Cup Final Match Report

This was always going to be a tough match. Dedham Anchor had brought out all their star players including Dave Pickess and, rarely seen this season, Justin Bird. They clearly meant business. Cattawade Crown A had 7 of their regular squad, Carl Pilgrim being unavailable on the night.

First game was between Mark Morsley and Jeff Nicholson. Mark was first onto the black but it was not easy, Jeff had two reds left sitting over pockets. Mark took a cautious approach and left the black close to the cushion. Jeff potted his reds and got a good position on the black to run it down the cushion into the bottom corner pocket. The table was unforgiving and the black rattled leaving Mark an easy pot to claim the first frame.

The next frame saw Alan Mower (Crown) against Justin Bird. After a tough battle, Alan brought the match square at 1 frame each. In the third frame, Justin Nicholson (Crown) took an early lead against Miles Wilson (Anchor), but didn't quite finish, Miles started to dig in and eventually ground the frame out to give the Anchor a 2-1 lead.

Cattawade Crown wanted two out of the next three doubles to have a fair chance of winning. After losing the first it was going to be an up hill struggle. The next was to be a marathon frame with Miles and Dave playing against Justin and Julie. After a massive 50 minute battle, Julie and Justin took the frame for the Crown. The final doubles was Julian Adams and Jeff Nicholson playing against Justin and Mick Bird. Jeff pulled off a great snooker forcing Justin to concede two visits. With only two yellows and the black left, Julian cleared. 3 frames each.

Just three singles to go. Val Adams was to play Dave Pickess. Val knew she was up against a man with a 100 percent league wins record. She kept the frame tight. Dave forced Val into making a foul, she played to leave it as awkward as possible, but Dave managed to pull out a pot from nowhere and went on to clear the table.

Frame 8 of 9. Julian had to play Mick Bird, the Anchor's highest ranked singles player. Towards the end of the frame, Mick had little option but to play a foul. Unfortunately for Mick, it resulted in a foul snooker giving Julian the opportunity to nominate a free ball. He nominated Mick's yellow and used it to pot his own red and went on to clear up. 4 frames each!

The deciding frame. Nigel Parker stepped up for the Anchor while the Crown's hopes rested with Julie Nicholson, who had got them out of trouble in the past. Nigel was onto the black while Julie had several balls tied up on the cushions. Julie kept the game tight gradually developing her balls and not allowing Nigel a clear shot at the black. She was down to the last two reds, potted an awkward one down the cushion but snookered herself on her last ball. Nigel gets two on the black but it's not going to be easy. This time the table came to the Crown's rescue and the black stopped over the pocket. Julie had one last red, a long pot down the full length of the table. She hammered it home, a massive pot! Julie paused for breath and then calmly potted the black to claim the knockout cup for the Cattawade Crown.