Amateur Billiards Circuit: Northampton

Atack Snooker. Derngate Northampton

10th November, 1991

Goodwill wins Shelley's third consecutive final

The season's third Amateur tournament was held at the Attack Centre, Derngate, Northampton. The field of 30 was lower than at Stoke where there were 41 but a pattern is beginning to develop. This seems to be that the field is likely to be somewhere between thirty and forty and of a high amateur quality. The Derngate turnout was affected by a county match down in the South in which Bill Andress and Dick Watts were playing; and by the Darley Dale where Ken Shirley, Jim McCann, Tom Terry, and Ken Hobbs were to be found. It is also obvious that A.B.C. is attracting players who would not normally travel to a Mini-Prix and in this Derek Townend is attaining one of his objectives. It seems a reasonably safe bet that next season will see a higher average attendance, possibly around the 40 - 45 mark.

Pre-match favourites Harvey, Shelley, and Goodwill all came through fairly comfortably but some of the other games were very close indeed. Trevor Gent beat Bob Shanks by just 20, Alan Firth won by only 12, and Chris Hudson by a mere 3. Tony Done, whose form these days, puts him also amongst the favourites, had a string of good breaks in beating Ray Moore attending as a player rather than in his usual capacity as a referee - and getting a tough first-round draw.

Peter Shelley had a century against Chris Hudson whilst Tony Done had two 80s in a good win over Brian Hoole -always a tough opponent. Paul Dunning, leading by 43, must have thought himself through, only to see Phil Welham play out time with 57* to win by 14. Graham Willis did well to beat Brian Harvey. There wasn't a lot in it between Goodwill and Bill Watson.

Shelley had another century in a not-so-easy win over Alan Orton and there was not a lot in it between Welham and Willis. Martin Goodwill had a century against Tony Done who hardly got a look-in. The real nail-biter came between old rivals Alan Firth (Leeds) and Trevor Gent (Liverpool.) This miniature Battle of the Roses saw both players make good breaks with the Lancastrian getting the result by just 4 point.

Amateur Champion Martin Goodwill coasted to a two-hundred-points win against Phil Welham who had done well to get as far as this. Shelley had breaks of 98 and 75 but Trevor Gent replied with 57 and 87 and could count himself perhaps a trifle unfortunate to lose by only 25; but he was up against a very good opponent and had played well to get as far as the semis.

When the two finalists met in the quarters at Stoke the result had been a win for the Stoke man. Goodwill reversed that result with a 100 point win as Shelley's form deteriorated.

Derek Townend writes, "The Final did not live up to expectations and was a little scrappy compared to play in the early rounds."

Northampton Plate

There were no great upsets though Arthur Johnson might have been expected to get through. Bob Shanks had another close finish - 8 - but was a winner this time.

Close games the widest margin being only 37 and the narrowest a mere 13.

David Atack reached a plate final for the first time in a low-scoring win over Bob Ingram, whilst the second semi produced one of those matches that stick in the memory (especially the loser's memory!) and make one-day tournaments so attractive, as Jim Murphy made it past Brian Hoole by a single point.

Both players had done very well to reach the final where Jim Murphy took full advantage of his openings. Seems that professional player John is not the only winner in the Murphy household.