On Monday evening, Tenby County Club (sponsored by LG Leisure) played host to Eddies from Haverfordwest and were 3-2 losers. The first frame saw captain Glyn Davies play Rhys Morgan (a former Welsh amateur team player and ranked number five under 19 in Wales). Glyn started well, with some good safety, but a simple miss on the pink then let Rhys in with a 22 break. From this point, Glyn was always chasing the game, which he eventually lost convincingly. The second frame saw Martin Durham take on Eddie McPhearson. Martin started cautiously, but soon got going with a 19 break and, now flowing, extended his advantage to 27 points midway through as his opponent didn't seem to offer much in retaliation. Martin then stretched his lead to 35 points to put him firmly in control of the frame and, despite a minor fightback by his opponent, he kept his composure to win it comfortably. The third frame saw an in-form Steve Cook take on Phil Dales. This game was nip and tuck, with neither player giving an inch and the lead changing hands with each visit to the table. It developed into a gruelling battle, but it was Steve who shone through at the end with an 18 clearance. The fourth frame saw another in-form player, Mark Cleevely, take on Eddie Collins, and it was Eddie who opened up a small lead early on, only to extend it to 23 points midway through. However, Mark came back with a 14 break to narrow the gap, before Eddie again extended his lead to 31 points with a 24 break, to leave Mark in all sorts of trouble. But Mark did not give up. He fought back strongly to close the gap to 21, and going into the colours, it was still anyone's game, but it was Eddie who triumphed in the end. The last frame saw Darren Morgan play Peter Smiddy. He started slowly, against a solid player in Peter, going behind early by 14 points. Darren then got going, to close the gap to two, and was starting to think the game through (unusual for him), but Peter was playing some excellent safety of his own, to frustrate the Tenby player. Darren then took a 10-point lead, only for his opponent to come back again, and it was still close coming to the colours, with Darren holding a narrow four-point advantage. Unfortunately, some silly fouls let his opponent back in and he closed out the game on the blue. Unlucky Darren.

CUP SUCCESS

The previous Wednesday, the County Club team played away to the Balfour Club in Haverfordwest in the quarter-final of the Jimmy Allen Cup. The format for this cup is two singles, two doubles, with the aggregate scores to count, and in the end Tenby ran out comfortable winners. The first frame saw Mark Cleevely take on P. Jenkins. Mark started slowly against an experienced opponent, but then produced some wonderful snooker to lead midway through. When Mark is in this sort of form, he is a pleasure to watch, and he easily went on to win the frame by 34 points. The second frame saw the doubles of Martin Durham and Dave Wooles against T. McBride and S. McQuarry. Both Dave and Martin started slowly, letting their opponents open up an early lead of 25 points, and this increased to 38 soon after. However, if the Tenby side was to keep its points advantage, they would have to battle to close the gap. Dave started the fightback with a couple of excellent pots to reduce the lead by 10 points, but the Balfour boys then extended their advantage again to 26. With only the blue, pink and black left, Martin decided to pot them, to keep the scores down, and what three magnificent pots they were (nine times out of 10 he would have missed them!). The aggregate was now down to only plus-26 points, but thanks go to Martin and Dave for only losing by eight. The third frame saw Steve Cook take on Paul Harries. Steve, the team's best player, once again gave a masterclass in potting, easily winning by 66 points to stretch the aggregate to 94 in favour of Tenby. The last frame saw Glyn Davies and Darren Morgan take on Alan and Anthony Griffiths. With a 94-point lead, the Tenby boys were never troubled, sealing a very comfortable win for Tenby by over 135 points.