Hadley A's first defeat of the season did nothing to dampen their team celebrations as the runaway leaders of the Telford Snooker League's second division secured promotion back to the top echelons of the League by winning the Division 2 title at the first attempt.

Having won all nineteen of their previous matches, the Hadley side started the day fourteen points clear of their closest rivals and needed just a single point to clinch the title. However with their opponents Shifnal B making a late run to try for the final promotion spot, the home side soon found themselves 3-0 down and facing their first defeat of what has so far been an outstanding season.

Rich Whitehead put Shifnal in front with a fine 59-7 defeat of Andy O'Brien and the home side fell further behind as John Jones took the next frame from Steve Hoof by 53 points to 36.

The visitors continued to dominate as Steve Nolan secured his side's fourteenth win of the season with a coolly taken 46 break to defeat Martin Watkins and end Hadley's hopes of completing the season unbeaten.

Hadley retaliated however by winning the last two frames as Ali Jones got the better of Emlyn Watts by 58 points to 34 and then Dave France won the battle of the captains by beating Danny Bedworth 64-14 to leave Hadley 15 points clear of Wellington Billiard Hall E who take over in second place, one point ahead of Little Dawley A whose result this week is not yet in.

However, it is believed that the Little Dawley side won 3-2 away at bottom of the table Bayley C after a close finish in the deciding frame when the Bayley's Jim Lewis potted a brilliant pink only for the white to end up in the one place he couldn't pot the black. The visitors eventually claimed that frame and, if the result is confirmed, it will mean Little Dawley have a two point lead over the Billiard Hall going into the final two matches.

The Wellington side will be pleased to have returned from the short trip to Coddon B with a 3-2 win under their belts, especially after falling two frames behind early on.

Steve Downs put Coddon ahead with an opening frame win over Nigel Stallard before Bob Dando doubled their lead with a 33 break on his way to taking the next against Chris Morris.

The Donnington side have themselves been making a late push for promotion and so will be disappointed not to have built on their lead as the Billiard Hall replied by taking all three of the remaining frames for their twelfth win of the campaign.

Ray Evans began the fight back with an excellent 71-41 defeat of Phil Szklarzewicz and this was followed up with a 54-30 win for Mick Hughes over Nick Pearce as the visitors drew level.

A nail-biting decider was then settled by Alan Turner who finally beat off the challenge of Mark Wall to take the frame by 55 points to 44 for a 3-2 win to the Billiard Hall who now head the race for second place, one point ahead of Little Dawley A and three ahead of Shifnal B and Coddon B who both have 58 points but with the Shifnal side having played one game less.

Newport British Legion A stayed on the fringe of the promotion race with a 3-2 home win over Coddon C although with games now rapidly running out the Newport side's chances of a second successive promotion look slim.

They looked even slimmer though when play commenced as they soon fell two frames down thanks to Steve Lumley's opening frame victory over Simon Thornley and Sef Tusel's 53-34 success against Colin Farge.

Matt Bothwell began to turn things around though with a 62-35 win over Mick Stokes before Ivor Hellyar levelled matters with a black ball win over Keith Morris.

That left captain Paul Jones to complete the comeback with a solid 63-33 defeat of Vic Graham to leave his Newport side with a 3-2 win which keeps them seven points off second place with just two games remaining.

Maddocks C also won 3-2 when they entertained Anstice B.

G Hoofe's 50-22 win over Pete McCleary put the Oakengates side in front and they extended their lead still further when Joe Oliver beat Danny Weaver by 66 points to 20 to make it 2-0.

George Hammond hit back for the visitors though with a 53-20 success over Chris Rowley before an excellent performance by W Watson earned a 47-37 victory over Mark Finucane to draw Anstice level.

However Billy Rushton was on hand to claim the deciding frame against S Smallwood as Maddocks secured their ninth win of the campaign by 3 frames to 2.

DIVISION 1

Leader's Hills Lane A now need just two points from their last two games to retain their League title after coming from behind to beat Coddon A 4-1.

Lee Szklarzewicz celebrated reaching the final of the Chris Ward individual earlier in the week with a 40 break on the way to giving Coddon the lead against Matt Bailey but it was the Madeley side who held firm to post their sixteenth win in eighteen outings by winning each of the next four frames.

Keith Price soon levelled matters by getting the better of Ian Ferriday, another individual finalist having reached the final of the over 40's competition, by 77 points to 36 and Shaun Harris then put the home side ahead by beating Darren Weston.

Richard Wade then made it 3-2 with a 65-20 success over Donnington captain Dave Lloyd before a 67-48 win for Ian Duffy over Adrian Smith put the icing on the cake and all but secured the Madeley side's second title in as many years.

Shifnal A's chances of claiming the runners-up prize were dealt a severe blow as they saw a 2-0 lead evaporate into a 3-2 defeat at home to Dawley Social.

Things seemed to be going to plan for the home side as Linsay Knox rattled in breaks of 30 and 34 on the way to securing the first frame against Chris Woods.

Matt Davies then weighed in with a 52 break to make it 2-0 against Barry Roden before the visitors, fighting for their first division survival, recovered brilliantly to snatch the next three frames.

Mark Jones began the turn around with a 76-49 defeat of Darren Pountney before Pete Nolan continued his recent good form with a 51-39 success over Andy Easthope as the visitors made it all square a two frames apiece.

That left Rick Bailey to secure his side's fourth win of the season with an excellent 69-40 win over Simon Biddulph to keep alive Dawley's hopes of first division snooker next year.

Another side, who until recently were looking over their shoulders at the prospect of relegation, Bayley A returned home from Anstice A with two unlikely points after the home side raced into a 3-0 lead.

A vital missed green cost Steve Nicholls dearly as Mick Cahill calmly cleared the last five balls to take the opening frame on the blue before John Darrock put in one of his best displays of the season, potting them from all angles, to deny Arthur Burrows in the next.

Neil Price then made it 3-0 to the Madeley side with a 43 break against Bob Mason before a narrow pink ball win for Steve Fletcher against Nick Oakley pulled one back for the visitors.

An excellent performance from Chris Morgan-Adams secured the final frame too for the Bayley as he got the better of Phil Reynolds to leave the Wellington side happy with two valuable points as they attempt to stave off relegation.

Another side fighting for survival, Shifnal F, eased their relegation worries as they returned home from Minnesota Fats with a much needed 3-2 win.

Wally Harper gave them the start they needed by defeating Rob Schweika 70-32 before home captain John Shepherd got the better of his opposite number Brian Painter by 61 points to 34 to draw his side level.

Fred Harper then pushed Shifnal in front once more by overcoming Kelvin McLeod 57-21 after turning an 18 point lead on the brown into a winning score by potting both brown and blue.

Nev Whitehead then sealed the match for Shifnal when his opponent Carl Walker conceded on the blue before Paul Humphries opened up an early lead against Shifnal's Dave Paplow with a 26 break.

The Shifnal stalwart replied in kind with a 27 break of his own and then led by some 14 points on the green only for Paul to produce a superb clearance to take the frame on the black to reduce the final frame score to 3-2 in favour of the Shifnal side.

DIVISION 3

With Wellington Billiard Hall C already having confirmed their place as Champions, attention in this division firmly switches to the race for the runners-up spot, and one or two of the teams are starting to feel the pressure as two of the chasing pack fell to defeat in last week's matches.

Hadley B's 3-2 reverse away at the Champions may however be seen as a good result although with only two games remaining the Hadley side now have to make up three points on Little Dawley B who have taken pole position for that second spot following a 4-1 win over Bayley D.

And with Shifnal D, who started the day in second spot, falling to a shock 4-1 defeat at Wellington Billiard Hall F, the youngsters from Little Dawley look favourites to join Billiard Hall C in Division 2 next year.

Dave Cartledge set Billiard Hall C on the way to their seventeenth win of the campaign with an opening frame victory over J Hoggins.

Steve Johnson soon replied for Hadley B with a 71-58 defeat of home captain John Rawlins before the newly crowned champions took the lead once more thanks to Mick Birch's 23 break against Joe Fielding.

Matty Locklin then made it 3-1 against Ray Whitehead before P Lucas saved another point for the visitors by taking the last frame by 55 points to 38 from Matin Locklin.

Little Dawley B emerged as the front runners for runners-up with a timely 4-1 win over Bayley D.

The evening didn't start too good for the Wellington side as the Ice Man Bill France was scolded for being late and then had to watch as his side lost all four of the opening frames before claiming a consolation point through Dave Dudley.

Brendan Wincott set the scene with a 60-39 success against Dave Williams and Lee Elcock soon followed suit as a 51-18 scoreline against Bill France put the home side further ahead.

Byron Mitchell then made it 3-0 following a close tussle with Mark Beddall. Indeed it was the Bayley man whose attempted cut on the final pink hit the jaws of the middle pocket before Byron snatched the frame with a superb pot on the pink to hold for position on the black to signal curtains for the Wellington player.

Another notable performance saw Darren Wincott put in a sterling display as there was little change for Steve Lane in a 69-14 defeat as the Little Dawley youngster put paid to any lingering hopes the Bayley had of attaining runners-up spot.

Only Dave Dudley's final frame success over home captain Rob Withington saved the Bayley from further blushes as the Little Dawley side completed an excellent 4-1 win.

Shifnal D, who began the day in second place, started well as they travelled to Wellington Billiard Hall F with Matt Hester easily brushing aside Steven Weatherall 58-25.

However the Wellington side, currently languishing towards the wrong end of the table, soon showed their metal as Rob Cook won 68-24 with some good potting against Geoff French.

Richard Tranter then followed to put the home side 2-1 in front with an excellent 45-30 success against the recalled Arthur Aston and Chris Fletcher continued to dent the visitors promotion hopes with a solid performance winning 47-27 against Mick Smith.

Andy Fletcher, fresh from a journey back from Swindon, put in a blistering display to win 60-25 against Barry Easthope to complete a shock 4-1 win for the Wellington side who would like to extend their thanks to the Billiard Hall for their excellent hospitality throughout the season in providing food for the teams on match night.

Pot Black D are still in with a shout of promotion, although with just two matches to play the five point gap between themselves and Little Dawley B may prove too much to catch up.

Nonetheless the Oakengates side kept in touch with an excellent 4-1 win over near neighbours Maddock D although they had to come from behind after John Bethell finalist Ian Eldridge took the opening frame for the visitors against Mick Pearson.

Kirk Stevenson's win over Roy Lowe made it all square again before Mick Egan put the home side in the driving seat by beating John Archer.

Rob Palin then made it 3-1 with a 50-36 success over Roy Adams leaving Neil Pearson to wrap things up nicely by taking the final frame 47-36 against Harry Higgins.

Louigi Dambrosio was Wellington Billiard Hall B's hero as he came out of retirement to play his first game for five years and won the final frame with a stunning pink and black clearance to secure the Wellington side's first 5-0 win of the season at home to Newport British Legion B.

Andy Kendrick had earlier given the home side the lead against John Yapp and further wins from Alan Francis, including a break of 25, and Ian Atkinson put them firmly in control.

Ken Francis then won a close fourth frame 56-40 before Louigi Dambrosio's black ball finish against Mike Doverskog rounded off an excellent display from the Wellington side.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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