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| 5th Sep | Super 15s Draw for A and B events |
| 5th Sep | SPA Competition News and Updates |
| SPA B Category Singles | |
| On the 24th of January 5 players from Arbroath (Graham Dunbar, Colin Brown, Scott Yeaman, Greg Alexander and Davie Jack), all traveled to Pennies in Falkirk for the SPA ‘B’ Category competition. On arrival, the draw was just being done and unfortunately this did not go to plan. With 47 players in attendance Scott Yeaman was drawn out in the prelims and worse yet Graham Dunbar was drawn against fellow teammate Davie Jack in the last 32. In the prelim match Scott came through against a highly rated opponent, Scott Higgins, in a very scrappy 6-5 win with neither player playing to their potential. Onto the last 32 and the first one on was Greg against Davy Dewar. The opening 2 frames were shared before Greg got the cobwebs out of his system and found another gear and ran out a comfortable 6-3 winner. The next match on was Graham and Davie. This one started well for Graham racing into a 3-0 lead, all of which were quite open frames. However Davie was far from done and the next few frames were tighter and Davie clawed the deficit back to 3-3. Davie then broke dry and Graham took what can only be described as a “living the dream finish” to go back in front 4-3 which quickly turned to 5-3 in the next. Davie then decided to use all his “experience” (ie., negativity) to slow things down again by rolling into the pack from the break and keeping things tight to negate Graham’s potting game. This was successful and Davie pulled it back to 5-4. Then an in-off from Graham’s break and a clearance from Davie to take the tie into a decider. In the decide r Graham got a slice of luck that turned the frame in his favour, however Davy battled back and got the first look at the black. Fortunately for Dunny it was a full length of table double and on Davie missing this Dunny stepped in to take the match 6-5. During this match Scott started his next match whilst Colin Brown entered the fray in the Last 32. Scott playing Alan Martin in the Last 32, again didn’t seem to be firing on all cylinders, however again a couple of good finishes near the end helped him bounce back from 5-4 down to steal this one 6-5. Colin was facing Mick Panzica and unlike Scott came out the traps firing and never looked liked losing this match and ended up being an impressive 6-2 winner. Last 16 and Graham was first on against Davy Myint. With a combination of bad shots from himself and good run of the balls for his opponent, Graham found himself 3-0 down this time. Although he battled hard to get back into the match, he didn’t really get his game going and he went down to a 6-3 defeat. At the same time, Scott commenced his Last 16 tie against Mark Leaske (eventual runner up). This was a very strange match in that Scott typically broke and dished quickly to win his frames but that his opponent dragged him into prolonged safety exchanges to win his. This seesaw pattern lasted until the match was nicely poised at 4-4. Then Mark must get some credit for 2 good finishes to take the match 6-4. After watching some of this match and speaking to Scott it was felt this was a missed opportunity for him. Colin was then to play the “weel kent face” of Tam Talent and in this match Colin really overpowered Tam by hitting him with finish after finish. This was easy Colin’s best performance of the day with a very comfortable win of 6-2 against a dangerous opponent. Greg was also involved in his Last 16 match against one of the pre-tournament favourites Martin Jones. After starting slowly in the last 32, Greg played much better in the tactical exchanges as well as taking all his chances to win convincingly 6-3. Into the Quarter Finals and the point where the guys started to earn some payout cash. Greg versus Davy Forest and Colin versus Davy Myint, who had just beaten Dunny. Greg was again simply too good against a very well known opponent and took some great finishes to win this match 6-4. Colin on the other hand had a few slices of good fortune coupled with the inability of his opponent to close the match out and progress to the semi final. Colin was 5-3 down in this match and out of the tournament in all of our minds when his opponent had a very basic black for 6-3 and incredibly stunned the white in off into the middle pocket. This was a big moment in the match as it allowed Colin to claw it back to 5-4. In the next frame his opponent had a basic roll in red to leave an easy black to middle, however decided to hammer it round the angles and this caused him to miss the pot. Colin cleared up with a miracle double on the black to take the tie all the way to the decider. Colin was riding high now, having been all but out of the tournament and his opponent struggling to get over the line. Again, nerves perhaps got to his opponent who missed two good chances to win this frame and failed to take them. He ended up trying to play safe and leave Colin a hard pot. This was his last mistake as Colin stepped in to nail what must be said a great under pressure pot to take this match unbelievably 6-5. Semi’s. Unfortunately Colin and Greg met in the Semi or it could have been an all Arbroath final. In this match Greg was again quick out the traps and raced into a 3-0 lead. Colin fought back in the next frame to close the gap to 3-1. However in the next Colin possibly pushed the boat out just a little to far by handing Greg the frame for 4-1. Colin to his credit never gave up though and won the next to keep his hopes alive at 4-2. These hopes were short lived however as Greg very quickly mopped up the next 2 frames to complete an impressive 6-2 victory and advance to the Final. Colin went home with £90 for his efforts though so not all bad. Into the Final and after a 2 and a half hour wait from when his semi had finished Greg began his quest to win this tournament with only Mark Leaske standing in his way. Greg started well again and was soon 3-0 up and cruising. In the next his opponent missed a great chance to close the gap, however was not punished as Greg missed a cut on the black to the middle to pretty much kill off the final and allow his opponent a glimmer of light at 3-1. The next frame was quite a tactical affair where Mark looked a bit more at ease. However Greg got in first for a finish and had done all the hard work only to slightly overrun his last positional shot for the black. This caused him to over cut it and allow Mark back in and make it 3-2. Greg didn’t let this get to him however and proved why he’s such a good match player in the next 2 by taking two good finishes to go within one frame for victory at 5-2 up. To Mark’s credit he still seemed in good spirits and didn’t give up and he got his rewards by winning the next 2 quite scrappy frames to close the gap back to 5-4. In the next Greg twice tried to force the action with attacking cannons which didn’t come off, but on the third time of asking it did and Greg calmed himself down to mop up the rest and win himself the tournament and £320 first prize. Fantastic effort from Greg all day and all the Arbroath boys who took home £410 of the £870 prize money which could have been more if not for two big all Arbroath clashes. Added: 27th Jan 10 (20:55) |
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