PAUL HARPER RETAINS TELFORD SNOOKER LEAGUE INDIVIDUAL TITLE

Wellington Billiard Hall captain Paul Harper retained the Telford Snooker League Individual Title last week with victory over Coddon A's Lee Szklarzewicz by four frames to two.

A large crowd at the Shifnal War Memorial Club saw Lee open up an early 33 point lead in the opening frame only for Paul to knock in the last three balls to tie the scores and force a re-spotted black.

And although the Donnington man won the toss and put his opponent in to bat it was Paul who drew first blood as he potted the black in the corner pocket to take the opening frame by 66 points to 59.

Two consecutive twenty plus breaks followed by a 30 clearance to the pink secured the second frame for Paul before Lee opened his account by taking the last red and all the colours up to the blue to reduce the deficit to 2-1.

Lee looked all set to steel the next frame too after his opponent successfully negotiated an escape route when snookered on the final red only to leave the Coddon man with an opening. However a crucial miss on the green left Lee 24 points behind and needing all the colours to win when Paul benefited from a touch of good fortune by fluking the green before finally taking the frame 54-26 for a 3-1 lead.

Lee's long potting came into it's own in the next frame as he steadily opened up a commanding 28 point lead before taking the last two reds with blacks followed by yellow to brown for a 68-23 winning margin to reduce the gap to just a single frame.

However, it was Paul who clinched his fourth win in the competition as he followed an early 32 break with a run of 20 to complete a 4-2 win to put his name on the Chris Ward Trophy for the third time in four years.

The losing semi-finalists in the competition both came from Hills Lane in Madeley. Lee booked his place in the final with a nail-biting 4-3 win over Hills Lane A captain Ian Duffy whilst Paul accounted for Ian's team-mate Richard Wade in another close match by 4 frames to 2.

IAN ELDRIDGE LIFTS FIRST TROPHY

Maddocks D youngster Ian Eldridge won what will undoubtably be the first of many trophies in the Telford Snooker League as he beat Bayley C's Jim Lewis in the Final of the John Bethell Memorial Trophy last week.

At 16, Ian is one of the youngest players to have lifted the trophy and he joins the likes of local snooker professional Adrian Gunnell and top ranked pool player Craig Reynolds who are both past winners of the coveted title.

It was fitting also that the final should be played at the Sir John Bayley Club as the trophy is in memory of one of the league's finest players, John Bethell, who represented the Wellington Club's A side in the late seventies and early eighties.

Ian started well as he opened up an early lead before finally taking the first frame by 58 points to 11in the best of five frames final.

A 31 point lead then looked to have secured the next frame too as only three colours remained and his opponent Jim Lewis was left requiring three snookers.

However Jim never gave up and a tenacious display saw him reclaim 21 points in fouls to trail by just ten points with blue, pink and black still left on the table. But it wasn't to be his night as an attempted long pot on the blue missed the target allowing the Maddocks youngster to sink the blue to the middle before rattling in a long pink for a 2-0 lead.

And Ian completed a 3-0 victory as he took a closely fought third frame on the blue to record a 56-40 frame winning score and claim his first ever trophy success.

PAUL HARPER AND SPENCER ROWLEY WIN DOUBLES

Paul Harper and Spencer Rowley won the Oakengates Carpets Doubles Trophy with an emphatic 3-0 win over Bayley's Steve Fletcher and Chris Morgan-Adams in the final which was played at the Coddon Club last week.

The Billiard Hall pair took an early lead in the opening frame before leaving their opponents requiring a snooker with just blue, pink and black remaining.

Despite a number of near misses, the Bayley duo were unable to get the one snooker they required and soon found themselves in even more trouble as Spencer opened up the second frame with an early run off 22.

A vital missed black off it's spot then cost Steve Fletcher dearly as Paul Harper took full advantage with another 20 plus visit to put the Billiard Hall lads two frames up with a maximum three to play.

Victory was soon completed as Paul Harper opened the next frame with an excellent 60 break from his first visit to the table to leave the Bayley pairing 60 points behind with just 59 points on the table.

The following evening Paul and Spencer were back at Coddon again, this time for the final of the Three-a-side competition where they were joined by Ryan Wood as they took on the Hills Lane trio of Richard Wade, Matthew Bailey and Darren Pountney.

Despite some excellent safety play from Richard Wade, Paul twice knocked in long reds and followed up with 30 plus breaks to take the first frame by 68 points.

Although Matthew Bailey took the next frame against Spencer Rowley, the four point winning margin left Darren Pountney 64 points behind as he took on Ryan Wood and this ultimately proved too much too reclaim as the Billiard Hall threesome notched yet another trophy for their cabinet.

STEVE FLETCHER 

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

Return To Top