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GOSPORT snooker ace Mark Lloyd has collected more silverware as the countdown continues towards the most important match of his career.
Lloyd now leads the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour rankings after collecting his third winner’s trophy this season.
A 3-1 victory from 1-0 down against Anthony Rice, from Fordingbridge, in the final of the seventh leg on the new professional table at Fareham Snooker Club earned the 15-year-old £45.
“I started off a bit shaky but I just found something that made me play a little bit better,” said Lloyd, who compiled a 50 break in the third frame.
“Once you get going on it, it’s a nice table. It’s the same as any Star table. If you’re struggling on it, it’s not the best table to play on because they’re not big pockets.”
Earlier, Stewart Ball (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) beat Sam Storey (Crucible, Newbury) in a one-frame tie-breaker for the best third-placed player from the two groups of four as they had identical records.
Lloyd leads Brad Chappell (Greenbaize, Bournemouth), who was knocked out by James Budd (Stoke SC, Gosport) in the quarter-finals, by five points going into the eighth and final leg at Salisbury Snooker Club on Sunday, May 3. Rice is 12 points further back in third.
But it’s a tournament that Lloyd, also based at Stoke SC, may miss as he is due to take on Jack Harris (Walsall) at the EASB finals weekend on May 2-3 in the final of the English Under-16 Championship.
It all depends on which day the national governing body allocates for the match.
Faced with the prospect of national glory, Lloyd admitted: “It wouldn’t be too bad to do well in that.
“Obviously, I want to be national champion. You don’t want to be number two. You go in for a competition to win it.”
Lloyd is 26th on the EASB Premier Junior Tour, which is restricted to the top-49 under-21s in the country, and has earned himself an invite to the European Under-17 Championship in Malta next year.
BREAKS
James Budd: 54, 41.
Mark Lloyd: 50.
Anthony Rice: 50.
GOLD RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Mark Lloyd (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Jonny Mutch (Cambridge SC); 3rd, Anthony Church (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 4th, Mickey Joyce (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Nathan Farmer (Stoke SC, Gosport).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, James Budd (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Mark Wells (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 3rd, Stewart Ball (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 4th, Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Anthony Rice (Salisbury SC); 2nd, Brad Chappell (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 3rd, Sam Storey (Crucible, Newbury); 4th, Jamie Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth).
QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Lloyd 2 Ball 1, Budd 2 Chappell 1, Rice 2 Mutch 0, Wells 2 Church 0.
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Lloyd 2 Budd 1, Rice 2 Wells 0.
FINAL (£45/£20 25/18 points): Lloyd 3 Rice 1. (Refereed by Steve Toms)
Gillon on the brink of Silver success
ONE by one his three title rivals fell by the wayside to leave Gosport teenage Matt Gillon standing alone on the brink of regional glory.
It all fell into place as the 17-year-old collected his second winner’s trophy of the season in the penultimate leg of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour.
Callum McDonald was knocked out in the group stages at Fareham Snooker Club, Gillon beat Stoke clubmate Joe Kitchen in the semi-finals for the third time this season and first-time finalist Drew Hampshire accounted for Jasmine Bolsover in the last-eight.
Gillon - who takes a 20-point lead into the eighth and last leg at Salisbury Snooker Club on Sunday, May 3 - said he “hopes” he has done enough after defeating Hampshire (147 Club, Swindon) 2-1 in the final.
He eased through the first and third frames but was undone by good safety play in the second.
“There was nothing I could do,” admitted Gillon. “I’m awful against tactical (play).”
And he added: “Well done to Drew. It’s good to see him in a final.”
Reflecting on the title race, he said: “I always expect Callum to go through because he’s a good player. He used to beat me in Bronze quite a lot.”
And he said he was pleased to see Bolsover go out because he “can’t beat” the 15-year-old from Woking SC who joins 36 other female cueists from around the globe in Leeds next weekend for the women’s world championships.
Kitchen’s fourth semi-final exit in a row takes him up to second, 20 points adrift of Gillon and two points ahead of one-time rankings leader McDonald (Salisbury SC).
SILVER RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Matt Gillon (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Reece King (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth); 3rd, Drew Hampshire (147 SC, Swindon); 4th, Nat Kidner (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth); 5th, Ally Pollard (Salisbury SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Kaine Petty (Salisbury SC); 2nd, Jasmine Bolsover (Woking SC); 3rd, Lee Fitzpatrick (Totton Rec); 4th, Abhay Chopra (Chandler’s Ford SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Olly Gibbs (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Joe Kitchen (Stoke SC, Gosport); 3rd, Callum McDonald (Salisbury SC); 4th, Bradley Hatch (Eastleigh).
QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Gillon 2 Fitzpatrick 0, Kitchen 2 Petty 1, Gibbs 2 King 1, Hampshire 2 Bolsover 0.
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Gillon 2 Kitchen 1, Hampshire 2 Gibbs 1.
FINAL (25/18 points): Gillon 2 Hampshire 1.
Ice-cool Murphy and high-break Hughes go head-to-head
AN ICE-cool ten-year-old from Bristol has set up a final day shootout with his title rival on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour.
Aidan Murphy defeated first-time finalist Ben Crump, from Gosport, 2-0 to claim his fourth winner’s trophy of the season in the penultimate leg at Fareham Snooker Club.
But beating rankings leader Steven Hughes in a must-win quarter-final match was the key to blowing the title race wide open.
Murphy, who lost his first round-robin match to David Rice (Fordingbridge), qualified in second place from his group.
Lying in wait was Hughes who had won a three-way play-off with David O’Callaghan (Bournemouth) and Chloe White (Portsmouth) to top his group.
A win for the 13-year-old based at Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club would have secured the title.
Murphy took the first frame, Hughes squared the match with his highest break of 43, Murphy edged the decider on the black.
The result means that Hughes leads by seven points going into the eighth and final leg at Salisbury Snooker Club on Sunday, May 3.
Murphy, who plays county pool for Bristol and earlier this season was one frame away from qualifying for the England under-18 pool team, said he’s looking forward to the challenge and his aim is to “win it”.
Insisting he doesn’t feel the pressure, he added: “I just play.”
Elsewhere Hughes’s clubmate Ryan Hughes (no relation) recorded a personal best 35 clearance in his first group-stage match against Liam Ashman (Player’s, Westbury).
BREAKS
Steven Hughes: 43.
Ryan Hughes: 35.
James Beaven: 27.
Charlie Pringle: 22.
Aidan Murphy: 23, 22, 22, 20.
Callum White: 20.
BRONZE RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Steven Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Chloe White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 3rd, David O’Callaghan (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 4th, Albert Warren (Salisbury SC); 5th, Callum White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 6th, Harry Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Dan Parks (Woking SC); 2nd, Charlie Pringle (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Liam Ashman (Player’s, Westbury); 4th, Ryan Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC); 6th, Harry Jones (Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon, Surrey).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Ben Crump (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, James Beaven (Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon, Surrey); 3rd, Luke McCormick (Mayfair, Gosport); 4th, Lewis Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 5th, Ben Mulvihill (Woking SC); 6th, Connor Shaw (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP D: 1st, David Rice (Salisbury SC); 2nd, Aidan Murphy (Bristol Conservative Club); 3rd, Connor Benzey (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Ben Hatch (Eastleigh).
QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Murphy 2 S Hughes 1, Beaven 2 Parks 0, Crump 2 Pringle 0, Rice 2 Chloe White 0.
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Murphy 2 Beaven 0, Crump 2 Rice 1.
FINAL (25/18 points): Murphy 2 Crump 0.
Benzey proves he’s a winner
CONNOR Benzey collected his first Cuestars winner’s trophy after accounting for Luke McCormick (Gosport) in the Plate final at Fareham Snooker Club.
The 13-year-old from Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club, who knocked in a personal best 48 break during his home club’s Easter Cup on Good Friday, had finished third in his Bronze round-robin group.
It was McCormick’s first Cuestars trophy.
A total of 49 players took part in the Gold, Silver and Bronze events. Players not qualifying for the knockouts all came together in a handicapped consolation competition.
PLATE RESULTS (ONE-FRAME MATCHES)
LAST-16: Luke McCormick (Mayfair, Gosport) beat Connor Shaw (Greenbaize, Bournemouth), Callum White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth) beat Ben Mulvihill (Woking SC), Albert Warren (Salisbury SC) beat Ryan Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC), Harry Jones (Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon, Surrey) beat Nat Kidner (Greenbaize, Bournemouth), Connor Benzey (Chandler’s Ford SC) beat Bradley Hatch (Eastleigh), Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC) beat Ally Pollard (Salisbury SC), Ben Hatch (Eastleigh) beat Nathan Farmer (Stoke SC, Gosport), Liam Ashman (Player’s, Westbury) beat Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC).
QUARTER-FINALS: McCormick beat White, Jones beat Warren, Benzey beat Reed, Ben Hatch beat Ashman.
SEMI-FINALS: McCormick beat Jones, Benzey beat Ben Hatch.
FINAL: Benzey beat McCormick.
Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)
Lloyd now leads the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour rankings after collecting his third winner’s trophy this season.
A 3-1 victory from 1-0 down against Anthony Rice, from Fordingbridge, in the final of the seventh leg on the new professional table at Fareham Snooker Club earned the 15-year-old £45.
“I started off a bit shaky but I just found something that made me play a little bit better,” said Lloyd, who compiled a 50 break in the third frame.
“Once you get going on it, it’s a nice table. It’s the same as any Star table. If you’re struggling on it, it’s not the best table to play on because they’re not big pockets.”
Earlier, Stewart Ball (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) beat Sam Storey (Crucible, Newbury) in a one-frame tie-breaker for the best third-placed player from the two groups of four as they had identical records.
Lloyd leads Brad Chappell (Greenbaize, Bournemouth), who was knocked out by James Budd (Stoke SC, Gosport) in the quarter-finals, by five points going into the eighth and final leg at Salisbury Snooker Club on Sunday, May 3. Rice is 12 points further back in third.
But it’s a tournament that Lloyd, also based at Stoke SC, may miss as he is due to take on Jack Harris (Walsall) at the EASB finals weekend on May 2-3 in the final of the English Under-16 Championship.
It all depends on which day the national governing body allocates for the match.
Faced with the prospect of national glory, Lloyd admitted: “It wouldn’t be too bad to do well in that.
“Obviously, I want to be national champion. You don’t want to be number two. You go in for a competition to win it.”
Lloyd is 26th on the EASB Premier Junior Tour, which is restricted to the top-49 under-21s in the country, and has earned himself an invite to the European Under-17 Championship in Malta next year.
BREAKS
James Budd: 54, 41.
Mark Lloyd: 50.
Anthony Rice: 50.
GOLD RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Mark Lloyd (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Jonny Mutch (Cambridge SC); 3rd, Anthony Church (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 4th, Mickey Joyce (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Nathan Farmer (Stoke SC, Gosport).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, James Budd (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Mark Wells (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 3rd, Stewart Ball (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 4th, Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Anthony Rice (Salisbury SC); 2nd, Brad Chappell (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 3rd, Sam Storey (Crucible, Newbury); 4th, Jamie Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth).
QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Lloyd 2 Ball 1, Budd 2 Chappell 1, Rice 2 Mutch 0, Wells 2 Church 0.
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Lloyd 2 Budd 1, Rice 2 Wells 0.
FINAL (£45/£20 25/18 points): Lloyd 3 Rice 1. (Refereed by Steve Toms)
Gillon on the brink of Silver success
ONE by one his three title rivals fell by the wayside to leave Gosport teenage Matt Gillon standing alone on the brink of regional glory.
It all fell into place as the 17-year-old collected his second winner’s trophy of the season in the penultimate leg of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour.
Callum McDonald was knocked out in the group stages at Fareham Snooker Club, Gillon beat Stoke clubmate Joe Kitchen in the semi-finals for the third time this season and first-time finalist Drew Hampshire accounted for Jasmine Bolsover in the last-eight.
Gillon - who takes a 20-point lead into the eighth and last leg at Salisbury Snooker Club on Sunday, May 3 - said he “hopes” he has done enough after defeating Hampshire (147 Club, Swindon) 2-1 in the final.
He eased through the first and third frames but was undone by good safety play in the second.
“There was nothing I could do,” admitted Gillon. “I’m awful against tactical (play).”
And he added: “Well done to Drew. It’s good to see him in a final.”
Reflecting on the title race, he said: “I always expect Callum to go through because he’s a good player. He used to beat me in Bronze quite a lot.”
And he said he was pleased to see Bolsover go out because he “can’t beat” the 15-year-old from Woking SC who joins 36 other female cueists from around the globe in Leeds next weekend for the women’s world championships.
Kitchen’s fourth semi-final exit in a row takes him up to second, 20 points adrift of Gillon and two points ahead of one-time rankings leader McDonald (Salisbury SC).
SILVER RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Matt Gillon (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Reece King (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth); 3rd, Drew Hampshire (147 SC, Swindon); 4th, Nat Kidner (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth); 5th, Ally Pollard (Salisbury SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Kaine Petty (Salisbury SC); 2nd, Jasmine Bolsover (Woking SC); 3rd, Lee Fitzpatrick (Totton Rec); 4th, Abhay Chopra (Chandler’s Ford SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Olly Gibbs (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Joe Kitchen (Stoke SC, Gosport); 3rd, Callum McDonald (Salisbury SC); 4th, Bradley Hatch (Eastleigh).
QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Gillon 2 Fitzpatrick 0, Kitchen 2 Petty 1, Gibbs 2 King 1, Hampshire 2 Bolsover 0.
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Gillon 2 Kitchen 1, Hampshire 2 Gibbs 1.
FINAL (25/18 points): Gillon 2 Hampshire 1.
Ice-cool Murphy and high-break Hughes go head-to-head
AN ICE-cool ten-year-old from Bristol has set up a final day shootout with his title rival on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour.
Aidan Murphy defeated first-time finalist Ben Crump, from Gosport, 2-0 to claim his fourth winner’s trophy of the season in the penultimate leg at Fareham Snooker Club.
But beating rankings leader Steven Hughes in a must-win quarter-final match was the key to blowing the title race wide open.
Murphy, who lost his first round-robin match to David Rice (Fordingbridge), qualified in second place from his group.
Lying in wait was Hughes who had won a three-way play-off with David O’Callaghan (Bournemouth) and Chloe White (Portsmouth) to top his group.
A win for the 13-year-old based at Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club would have secured the title.
Murphy took the first frame, Hughes squared the match with his highest break of 43, Murphy edged the decider on the black.
The result means that Hughes leads by seven points going into the eighth and final leg at Salisbury Snooker Club on Sunday, May 3.
Murphy, who plays county pool for Bristol and earlier this season was one frame away from qualifying for the England under-18 pool team, said he’s looking forward to the challenge and his aim is to “win it”.
Insisting he doesn’t feel the pressure, he added: “I just play.”
Elsewhere Hughes’s clubmate Ryan Hughes (no relation) recorded a personal best 35 clearance in his first group-stage match against Liam Ashman (Player’s, Westbury).
BREAKS
Steven Hughes: 43.
Ryan Hughes: 35.
James Beaven: 27.
Charlie Pringle: 22.
Aidan Murphy: 23, 22, 22, 20.
Callum White: 20.
BRONZE RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Steven Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Chloe White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 3rd, David O’Callaghan (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 4th, Albert Warren (Salisbury SC); 5th, Callum White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 6th, Harry Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Dan Parks (Woking SC); 2nd, Charlie Pringle (Chandler’s Ford SC); 3rd, Liam Ashman (Player’s, Westbury); 4th, Ryan Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC); 6th, Harry Jones (Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon, Surrey).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Ben Crump (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, James Beaven (Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon, Surrey); 3rd, Luke McCormick (Mayfair, Gosport); 4th, Lewis Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 5th, Ben Mulvihill (Woking SC); 6th, Connor Shaw (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP D: 1st, David Rice (Salisbury SC); 2nd, Aidan Murphy (Bristol Conservative Club); 3rd, Connor Benzey (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC); 5th, Ben Hatch (Eastleigh).
QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Murphy 2 S Hughes 1, Beaven 2 Parks 0, Crump 2 Pringle 0, Rice 2 Chloe White 0.
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Murphy 2 Beaven 0, Crump 2 Rice 1.
FINAL (25/18 points): Murphy 2 Crump 0.
Benzey proves he’s a winner
CONNOR Benzey collected his first Cuestars winner’s trophy after accounting for Luke McCormick (Gosport) in the Plate final at Fareham Snooker Club.
The 13-year-old from Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club, who knocked in a personal best 48 break during his home club’s Easter Cup on Good Friday, had finished third in his Bronze round-robin group.
It was McCormick’s first Cuestars trophy.
A total of 49 players took part in the Gold, Silver and Bronze events. Players not qualifying for the knockouts all came together in a handicapped consolation competition.
PLATE RESULTS (ONE-FRAME MATCHES)
LAST-16: Luke McCormick (Mayfair, Gosport) beat Connor Shaw (Greenbaize, Bournemouth), Callum White (Copnor SC, Portsmouth) beat Ben Mulvihill (Woking SC), Albert Warren (Salisbury SC) beat Ryan Hughes (Chandler’s Ford SC), Harry Jones (Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon, Surrey) beat Nat Kidner (Greenbaize, Bournemouth), Connor Benzey (Chandler’s Ford SC) beat Bradley Hatch (Eastleigh), Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC) beat Ally Pollard (Salisbury SC), Ben Hatch (Eastleigh) beat Nathan Farmer (Stoke SC, Gosport), Liam Ashman (Player’s, Westbury) beat Oliver Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC).
QUARTER-FINALS: McCormick beat White, Jones beat Warren, Benzey beat Reed, Ben Hatch beat Ashman.
SEMI-FINALS: McCormick beat Jones, Benzey beat Ben Hatch.
FINAL: Benzey beat McCormick.
Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)