Polegate RBL A win Eastbourne Snooker League title again

The Hailsham Club was the venue for this much anticipated clash. Polegate A versus Glastonbury A. Two teams who, I’m sure most would agree, are well matched player for player.

Polegate were first to name Martin Holmes to kick off the match, while Glastonbury opted for Chris Mason. It was a solid start to the frame, as both attempted to settle down as quickly as possible. However, Chris took control in the latter half of the frame and managed to close out the win through nice defensive play. 0-1 Glastonbury.

Up next was Tokki Yamaguchi and Andy Lawrence, captain versus captain. It was a stuttering start from both players who had chances to take control early on, but once Tokki got going with a 30+ break, it proved too much for Andy to come back at him. 0-2 Glastonbury.

Polegate elected Ian Davis to try and turn things around, while Matt Smith took on the challenge. Both players played some of the best match play of the final so far. It wasn’t the prettiest of frames but neither player let up until only the colours were left. Ian laid a lovely snooker, which Matt took five attempts before he escaped, the momentum shifted generously after that moment and to Polegate’s relief, a possible come back had started. 1-2 Glastonbury.

For the fourth frame, Glastonbury named Mike Goodwin and Polegate’s Nik Driver went to take him on. As ever, whenever these two go head to head, it was the usual frantic full attack style. However, it wasn’t going well for Nik as Mike took great control of the frame and looked to have every chance to wrap up the win, until out of nowhere Nik managed to completely turn around the frame and steal it at the very end. 2-2.

It was all down to the decider between Polegate’s Gary Callingham and Glastonbury’s Gerard Moyse. Gerard’s 30+ break midway through the frame looked to be just enough to be able to ride out the closing stages of the match, yet it wasn’t over yet.

A period of safety followed with four reds left, all tucked up and unavailable, Gerard had a 27 point lead to defend. With a couple of fantastic and confident visits to the table, Gary turned the frame on its head by somehow taking high value colours with all of the remaining reds, to put himself four points ahead.

Later on, a safety error from Gary gave Gerard the perfect opportunity to clear the colours, and looked as if he would. But to everyone’s disbelief, the green he took on rolled off line and stayed out of the pocket, leaving Gary to keep his composure and complete one of the biggest comebacks in recent times.

Polegate A are Astley Roberts cup winners once again! Many thanks to Hailsham Club for hosting the event, and to Jake Richardson for refereeing.