AMATEUR BILLIARDS CIRCUIT

Atack SC, Nuneaton

Sunday 11th November 2001

Lee Lagan returns to form and wins the second English ranking event.

The second English ranking tournament at Nuneaton saw 53 enthusiasts gather at the Atack Snooker Centre. Several of the junior players were again in attendance and two of them, 14 year-old Callum Robinson and 12 year-old Dominic Mulhall, did well to overcome their more experience senior opponents in the opening round. The early games also saw the closest match of the competition as John Smith defeated Martin Phillips by just one point! There were three century makers in this round as David Nichols (137unf), Lee Lagan (134) and Jim McCann (101), all showed early signs of form.

David Nichols failed to build on his good start to the competition as he went out in the next round to John Hartley whose 67 break was the difference between the players in a 281-233 scoreline. Lagan and McCann however, both continued to excel, McCann making three 50+ breaks in an impressive 370-114 win against the tough Yorkshireman Richard Lodge, and Lagan demolishing young Matthew Sutton with runs of 137, 96, 80 and 73. Lagan´s one hour aggregate of 471 being the best of the day. Branson Hoole also produced a good performance to eliminate the 2000 English Champion, Phillip Welham. An unfinished break of 58 by Welham making the final score of 298-246 somewhat more respectable.

Hoole's victory earned him a tie against Lee Lagan, but found the Teesside star to be in unstoppable form, as he completed a 339-165 victory with breaks of 78 and 63. McCann also recorded a comfortable 325-130 win over Chris Ross, but the highest scoring match of the second round was Darren Kell's 336-239 result against Bill Andress. Brian Harvey and Peter Shelley both recorded 80+ breaks in their match, but Harvey just managed to edge a close match 278-249.

The quarter-finals saw Harvey open up a lead of almost 200 points against Darren Kell, completely dominating the early part of the game. Kell performed better in the later stages of the match, but Harvey held on for a good 41 point victory against the current English No.2 player. John Smith who had progressed to this stage with a narrow 14 point win over John Hartley in the previous round, was now taking more of a spectator's role as he encountered Lee Lagan in full flow. Breaks of 102, 99, 60 and 59 where the highlights of a 443-106 result for the Teessider. The semi-final line-up was completed by Jim McCann and Michael White who had wins over Tony James and Stephen Crosland respectively.

"Magnificent" is the best description of Lee Lagan's break of 248 in his semi-final match against Michael White. This huge effort carried him to a 415-243 win, White also contributing a run of 65, which in the face of such a performance from his opponent, could be considered a particularly fine showing. Jim McCann had a much closer match against Brian Harvey, but eventually prevailed 251-226 to set up a meeting with Lagan in the final.

Lagan continued his run of high scoring to the end, putting together breaks of 97, 85, 63 and 62 to accumulate over 400 points for the fourth time in his six one-hour matches during the course of the day. McCann, with a best break of 58, struggled to stay in touch, eventually having to concede the match 445-232. Lagan took £175 for his day's work, including £25 for his high break of 248. McCann had the consolation of £75 for his place as runner-up, but more importantly his second consecutive appearance in an ABC final took him to the head of the provisional English ranking list. After two events he established a five point lead over Lagan with Brian Harvey a further five points adrift in third.

Gerry Dickson earned some additional ranking points by taking the Plate competition, defeating Mark Hatton 237-165 in the one-hour final. He had overcome Norman Routledge in the semi-finals whilst Hatton earned his place in the final at the expense of 16 year-old Billy Bousfield.

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