Report by Michael Waring.

The culmination of the 2021 Carlisle & District Billiards League season saw Mally Lancaster take on Nigel Lewthwaite for the Alan Armstrong Trophy at Qzone, Currock Road, Carlisle.

The match certainly lived up to expectations as a keenly fought contest brought out some very good billiards from both players.

It was Mally who started the better and a series of 20+ breaks saw him pull away from Nigel. As Mally approached the 200 points mark, Nigel was almost 100 points behind.

Nigel then appeared to relax somewhat and started scoring more heavily. A couple of good runs of 33 and the night’s high break of 38 saw him close the gap on Mally to just 20 points.

Mally wasn’t having any of it, though and a long, slow, winning hazard to finish off the match with an unfinished 26, brought a round of applause from an appreciative audience.

The magnificent trophy was presented to Mally by Neil and Tony, the brothers of always sadly missed Alan Armstrong, who played in the league for many years and who the trophy is named after.

Mally said after the match that Alan had been the one who had introduced him to snooker and billiards around 30 years ago! Mally has had an eye on the trophy since it was first played for six years ago and was more than happy to finally get his hands on it.

The match was played in very good spirits and was a fitting end to a very successful billiards season - especially after the difficult times we’ve all had to endure.

We are now looking forward to the start of the snooker season in January.