Chui, who beat Michael on the black in the group stages, had found his form during the weekend with regular 20 breaks and looked in a bullish mood against Max. He took the first frame impressively and came out firing in the second too with breaks of 29 and 30 to take two frames for Sheffield. Cookson’s match was far closer with the first frame ultimately coming down to the battle of the blue, where Andrews eventually prevailed after several half chances for both players. 3-0 Sheffield. Cookson, then, went and put his opponent to the sword opening up a 50 point lead in no time and pulling a frame back for Warwick at 3-1. Zach then played Kaavya Bharath in a very open frame as both players went for pots and the scores were tight going into the colours. Kaavya knocked in a sensational clearance, though, to restore Sheffield’s three frame lead. At this point, Richard, who had started first, was at the climax of his frame against Bian. It was one which never really got started and after Richard went for a long black, Bian kept his cool to put Sheffield further in front at 5-1. So comeback time it had to be with Warwick needing five consecutive frames to become Team Championship Winners but, although Matto was 40 up in his frame with fellow captain John Hamilton, Kaavya’s long potting was just too much for Zach in another close frame, which resulted in a 6-1 win for Sheffield 1sts.

So congratulations to Sheffield 1sts for their team championship win. I think it’s fair to say that both teams had successful tournaments with the 2nds pushing the 1sts close and a run to the final for the 1sts only four weeks into term. The next major competition will be ‘Midlands’ where both Warwick 1sts and 2nds will look to defend their titles from last year!

October 07, 2016

This years Annual Freshers Tournament proved, once again, to be a thrilling contest between twenty-two budding snooker players with the aim of holding the Mike Pascal Memorial Cup at the end of the day. The group stages were full of action, where Max Burt, Ryan Woolhouse, Martin Barltrop, Carlo Mancini Caterini and Loong Sheng Chow came through with 100 % records. Garrett Wang was the other group winner after a stunning 42-14 win over Oliver Hayes gave him a superior points difference (PD) to group 4 runner-up Julian Schmid. These six group winners were joined in the quarter-final stage by Julian and Sammy Vadler, as they had the best PD of the second placed players.

So on to the quarter-finals and the random draw assigned four exciting matches, the first of which was Carlo v Ryan. Both players showed off their potting skills in an evenly matched encounter on table one, and after both players had been ahead, the ten-red tussle went down to the black with Ryan 39-35 ahead. After a decent safety from Carlo, Ryan attempted to get a good return, sending the black the length of the table but it was at such a pace that the ball came back towards the top left pocket, so close, in fact, that it went in! As Vice President Harrison Whitworth would tell you, “there’s nothing wrong with a trebled black”, although he personally prefers the quadruple! So, Carlo was defeated 35-46 in a fantastic first knockout match.

Meanwhile, on table two, Martin and Julian were fighting to join Ryan in the semis. In a match which went scrappy early on, Martin’s early lead proved fruitful as nothing much more than one breaks were able to be constructed, due to the position of the colours. In hindsight, that would have been the perfect match for Health and Safety Officer Bruno Sterner to referee, due to his famous call of ‘one’! This led Martin to make good on his strong position winning, 45-16.

The next match on table one, Loong v Max, was equally as thrilling as the first quarter final where Max seemed to have the advantage after some terrific long potting. Loong replied in kind, though, and the match was poised precariously, at 38-28, in Loong’s favour. Max had tricky safety shot to come, where he could only see a thin edge of the green in the bulk end, and inadvertently went in off, which prompted calls of “is it a Tuesday night?” from the crowd. Loong took advantage of Max’s misfortune, compiling an 18 break to finish off the frame and add to his 23 break earlier in the day. So Loong went through 60-28, which meant he made at least 60 points in all three frames he’d played so far.

In the last quarter-final, Garrett faced up against former York student Sammy. It’s fair to say this was a more one-sided affair, with Sammy finding his stride and playing with purpose. Garrett tried to find his group stage form, but it wasn’t forthcoming, and Sammy went on to win 64-24.Shortly after the conclusion of that match the live semi-final draw took place where Ryan took on Sammy and Martin faced Loong.

The table one semi, Martin v Loong, was a nervous affair with neither player able to make any substantial breaks. Loong typified this when he played a fantastic double and left himself in the bulk end needing to screw back to the top end of the table, off the pink, but only succeeding in getting himself tight behind the green. He was, however, able to pull off a fantastic swerve shot to get him out of that particular muddle. Martin was unable to keep in touch with Loong towards the end, though, and so went out losing 35-60 to the impressive Loong.

The second semi saw Ryan and Sammy battle it out over on table two. This was an even tighter, even tenser contest with both players unable to make much headway and the lead going one way then the other. When they got to the pink, Sammy was leading 37-32, but some clever play from Ryan left Sammy walled. Not using the ever reliable wand to get him out of trouble, Sammy missed the pink giving Ryan a one point lead. But more drama was to follow! Ryan played what appeared to be a poor safety shot leaving the white near the cushion but the pink was rolling up the table so that Sammy would have a relatively comfortable pink to middle, good thing it wasn’t the black or President Max Faulkner may have had to turn away, but the pink slowed up and was covered by the black! Sammy, understandably frustrated, just missed his attempt to get out of the snooker and Ryan calmly double the frame ball pink into the middle which, after also potting the black, gave him a 57-37 victory!

So the final of the 2016 Freshers Tournament was decided, Ryan Woolhouse v Loong Sheng Chow. The start of this best of three match was fraught with tentative safety play. Ryan, with a couple of early reds, seemed to settle quicker but a break of 11  followed from Loong to give him a 9 point advantage. There was then a period where neither player was able to find any sort of rhythm, both were struggling to pot balls which had been scattered across the table. The frame suddenly came to life when Loong had a string of fine pots to make breaks of 15 and 13 which left Ryan, who had been unlucky with a few fouls, a long way behind. Too far behind, in fact, Loong taking the first frame 64-4.

Ryan knew he needed the second frame to force a decider and it started in a similar way to the first, neither player was able to create a decent opening. The increased commentary from John Virgo didn’t seem to help either player, but, after 12 minutes of the frame, Loong found his stride once again with some more scintillating potting. Ryan was unlucky, missing several pots by very fine margins allowing Loong to open up another substantial lead. Ryan decided to play on when needing snookers on the colours but none were forthcoming and Loong took the frame 59-27, the only time he failed to score 60 points in a frame. This means he succeeds Wenshi Chen, 2015 winner and referee for the final this year, as the 2016 Freshers Champion!

I’d like to thank all those who participated and made this a fantastic tournament, as well as those exec members who were there and helped the competition run smoothly. All that remains is to say well done to Loong, who won on his birthday. I think it’s fair to say, you deserved it!