IT WAS a bizarre finish to the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold Tour final at Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club, near Southampton.

Convinced the fourth frame was already won, Daniel Woods casually slapped in a tricky match-ball black to beat Stuart Scott (Romford SC) 3-1.

But the 21-year-old university student’s maths were a tad out.

Playing on home tables, last season’s rankings winner trailed by 42 points with seven reds left. He reduced the deficit to eight points with the last four colours left.

Presented with a chance, Woods cleared brown, blue and pink to lead by seven. And he nonchalantly stroked the black into the middle pocket. 

“Thinking I’d won, I just hit the black down as if it didn’t really matter when I needed it to win,” explained Woods.

“I probably would’ve missed it if I actually thought it meant anything. So it was quite lucky.”

A miss would have presented Scott with a chance of forcing a re-spotted black.

Woods accounted for rankings leader Ben Tanner (The Academy, Eastleigh) 3-1 in the last-four. Scott edged Tanner’s clubmate Lee Bell 3-2 in the second semi.

Second-placed Danny Tallentire (Player’s, Westbury) was denied a knockout place after losing 3-2 to Oliver Parsons (Jesters, Swindon) in the group stages.

Woods added it would be “quite good” to compete on the pro-standard tables at the South West Snooker Academy, Gloucester, in the sixth of the eight legs on Sunday, March 4.

GOLD RESULTS

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Daniel Woods (Chandler’s Ford SC); 2nd, Stuart Scott (Romford SC); 3rd, Liam Burnet (The Academy, Eastleigh); 4th, Lee Roling (The Academy, Eastleigh).

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Lee Bell (The Academy, Eastleigh); 2nd, Ben Tanner (The Academy, Eastleigh); 3rd, Danny Tallentire (Player’s, Westbury); 4th, Oliver Parsons (Jesters, Swindon).

SEMI-FINALS (12 points): Woods beat Tanner 3-1, Scott beat Bell 3-2.

FINAL (25/18 points): Woods beat Scott 3-1.

Near record turnout

THE second highest turnout in the three-year history of the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Gold, Silver and Bronze Tours descended on Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club, near Southampton.

Remarkably, 49 players turned up for the fifth leg. And the 28 entries in the Bronze event was a new record.

Unflappable tournament director Roy Danyluk coped well and maintained a smile throughout a long day which ended at 9.20pm.

About Cuestars

Founded 18 years ago by director John Hunter, Cuestars runs grass-root snooker tournaments across the South of England and South Wales.

Competitions take place on Sundays between October and June, and cater for players aged eight to 80 - and in some cases even older!

All Cuestars tournaments, apart from the Team Championship, are played off scratch. There are no handicaps. Cuestars uses a round-robin format leading to a knockout.

Competitions for 2011/12 include: South of England Championship Tour; Under-21 Gold, Silver and Bronze Tours; Weekend Junior Section Rankings and Masters Tour (40+).

Website: cuestars.uk.com. E-mail John Hunter: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.