Flu: the perfect tonic
GOSPORT teenager Cameron Gillon (left) climbed out of his sick bed to claim his first tournament win on the Cuestars snooker circuit.
A week in bed suffering with flu proved the perfect tonic to ending his ninth appearance on the South of England Under-21 Silver Tour with a winner’s trophy.
Gillon, who is based at Stoke Snooker Club, compiled a match-winning 52 break in the third-frame decider against Mike Trigg in the final of the third leg at Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon.
The 18-year-old said: “I’m just delighted to finally win one as I feel I’ve been knocking on the door of a big win for a few years and hopefully this kick starts bigger things.
“I was in bed all week up to yesterday with the flu so it was a bit of a weird week for me.”
Trigg, from Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club, admitted he was disappointed to lose his first Silver Tour final after taking the first frame and needing just one ball for victory in the next. But the 17-year-old was philosophical in defeat.
“I was a bit gutted because I was winning the second frame by 21 (points) and there was only 22 on the table,” he said. “But that’s life.”
Gillon, who has never been past the last-four since making his debut in October 2010, paid tribute to his opponent: “Mike is a great all-round player. It could have gone either way. He was very gracious in the defeat.”
Gold Tour player and Stoke clubmate Mark Lloyd said “It was great seeing (Cameron) play well like that.”
Earlier, Gillon had beaten Mickey Joyce 2-0. It was the ten-year-old Chandler’s Ford player’s second successive semi-final defeat. In the group stages, Joyce accounted for the second-leg winner Jasmine Bolsover, 13, from Woking, 2-0.
Gillon and quarter-final casualty Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury) are joint top of the rankings, one point ahead of Nathan Farmer (Stoke SC, Gosport).
The fourth leg of eight is at the Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, on Sunday, January 5.
BREAKS
Cameron Gillon: 52, 33, 32, 30.
SILVER RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Mickey Joyce (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Bradley Cowdroy (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth); 3rd, Canberk Benning (Jesters, Swindon); 4th, Jasmine Bolsover (Woking SC); 5th, Jamie Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Cameron Gillon (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Bradley Leishman (Stoke SC, Gosport); 3rd, Lewis Parnham (SWSA, Gloucester); 4th, Matt Gillon (Stoke SC, Gosport).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP C: 1st, Conor Flanagan (Jesters, Swindon); 2nd, Nathan Farmer (Stoke SC, Gosport); 3rd, Joe Kitchen (Stoke SC, Gosport); 4th, Dan Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP D: 1st, Mike Trigg (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Callum Browne (Player’s, Westbury); 3rd, Austen Petty (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Thomas Holton (Woking SC).
QUARTER-FINALS (12 points): Joyce beat Browne 2-0, C Gillon beat Farmer 2-1, Flanagan beat Leishman 2-0, Trigg beat Cowdroy 2-0.
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Gillon beat Joyce 2-0, Trigg beat Flanagan 2-1.
FINAL (25/18 points): Gillon beat Trigg 2-1.
Ten-year-old Gibbs retains number one spot Carr motors to debut winEAST Sussex cueman Dan Carr admitted that prize money was the “extra incentive” to produce a debut to remember on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour.
Carr opened his account with a hard fought 3-2 victory over home player Joshua Lee in the final of the third leg at Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon.
The Hailsham Memorial Institute teenager, who finished third in the Silver Tour rankings last season, said: “I think both Josh and I were quite nervous in the final but he started really well in the first frame and went ahead.
“When I go behind it always spurs me on and I managed to win the next two before Josh fought back to equal the match at 2-2.
“I really wanted to win, especially now there is a prize fund. It’s extra incentive.
“So I was more wary in the last frame and got some snookers towards the end before clearing the colours to win. It was a great match and very close.”
The 18-year-old made a 56 break in his 3-0 semi-final victory over Reece Palmer (Woking SC).
Rankings leader Lee, who also lost to Carr in the group stages, beat Troy Bodman (Jesters, Swindon) 3-1 in the last-four. It was his second outing this season and his second runners-up spot.
The fourth leg of eight is at the Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, on Sunday, January 5.
BREAKS
Dan Carr: 56.
GOLD RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Dan Carr (Hailsham Memorial Institute, East Sussex); 2nd, Joshua Lee (Jesters, Swindon); 3rd, Cameron Holt (Liberal Club, High Wycombe); 4th, Mark Lloyd (Stoke SC, Gosport); 5th, Ollie Clark (Chandler’s Ford SC).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Troy Bodman (Jesters, Swindon); 2nd, Reece Palmer (Woking SC); 3rd, Ollie Parsons (Jesters, Swindon); 4th, James Budd (Stoke SC, Gosport); 5th, Connor McLean (Hailsham Memorial Institute, East Sussex).
SEMI-FINALS (£5, 15 points): Carr beat Palmer 3-0, Lee beat Bodman 3-1.
FINAL (£25/£15, 25/18 points): Carr beat Lee 3-2.
Ten-year-old Gibbs retains number one spot
GOSPORT’S phenomenally natural young potter Ollie Gibbs (below) retained his number one spot on a regional snooker tour with his second winner’s trophy of the season.
The ten-year-old was victorious in the third event on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour at Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon.
Unbeaten in the group stages, Gibbs, who also won the first leg in Salisbury on his debut but went out in the quarter-finals at Woking last month, defeated title rival Luke Beebe 2-0 in the final on the club’s show table.
Grandad Charles Dartmouth described the youngster as a “wonderful lad” who has now “got the bug of winning things”.
The result means that players from Stoke Snooker Club, Gosport, won three of the four Swindon finals as Cameron Gillon collected the Silver trophy and Mark Lloyd won the Plate.
It was a second successive final defeat for Beebe from Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club. The 12-year-old won all six group games and then, in the last-four, beat Edward James (Woking SC), whom he had lost to in last month’s final.
In only his sixth appearance on the tour, Nat Kidner (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) reached his first semi-final where he was defeated 2-1 by the eventual champion.
Second-placed Beebe now trails Gibbs by 11 points. James is third.
The fourth leg of eight is at the Greenbaize Snooker Club, Bournemouth, on Sunday, January 5.
BRONZE RESULTS
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Luke Beebe (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Nat Kidner (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 3rd, Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC); 4th, Kaine Petty (Salisbury SC); 5th, Ally Pollard (Salisbury SC); 6th, Ben Tillison (Copnor SC, Portsmouth); 7th, Ben Hatch (Southampton).
ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Ollie Gibbs (Stoke SC, Gosport); 2nd, Edward James (Woking SC); 3rd, Sam Warren (Chandler’s Ford SC); 4th, Callum McDonald (Salisbury SC); 5th, Adam Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth); 6th, Harry Cook (Woking SC).
SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Gibbs beat Kidner 2-1, Beebe beat James 2-1.
FINAL (25/18 points): Gibbs beat Beebe 2-0.
Lloyd cleans up in the Plate, again
GOSPORT’S Mark Lloyd collected his second successive Plate trophy at Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon.
The 14-year-old, who is second on the Gold Tour rankings, defeated Cameron Holt (Liberal Club, High Wycombe) 2-0 in the final.
PLATE RESULTS (ONE-FRAME MATCHES)
LAST-32: Matt Gillon (Stoke SC, Gosport) beat Ben Hatch (Southampton), Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC) beat Sam Warren (Chandler’s Ford SC), Dan Sykes (Chandler’s Ford SC) beat Lewis Parnham (SWSA, Gloucester), Ally Pollard (Salisbury SC) beat Joe Kitchen (Stoke SC, Gosport), Mark Lloyd (Stoke SC, Gosport) beat Jamie Wilson (Copnor SC, Portsmouth), Kaine Petty (Salisbury SC) beat Adam Cowdroy (Greenbaize SC, Bournemouth).
LAST-16: Gillon beat Reed, James Budd (Stoke SC, Gosport) beat Thomas Holton (Woking SC), Sykes beat Austen Petty (Chandler’s Ford SC), Canberk Benning (Jesters, Swindon) beat Pollard, Callum McDonald (Salisbury SC) beat Ollie Parsons (Jesters, Swindon), K Petty beat Connor McLean (Hailsham Memorial Institute, East Sussex).
QUARTER-FINALS: Gillon beat Budd, Cameron Holt (Liberal Club, High Wycombe) beat Sykes, Lloyd beat Benning, McDonald beat K Petty.
SEMI-FINALS: Lloyd beat McDonald, Holt beat Gillon.
FINAL: Lloyd beat Holt 2-0.