Desperques off to a flier on resumption

A six o’clock start at the Ex-Service may have been too early for some, but it made no odds to Martyn Desperques, who rattled off three quickfire frames as if there had been no interruption.

Breaks of 50, 43 and 47 left Scott Bradford with precious little table time, and with Darren Hughes taking his opener 80-44, La Villette sprinted into a 4-0 lead.

Clayton Le Noury and a 45 break from Graham Peel salvaged a couple of frames for the Hot Butts, but both Hughes and Adrian Holley benefited from black-ball frames to win their matches 2-1.

Pre-lockdown, Jamie Le Cheminant was enjoying a good run of form and that continued despite losing his opener to Seb Priaulx.

Le Cheminant clinched his last two frames to restrict La Villette to an 8-4 win and keep the Hot Butts in sight of the teams above them.

The Sledgehammers overcame a surprise defeat for Adam Shorto to get the better of Imperium Strokers 9-3.

The leaders’ captain was comfortably undone in the opener by Kelvin Du Feu and the Strokers were only denied a second frame when John Skillett edged Mark Gauvain 54-48.

Du Feu is currently on a fine run himself and is the only regular player outside of the top two teams to have picked up at least a frame in every match.

This time it was two frames, taking the last on the black against the Island captain, 62-57.

With Skillett going on to win 3-0, a 43 break from Glenn Le Prevost guided him to the same score against Dave Gilmour.

Colin Gilbert secured a third for the Strokers, but could only manage a further six points as Danny Marquand ran away with the last two frames.

North Legionnaires have endured a roller coaster season, with a fine start tainted by injury and the sudden death of Phil Cox.

Their first match back against Ex-Service Stunners was the epitome of that, as they gallantly earned a draw.

The enforced break helped Rick De Garis further recover from his broken wrist and he twice gave the Legionnaires the early lead before Roscoe Cloarec pegged a frame back.

Alongside them, Paul Le Sauvage edged two of the three black-ball frames that he had with Miles Plumley, as the Stunners built a 4-2 lead.

The Legionnaires have signed Jess De La Haye from La Villette, and he opened his account with a break of 30, but Gary Le Noury’s 40 secured his own 2-1 win.

Ross De Carteret’s 34 break reaped his opener, but it was yet another tight finish as he beat Tom Brock 63-62.

The Legionnaires captain grew from that point on, though, taking the last two frames with the help of a fine 46 in the final one of the evening.