Gary Spencer was over the moon as he fought back from 2-0 behind to beat Steve Donner 4-3 in a superb Senior Handicap Snooker Championship final on Sunday evening. It was Gary’s first tournament victory for thirteen years and he was really pleased that his wife and father were able to witness his excellent performance in a pulsating final.

A huge thanks to Paul Wainwright for scoring, Wayne Martin for refereeing and BCI Snooker Centre for providing the use of their match table. Full match report below, courtesy of Wayne Martin.

Steve Butler
Nottingham Snooker

Match Report

Frame 1
Steve getting in early here and dominating proceedings in a 71-26 win.

Frame 2
Again it was Steve taking control, this time with a great 55 break that put him 2-0 ahead and looking like this final would be over very quickly.

Frame 3
A tighter frame with both players getting chances. Steve getting an early lead and looking to finish things off before missing an unexpected red and letting Gary back in. Gary cleared to the pink with a great 44 break to get himself on the scoreboard and back in the match.

Frame 4
Gary now playing with some fluency and taking this frame with the help of a great 55 break to even things up at the interval.

Frame 5
Again both players having chances and scoring with mini breaks, Steve taking the lead and then missing with a red left on. Gary stepped up and cleared with an excellent 30 break to go one from the title.

Frame 6
Both players not really getting ideal position in this frame but Steve made the most of Gary’s mistakes and fired in a solid 43 break to take the match into a deciding frame.

Deciding Frame
This match really deserved an exciting, nerve shredding deciding frame and it didn’t disappoint.

Steve got the 21 handicap back quite quickly but couldn’t really pull away from Gary, the match going down to the colours to decide the champion.

Gary took advantage of some uncharacteristic misses from the County A player and finished the frame off to take the match in fine style.

Frame Scores (Gary first)
26-71, 35-87(55), 76(44)-62, 90(55)-5, 71(30)-64, 26-79(43), 70-46

Gary received 21 points start per frame

Prize Money & Trophies

Winner: £100 + Trophy
Runner-up: £50 + Trophy
Losing semi-finalists: £25

Results from earlier rounds

Semi-Finals

1. Chris Winter 0-3 Gary Spencer
   Gary received 14 points start per frame
2. Wayne Martin 0-3 Steve Donner (59)
   No start received or given (both players -21)

Quarter-Finals

1. Wayne Martin (64) 3-0 Audie Miller
   Audie received 14 points start per frame
2. Lee Thorn 1-4 Gary Spencer
   Lee received 7 points start per frame
3. Chris Winter w/o – scr Adam Cupit
   Adam receives 14 points start per frame
4. Terry Dowson 0-2 Steve Donner (73)
   Terry received 14 points start per frame

Last 16

1. Gary Spencer 2-1 Richard Pedley
   Richard received 35 start per frame
2. Adam Cupit 3-1 Patrick Ashurst
   No start received or given (both players 0)
3. Cary Davies 0-3 Lee Thorn
   Lee received 14 start per frame
4. Chris Winter 3-2 Ant McMahon
   Ant received 7 start per frame
5. Sam Burton 2-3 Wayne Martin (51 break)
   Sam received 28 start per frame
6. Steve Donner 3-0 Keith Holgate
   No start received or given (both players -21)
7. Terry Dowson 3-0 Adam Hussain
   No start received or given (both players -7)
8. Martin Conway 0-2 Audie Miller
   No start received or given (both players -7)

Preliminary Round

1. Dean North 1-2 Adam Cupit
   Dean received 21 start per frame
2. Manfred Corbin 0-2 Terry Dowson
   Manfred received 7 start per frame
3. Martin Conway 3-2 Mick Garratt
   Mick received 14 start per frame
4. Selina Dean 1-3 Sam Burton
   Selina received 21 start per frame
5. Tony Casey 0-2 Patrick Ashurst (55 break)
   Tony received 14 start per frame
6. Keith Holgate 2-1 Moe Anyanwu
   Moe received 21 start per frame
7. Adam Hussain 2-0 Robert Garratt
   Robert received 7 start per frame
8. Ben Monk 0-3 Audie Miller (58 break)
   Audie received 7 start per frame
9. Wayne Martin 3-2 Andrew Diacopoulos
   No start received or given (both players -21)
10. Dale Prime 1-2 Richard Pedley
    Richard received 49 start per frame