The annual Saffron Walden and District Snooker League Memorial Cup tournament, took place at Saffron Walden Snooker Club on the Sunday 18th November 2018, kindly sponsored by Stalley & Manley Builders and Decorators.  The tournament format; 20 league players split into two groups of 10. Nine round robin matches, played off league handicaps.  The prize, two tickets to both the afternoon and evening sessions of the Masters Snooker Championship at the Ali Pali on Monday 14  January 2019.

Group Stages

Both groups were closely contested, both decided by the final round of matches.  If tied, the player who won the corresponding head to head match would progress.

Sam Duce won group A outright with 7/9 frames.  Second place tied between John Manley and Trevor Parsons 6/9 frames.  John progressing by head to head result.  Group B was won outright by Aaron Gibson 8/9 frames.  Second place tied between Leon Mozjeko and Mark Starr 7/9 frames. Leon progressing by his head-to-head result.

Semi-Finals

Sam Duce (-22) vs Leon Mozejko (+16) – Single frame

Aaron Gibson (-4) vs John Manley (-10) – Single frame

The two group runners up progressed to the final.  The head start too much for Sam, with continued good play from Leon, his second successive final.  Aaron’s great form shown during the round robin stages eluded him.  Johns solid play saw him gain a place in the final.

Final

Leon Mozejko (+16) vs John Manley (-10) – Best-of -Three Frames

John started the match better, Leon a little nervy.  The players were almost level approaching the end of frame one. John looking the favourite.  A pivotal moment changed the direction of the match.  Leon’s safety shot, with a flick off the yellow snookered John behind the brown ball.  From this, Leon’s consistent form shown all day came to the fore.  Clinching the frame and winning the final 2-0.

Alongside the main tournament, a high break award.  This year, a player’s handicap would influence their high break.  Adding points to a player with a high handicap and subtracting from the lower handicapped, on a sliding scale.  This introduced to enable any player a chance of winning.  Last year’s overall tournament winner Simon Giblin won the high break award by one point over Jamie Sanderson.

Big thanks for all 20 players whom made the competition a success, enjoyed by all, Saffron Snooker Club for the venue and preparing the tables to the highest quality and finally our Life President Dan Lewis for running the event.

Report by Phil Chapman

**ALL PLACES NOW TAKEN**

Following the success of previous seasons, the Memorial Cup will once again be played in the format of round robin singles with each player playing 1 frame against each other in their group.  All matches including the knock out stages will be played off of league handicaps and time limited to 30 minutes per frame.  The entry fee will be £10.00 which includes your table light all day, with the winner and runner up of each group going through to the knock out semi finals stage.  The semi finals will be 1 frame time limited to 30 minutes, and the final will be best-of-three frames, no time limit.  Entry will be limited to 20 players on a first come, first paid in advance basis.  With the two round robin groups having 10 players in each, your £10 entry guarantees a minimum of 9 frames of snooker!

Date: Sunday 18 November 2018
Registration from: 10.00am
Start time: 10.30am
Venue: Saffron Snooker Club

The winner of the tournament will receive a pair of tickets to both the afternoon and evening sessions at the Master Snooker Tournament in January 2019.  Date to be advised.

Due to the tournament being limited to 20 entrants, entries must be made in advance of the day.  You can secure your place by paying the £10 entry fee via Paypal payment processing.  You don’t need a PayPal account to do this, just have any debit or credit card handy!  Please use your name as the payment reference.  If you wish to pay for other players as well as yourself, please email swdsl@live.co.uk to let us know who you have paid for.  You can also pay cash prior to the day to either the Tournament Secretary Adam Ingram or League Chairman/Treasurer Peter Saville.  Please remember all entries are only secured once payment has been received.  A list of entrants will be added to the website as entries are received.  If we do not have 20 entrants by 12pm on Saturday 17 November 2018 then the tournament will be cancelled and all entry monies will be returned.

Don’t miss out, click here to reserve your place and pay via PayPal or debit/credit card now.

Confirmed Paid Entries;
1.   Trevor Parsons
2.   Adam Ingram
3.   Steve Stalley
4.   Leon Mozejko
5.   Bob Fox
6.   Chris Coney
7.   Rob Jones
8.   Jamie Sanderson
9.   Rob Spackman
10.  Aaron Gibson
11.  Mark Starr
12.  Phil Chapman
13.  Simon Chapman
14.  Martin Capdeville
15.  Simon Giblin
16.  Sam Duce
17.  John Manley
18.  Shaun Hunt
19.  Chris Clarke
20.  Bill Clenshaw

Reserve List;
1.  Adrian Shoebridge
2.  Richard Livings