Stourbridge & District Snooker League 2nd January 2020

Second Division results:

Amblecote RBL A 2 (Bill Green, P.Botfield) Bahia’s SC B 3 (P.Jukes, G.Skinner, M.Reece)

Stourbridge Inst D 3 (T.Game, C.Crumpton, P.Robinson) Stourbridge Inst B 2 (H.Jones, K.Hulme)

Kinver Constitutional D 4 (C.Barker, K. & A.Stanley, M.Hines) Wombourne 1 (J.Perry)

Kingswinford SC 1 (S.Ballinger) Amblecote RBL B 4 (S.Bull, W.Crowther, R.Conway, A.Bull)

Amblecote Institute E 2 (A.Homer, S.Mattocks) S/b Old Edwardians B 3 (B.Ball, Sam Ball, A.Pitt)

Report: The ultimate destination of the Second Division championship was thrown into confusion when the long-time leaders, Kingswinford Snooker Centre, lost 4-1 at home to one of their closest rivals, Amblecote RBL B. Only Steve Ballinger, now unbeaten in 14 frames, could win as Steve Bull, Bill Crowther, Richard Conway and Alex Bull saw the league newcomers spring a surprise, doing their own title challenge no harm either as they closed to within five points of the league leaders in joint 3rd place.

Second placed Old Edwardians B are now only two points off the pace following a hard-earned 3-2 result away to Amblecote Institute E, their 4th win in a row. Sam Ball, extending his winning sequence to seven, Brett Ball and Andy Pitt won for Old Eds, but Audie Homer and Sam Mattocks ensured that the Institute took two important frames against Steve and Jack Ball respectively.

Amblecote RBL A’s run of success had taken them into the runners up spot but they lost 3-2 at home to Bahia’s SC B, their third defeat in four matches, yet they remain only five points off the lead. Billy Green extended his record to 12/14 but Pete Jukes, Gary Skinner and Mark Reece secured only the visitors’ second away win, completing the double over their opponents.

Wombourne’s challenge also faltered when they suffered their worst defeat of the season away to Kinver Constitutional D. Previously they had always taken at least two frames, but only Jon Perry, on his return to a former club, could win, as Chris Barker, Kelly and Ash Stanley and Marcus Hines made light of the huge difference in league experience between themselves and their opponents.

Stourbridge Institute D had been knocked out of the cup competition by their own B team, but they exacted a little revenge with a 3-2 win back in the league. Tom Game, Chris Crumpton and Paul Robinson just did enough for them, with Harry Jones and Kevin Hulme replying for the B team.

Report submitted by Stourbridge and District Snooker League