East Kilbride Pool League Web Forum

[Oby]

The day started with myself, Stuart Robertson, Grant McNairn and Kevin Irving going up early to set up the hall and prepare the tables. All three tables were brushed, sprayed with cloth cleaner, brushed and then ironed, TWICE!. Table 3 was moved away from the wall (that its usually too near to) and all three tables were levelled. After levelling the baulk line was redrawn on each table. The tables were in as good a condition as i ever remember them with several of the Monklands players (and EK ones too) commenting on how good they were. So, a big thank you to those who helped me get them prepared!

Onto the tournament. The draw was carried out by myself and John Brownlie, with Ian Livingstone witnessing. As planned, the 8 EK players were drawn directly against a Monklands player, with the draw continuing as set out from the first round. The matches in the first round werent played in order due to a couple of travel arrangements going the shape of a pear, so 3 matches were put on "early" and after that the first round was played out "from top to bottom".

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Last 16

Kevin Irving V Robert Hoey JNR, Stuart Robertson V Kenny Donald and Grant McNairn V John Brownlie were the first 3 matches on.

Kevin never got into any kind of rhythm in his game. A few bad rolls and a couple of errors seen him start to go behind and in the end Robert pulled away to lead 5-3. Kevin hung on in but never got much chance to peg back and Robert played solidly to run out the rest of the match.

Stu got off to a decent start in what was to be a tough match against IMO the tournaments 2nd favourite. Stu played well for most part, but just didnt get the chances to win many frames (due to Kennys experience and good play). Stu threw away one frame, which may have been the turning point as hed have been almost level if hed won it. In the end Kenny won comfortably but Stu only played a couple of bad shots in 10 frames against Scotland class opposition.

Grant V John Brownlie never quite got off to the start many would have predicted. Grant played solid but never managed to get going against the tournament favourite, at least not like we know he can. Some excellent shotmaking in the match, and toward the end a couple of excellent finishes. John ran out the winner to a good scoreline with John knowing he hadnt seen Grant at his best with the quote "he was one (of the) draw(s) i didnt want" as hes seen as much as Grant play as any other EK player (myself excluded) he obviously knew Grants potential.

John Purdie V Hugh McBride was a high quality match with a lot of excellent potting and clinical finishes. Very few missed pots throughout seen the match go almost all the way. One crucial missed pot by John being the difference between a decider and his defeat. 7-5 loss was to be a good scoreline considering what was to come later from his opponent

Lee Miller V Stevie "the cue" Johnson seen both players not hit the ground running at all. Both of them missed chances theyd expect to take out, but it was more unlucky rolls and one error per frame that was costing them. It went to a decider with nobody being able to pick the winner given that none had got into their stride by 6-6. In the end it was another Monklands win , Stevie winning the deciding frame.

Arthur Russo V Gary "the ego" Ferguson was a mixed bag of great play, errors, bad luck and great shotmaking. Gary pulled ahead and perhaps was a bit fortunate to lead 6-2 getting a couple of good bits of fortune and also benefiting from Arthur suffering from his last yellow bouncing out of the pocket in a frame where he had a hanging 8 ball left to pot. At 6-2 down there wasnt much in both their play but the scoreline still remained. Arthur hung in and played some super shots and dug deep to pull the match to a decider but never managed to get over the line in what was a strange match which had a bit of everything.

Ian Livingstone and Mark O'brien were the only 2 EK players to progress (and they were drawn against each other in the next round)

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The Quarter Finals

Mark O'Brien V Ian Livingstone started with Mark racing into a 3-0 lead in less than 10 minutes with 2 good clearances and a bit of luck in the other frame. Ian won the next 4 frames in clinical fashion taking out 2 great finishes also. The next few frames went one for one until a decider which Ian clinched after Mark had failed to get on his last red in a tricky finish.

Hugh McBride V Robert Hoey JNR was all one way traffic after the first frame. Robert won the first but never won another frame as Hugh took out finish after finish after gaining tactical advantage in most frames. Robert never played bad, just Hugh being too good on the day.

Stevie Johnson V Kenny Donald was eachy peachy throughout until 4-4 where Kenny managed to edge out the match. The match was mostly one chance pool with both players playing open.

Gary Ferguson V John Brownlie was another good match. Gary perhaps should have been ahead at the midway point, but again Johns shotmaking, snooker escapes and finishes proved too strong for Gary and John eventually won 6-3 in a match that was a little closer than the scoreline suggests.

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The Semi Finals

Ian Livinstone V Hugh McBride was the longest match of the day, not surprsingly to those who know how good tactically both are, though this was in contrast to both their Quarter Final matches theyd won with more attacking play. The balls just seemed to roll "smelly" and so quite a few of the frames were tactical, but it was a very high standard match which Hugh edged out by a couple of frames.

Kenny Donald V John Brownlie was a very attacking match in which both players only made a couple of errors throughout. The main difference being Johns ability to try to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory only to turn it around with a master shot (not without a bit of good fortune though). John won 6-3, but at 5-3 up could quite have easily been the other way in Kennys favour..

* The players in both Semis have played or do play pool for Scotland at B team level *

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The Final

Hugh McBride and John Brownlie played well throughout the match with a few tasty finishes in among some great shotmaking and safety. There wasnt much safety though as the match only lasted 35 minutes for the 8 frames played. John took an early 3-1 lead which was the turning point in the match as Hugh won the next 4 frames with some excellent play.

Well done Hugh McBride!!

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RESULTS