A Sauchie man has managed a fantastic 'three-peat'; as he won the Clackmannan County Singles pool tournament for the third time in a row.
Pete Smith retained his crown following a tight-fought final at the Legends Pool Hall in Fishcross.
He said: “I’ve played in the Clackmannanshire League now for nearly 40 years.
“Up to 2015, I’d never won the County Singles and it was one that I had always wanted to win.
“To win it once is great but three in a row is just incredible – I’m 56 now and there’s a lot of good, young players coming in so to be able to still compete with them is really good.”
The final eight players battled through the quarters and semi-finals before an exhilarating final saw the reigning champ earn his spot as the best in the Wee County.
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Pete started his defence against his Legends teammate Kris Glass, with the two friends turning in an exciting 5-3 win for the Sauchie man.
The eventual winner raced into a 3-0 lead but was pegged back by Kris at 3-3 – refusing to be beaten, he pulled it together and won the next two frames to progress to the semis.
It’s quite difficult at times,” Pete said. “You try to get into game mode against opponents.
“But when you’re playing one of your mates, you still have a bit of a laugh through the game.
“Sometimes, it relaxes you and sometimes it works against you, but the two of us played pretty well so it worked out well just to get over the line.”
“Paul’s had a great season,” Pete continued. “He lost in the final of the Scottish Seniors so I knew it’d be a difficult game.
“I was quite glad to play as well as I did against him, I didn’t give him much of a chance during it so that was a good one to get over the line.”
Progressing to the final, Pete came up against Barry Lynn, knowing he was just one game away from retaining his crown.
Full of confidence, he took another commanding 4-1 lead before being pegged back to 4-4 after a table turning missed pot.
Barry had a chance to win it but didn’t land on the black, leading to Pete going all in and winning it at the death for a final frame finish.
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“From 4-1, I made one mistake to win it 5-1,” Pete added. “For the next two frames, I hardly got a shot.
“I thought he was going to do it at 4-4 as well, he was really unfortunate, he never landed on the black and he left me a chance.
“A lot of the spectators said to me after the game; 'I thought you’d play a wee snooker there’ but after losing a 4-1 lead, I had a chance to go for it so I went for it.
“To get the finish and win 5-4 was really great.”
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