Scottish Pool Association

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The event started with Antz Morrison in yet another "tie of the round" match following his first event tussle with Iain Gillies. This time Kilsyth's finest was up against Alan Reynolds which Renzie took by 6 frames to 3. Other notable ties in the opening round were B2 player Chris Slack v B2 manager Alan Maxwell, which Chris blitzed by 6 frames to 1. The battle of the Airdrie boys saw Ross Hendrie edge a ten frame battle against Andy Norrie. Mens A team manager Graeme McKeown was a faller at this stage however, losing in a final frame decider to former Under 21 player Graham Sillars.

The last 64 in the bottom half is played on the Saturday but was somewhat curtailed due to matches running on longer. The bottom eight matches were held over until the Sunday but the eight matches that were played were entertaining. Graham Sillars' excellent run was halted by Ladies international Denise Laing, while her team mate Yvonne Ewing disposed of Tam O'Ware on the other table. Niven Adams produced arguably the surprise result of the day by beating Ulsterman Danny Kinney by 6 frames to 4, while Martin Fisher edged out Gary Skene. One of the first matches on in the Sunday morning was one of the best of the weekend. Scott Gillespie and John Macfarlane are both capable of winning the event, and for one of them to have had to exit the tournament so early was unfortunate. The match did not disappoint, as Scott Gillespie edged in the decider. Darren Mooney beat Johnny Kemp 6-4, while Chris Slack's impressive run continued with a 6-4 victory over Paul Cruickshank. Iain Gillies and Renzie set up a repeat of their first round tie from the last event while Jayson Shaw in the bottom half demolished Russel Young 6-0.

The last 32 as always was highly entertaining, with first of all Scott Gillespie maintaining his impressive run with a 6-0 dismantling of Bob Drover Douglas. The girls unfortunately (no bias here - lol!!) exited the event at this stage too with Mark Armstrong and Pat Holtz proving too strong for Denise Laing and Yvonne Ewing respectively. Former A team player Bert McAdam beat current A team player Martin Fisher, while Chris Slack's run was brought juddering to a halt by Darren Mooney. IM1 winner Ross McInnes continued his recent run of form by beating Livvy's Davie Forrest and Braes Billy Coleman beat the conqueror of Danny Kinney by 6 frames to 5. The World Masters Champion was in no mood for messing about either as he dusted Woody in double quick time, while Renzie beat Iain Gillies 6-3.

The last 16 was quality from top to bottom. Scott Gillespie's run was brought to a halt by renaissance man McInnes, likewise Michael Collumb by Renzie. Fellow renaissance men Bert McAdam and Chic McCaig's impressive form carried them to the quarters at the expense of Mark Armstrong and David Riggins respectively; the latter being a fabulous match to watch which went the distance. Scott Lynn and Scott Ross progressed to set up a repeat of their world masters semi final, and it was business as usual for Pat Holtz and Jayson Shaw who beat Billy Coleman and Stuart Weeks.

In the quarters, the battle of the "auld heids" McInnes v Renzie went the way of Ross, in a masterclass display of "the fudge break", while Scott Ross again got the better of Scott Lynn to set up a clash with fellow former Scottish champ McInnes. In the bottom half, we had two local derbies as Hamilton's Pat Holtz and Bert McAdam battled it out while Glasgow's Chic McCaig and Jayson Shaw fought the other tie. Pat came through 7-4 and Jayson prevailed against Chic by a 5 frame margin.

Ross McInnes v Scott Ross and Pat Holtz v Jayson Shaw could conceivably be a pick of many for their dream semi final matchups, and this was the line up we all watched at this event. Some absolutely fantastic pool was played, frightening to watch sometimes, particularly in the Holtz v Shaw match. So much so that as onlookers we were somewhat disappointed when a frame was NOT dished from what seemed like an impossible position. This match went to a final frame decider, which Jayson took, and was a match fit to grace any final, never mind a semi final. The other semi was our live streamed match which also provided huge entertainment for the watching audience. Again this went the whole road, and it was to be no second final on the trot for Ross, as Bossman edged him out to take his place in the final against Jayson.

The late hour meant that the number of frames was cut, but lesser frames most certainly did not mean lesser quality. Jayson eventually took the title by two frames, adding to his already impressive tally of titles. Bossman clearly took confidence from his World Masters win and is back once again at the business end of tournaments where his undoubted talents deserve to be showcased. Jayson's win moved him to the top of the rankings deposing Scott Gillespie for the first time this season. I'm sure Scott will want to rectify that situation at the next event in Inverness. Well done to both guys, always an absolute pleasure to watch, can't wait for the next one!!

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