Match Write-Up

Game One – CM_cydjabbo def. LS_simon.kitto - There wasn’t a lot going on in the early stages of this game, neither player really wanted to open things up too much to avoid exposing an easy run. Simon then started shooting with some intent and in an attempt to open the table he knocked the black in – it was apparent that he would be colliding with the 8, but must have considered it a risk worth taking. Evidently it wasn’t and CM took an early 1-0 lead.

Game Two – LS_Ihatejustin def. CM_john_foret - Perry has complete control of this game, frustrating John who is clearly no fan of a snooker battle. Perry has the game pretty much wrapped up since John only has two balls left on the table and pretty much no way of hitting them. However Perry somehow manages to hand the advantage to John, who is faced with a simple 3 ball run out. He can’t manage it and misses a really easy 8 ball into the top left corner and Perry has the simple task of draining his remaining 3 balls and the 8. He ties it up at 1-1.

Game Three – LS_the.bawbag def. CM_you_might_lose - Raymie plays it smart and makes sure he keeps the majority of his solids on the table while You Might chips away at the tally of his stripes remaining. Although Ray’s tactics were obvious enough, You Might chose to ignore the tactical battle and just continued trying to make his balls. Eventually he would be in a position where he wasn’t going to be able to sink any of his and clearly in the next shot Ray would have a clear run – he then tried to force his stripe down the rail past one of Ray’s solids that was blocking the pocket. It was a good effort but it hung close the bag. It was debatable whether Ray could by-pass this ball to run out the table, but with re-assurances from his team-mates that he could make it past, he went on to clear the rack and put LS 2-1 in front.

Game Four – LS_canuck_stoner def. CM_sic_pool - After a very long, and boring, tap-fest at the start of this match (which must have lasted for at least 10 minutes), the game soon opened up when Canuck went gung-ho at a run and came very close, clearing every striped ball bar two. Sic would then return the compliment, and having ran out of position after sinking 3 balls, he would fail miserably at an attempt to start a safety exchange. Left in place to finish the rack, Canuck would complicate things a little by leaving a long-range 8 ball into the bottom right pocket. He took his time and played the shot well to put LS in the comfortable position of not being able to lose the match, at 3-1.

Game Five – LS_tam_s0 def. CM_enabled - Enabled would produce a good break-off, spreading the table nicely, inviting him to have a go at the solids. A semi-difficult long shot would rattle in the jaws though, leaving Tam with the opportunity. He in turn would open with a nice shot, leaving himself a path to run the table. His next shot wasn’t so nice, as it knocked his orange stripe toward the top right pocket blocked by the 8. It proved no problem though, as he would later go on to bank it into the bottom right corner and put together a well planned run to seal victory for LS. 4-1.

Game Six – CM_dbl.shots def. LS_tonzmaniac - Tonz would nearly put the icing on the cake for LS with a very polished 6-ball run very early on in the rack, but his final stripe was a bit short of pace and would fall short of the top left pocket. Double shots then finished the match off in assured style, restoring some respectability for CM and making my prediction correct! W00t!!! 4-2 LS it finished.

Anyways, was an interesting match to ref, no sportsmanship issues or otherwise, even if a couple of CM’s players aren’t too big on safeties there were no problems surrounding them. As far as the playing goes, LS came out, kept it solid and did what they needed to do to win the match. They played the right shots and got the wins in the important games, which is what they need to keep on doing to pick up the 1st seed in this conference. CM didn't play badly though and shouldn’t feel too downhearted about the loss, most of the match-ups could have gone either way (for example, Enabled was very close to executing his run-break before he jawed a long ball and Tam cleared up to make it 4-1). From what I saw they have decent enough players and should definitely be continuing to push on towards a play-off spot at the end of the season. Well... that's all I got. Thanks for reading. In a bit. Ogges.