Hills Lane's Shaun Harris came to within one shot of notching the first century break of the new Telford Snooker League season when he compiled a magnificent break of 93 only to miss out on the final black which would have completed a clearance of exactly 100.

His break, against Dawley Social's Barry Roden, was the third break over 90 so far this season, following earlier efforts of 91from Shifnal's Matt Davies and 98 from the Billiard Hall's Paul Harper.

Shaun looked all set to clear the table but was unlucky to leave himself with the wrong angle to pot the pink and run through for the last black.

He was therefore forced to play the pink with check side to try to hold for the black which was on it's spot.

Although he successfully potted the pink the white ball landed awkwardly in line with the pink spot leaving him a difficult attempt at doubling the black the length of the table into a baulk corner pocket.

His attempt narrowly failed leaving his break at 93, just five points short of Paul Harper's highest league break so far this saeson.

Nonetheless, Shaun's efforts completed a good performance all round from his Hills Lane team-mates as they continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 4-1 win at home to Dawley Social.

Captain Ian Duffy led the way with a 55-18 win over Chris Woods before breaks of 35 and 40 secured the next for Richard Wade against Dave Hampton.

Mark Jones then pulled one back for the visitors with a fine 59-38 success over Matt Bailey only for Keith Price to restore the Madeley side's two frame advantage with an excellent victory over Rick Bailey to leave Shaun to take the plaudits in the final frame of the evening.

The win still leaves Hills Lane in pole position, as they attempt to retain the title they won last year, after their closest rivals Wellington Billiard Hall A also took four points from their away trip to Bayley A.

Steve Fletcher's 67 break against Morton Hughes gave the home side the early lead but Phil Whitby soon levelled matters as he took the next by 65 points to 31 against Arthur Burrows.

Steve Minshall's early 24 break put him in the driving seat against Bob Mason, and although the Bayley player fought back strongly it was the visiting player who eventually took the frame by 69 points to 37 to put his side ahead.

Paul Harper's victory over the previously undefeated Chris Morgan-Adams then put last season's runners up into a commanding 3-1 lead.

With Steve Nicholls away on holiday, Robin Clarke turned out for the Bayley for his second game of the season but he could do nothing to stop Spencer Rowley claiming the last frame 59-15 for a 4-1 win to the Billiard Hall who stay in second spot, a point behind Hills Lane A who have played one game fewer.

Coddon A, who shared second spot last week, drop one place to third despite snatching a 3-2 win away to Minessota Fats.

Ian Ferriday continued his good start to the season as he put the Donnigton side in front with a 60-47 win over P Humphries.

Lee Szklarzewicz then doubled their advantage as he took the next from Mick Brezwyn only for Paul Lloyd to pull one back for the former Newport side with a fine performance against L Darrell.

John Kibble then made it 3-1 against Chris Walker before Simon McLeod clinched the last frame of the evening by 58 points to 25 against visiting captain Dave Lloyd to leave the Coddon the victors by three frames to two.

High flying Maddocks A played host to Shifnal F and were pleased to come out the winners by the odd frame in five.

The Iron Men took the first game as Phil Davies beat Wally Harper by 65 points to 50 with the help of a quick-fire 48 break. The Maddocks player led by 30 points on the last red only for his opponent to keep himself in contention up until the brown when Phil got in first to clinch the frame.

Ian Skelton then made it 2-0 as he got the better of Shifnal captain Brian Painter with another quickly taken break of 35.

Leigh France then tried to seal the match for the home side against Dave Peplow but the Memorial stalwart had other ideas as a 20 break helped him through to win on the blue 53-34.

Adrian Barraclough then secured victory for the Oakengates side when he took control on the green to defeat Fred Harper by 71 points to 42.

The game of the night proved to be home captain Dave France against old rival Nev Whitehead.

The latter could find no form early on as Dave took a 40 plus lead with just three reds remaining, but a foul from the home player gave Nev a reprieve and a 31 break left him only needing the pink to win.

And although it was the home captain who knocked in the pink, he jawed the final black leaving the League President to step in to take the frame by 57 points to 52.

DIVISION 2

Hadley A's lead at the top of Division 2 has increased to four points after the leader's claimed all five points from their home game with Pot Black A.

And with second placed Billiard Hall E falling to a 3-2 defeat at the hands of newly promoted Newport British Legion A, Shifnal B take over in second spot following a fine 5-0 away at Maddocks C.

Andy O'Brien set Hadley on their way with a high scoring 81-59 defeat of Neil Robinson. Steve Hoof then made short work of the next against Dave Welsh before home captain Dave France made it 3-0 with a 53-27 success against Toby Welsh.

Things got even worse for the visitors as Ali Jones took the next before John Squire rounded things off by taking the last from Paul Crooks to leave the Hadley side with all five points and their unbeaten run intact.

Shifnal B move into second spot, a point ahead of both Little Dawley A and Newport British Legion A, after a superb away win at Maddocks C.

Emlyn Watts set them on their way with a 59-38 opening frame victory over G Hoof. This was followed with similar performances from Rich Whitehead and Gary Woods as the Memorial men moved into a 3-0 lead.

Billy Rushton came so close to rescuing a point for Maddocks as he came within a point of John Bell, who took the frame 54-53 to put the visitors four up before Sean Nolan wrapped up a super win with his 65-23 triumph over Joe Oliver in the last.

Newport British Legion A seem to be enjoying their promotion to Division 2 after an excellent 3-2 win over Wellington Billiard Hall E sees them move up three places into joint third place with an average of three points per game from seven games played so far.

But they had to come from behind after League secretary Alan Turner gave the visitors the lead with a 41-28 opening frame win over Colin Farge.

Matthew Bothwell played some fine snooker to take the next 80-42 over visiting captain Warren Barber to put the Newport side level only for Nigel Stallard to restore the Billiard Hall's lead with a 70 points to 51 win over Newport skipper Paul Jones.

However the home side weren't finished as Simon Thornley forced the decider with a 63-28 success over Ray Evans before John Mellings clinched victory for the home side in the last.

Little Dawley A are also well placed in this division following a 4-1 away win at Coddon B.

Richie Heighway put them ahead before Jesse Lowe made it 2-0 against Steve Downs.

Ray Clements' 57-30 defeat of Bob Dando then made it 3-0 before Rick Cousins piled on the pressure with an 80-59 defeat of Mark Wall in the next to put the Little Dawley side four frames ahead.

Only Phil Szklarzewicz's sterling performance in the final frame saved the home sides blushes as an excellent 54-20 success over Ade Henry left the final score 4-1 in favour of the visitors.

It wasn't a good night for the other Donnington side in this division as the Coddon Club's C side faired even worse, losing all five frames at home to Shifnal E.

Rob Wright's 30 break secured the first against Steve Lumley before Ken Holwell sneeked the next on the pink for a 2-0 lead to Shifnal.

Jeff Sparkes then got the better of Mick Stokes before Chris Petford and Dave Barden completed the whitewash by taking the last two frames from Chris Ferriday and Paul Wilson respectively.

Bayley C recorded their second win of the new campaign when they played host to Anstice B and ran out comfortable 4-1 winners.

Home captain Ian Johnson got off to a good start against visiting captain Stuart Wimbush but after missing a couple of snookers found himself behind coming into the colours. A tense black ball decider was eventually concluded by a gift to the middle bag to give the home side the lead, 53-43.

Pete Woodcock then continued his fine form with his third win in succession as he defeated Steve Smallwood by 57 points to 19 to put the home side two up.

The third frame saw Jim Lewis looking to secure the Bayley team's second win this term, but he soon found himself behind to some excellent potting by George Hammond.

Jim fought back however, to bring the game virtually all square on the colours and with a couple of clever snookers edged in front to leave George requiring a snooker on the pink.

Although the former League Secretary valiantly snookered his opponent, Jim successfully negotiated an escape route before finally running out the winner by 58 points to 31.

Craig Johnson, the "young pretender" then won his second league game following his fifteenth birthday three days before with some good potting and safety play to bring the match score to 4-0 with an impressive 71-31 victory against Billy Watson.

The visitors, determinded not to go home empty handed, managed to take the last frame when Danny Weaver overcame the challenge of Darren Rhodes to take the last frame 51-37 to salvage some pride for the Madeley side.

DIVISION 3

Wellington Billiard Hall C's lead at the top is now a massive eight points following a resounding 5-0 home win over Newport British Legion B.

Dave Cartledge started the first frame slowly before running out the winner in machine gun style against John Yapp before home captain John (Disco) Rawlins turned the tables on Alan Munn to take the next with a 22 break as the home side moved two frames up.

Mick Birch and Alan Davies then fought out a gruelling frame which could have gone either way, however it was Mick who ground out a victory by 41 points to 24 leaving father and son Martin and Matt Locklin to claim the last two frames with some brilliant snooker to complete the Wellington side's seventh win in as many games.

Hadley B lost ground on the League leaders when they returned home from Pot Black D with a 3-2 win which keeps them in second spot after coming from behind to defeat the Oakengates outfit.

It was Mick Pearson who did the dameage early on with an impressive 57-30 win over Steve Johnson to give the home side the lead, but Hadley fought back strongly through J Hoggins and Frazer MacKinnon who took the next two frames for the visitors against Neil Pearson and H Jones respectively.

R Palin did manage to level the scores for Pot Black as he took the fourth frame by 70 points to 31 against Joe Fielding but it was Hadley who had the final say as John Whitehouse took the decider 64-25 against K Stephenson to ensure his side's fifth win of the campaign.

Bayley D had their lucky mascot Aubry Massey back on hand to cheer them on to a 4-1 win away to near neighbours Wellington Billiard Hall B.

Mark Beddall and Brian Aberdeen gave the visitors the perfect start with victories over Kevin and Alan Francis respectively, the latter being on the black, before Bayley captain Steve Lane set the standard with a 54-38 defeat of Ian Atkinson in the next.

The Bayley's Ice Man Bill France then produced the performance of the evening as he got the better of Andy Kendrick by 51 points to 38 to put the visitors four frames up only for Paul Francis to rescue a point for the Billiard Hall with a 65-17 success against Dave Dudley in the last.

The Bayley Club's B side's game at Shifnal D could have gone either way as four out of the five games were settled on the black.

In the end, the black ball games were shared two apiece giving Shifnal their fourth win of the season by three frames to two.

Mick Guest set the scene as he took the first for Shifnal on a re-spotted black against the unfortunate Steve Scenters. The Bayley levelled though as Fred Spragg took the next 60-58 against Geoff French only for Arthur Aston to put Shifnal back in front with a 58-24 success over Kevin Ryan.

Mick Smith then made it 3-1, again on the black, against Dicky Beddall before the final frame went Bayley's way as captain Bob Tracey got the better of George Nelson by the narrowest of margins - just a single point.

That win leaves Shifnal level on points with fourth placed Maddocks D who fell to only their second defeat of the season when they travelled to Wellington Billiard Hall F.

Chris Durham set the ball rolling for the home side with a fine 81-28 win over Harry Higgins in the first.

Rob Cook then seemed to be down and out in the next as he trailed by 35 points against Mike Stephens only to come back strongly to take the frame with an inspired pot on the black.

Alan Bould then reduced the deficit for Maddocks with some excellent snookers to beat Steve Weatherall 64-15 before I Eldridge weighed in with a 23 break on the way to levelling the scores with a 63-31 win over Chris Fletcher.

Andy Fletcher then played some solid snooker to take the decider against Roy Adams to secure the home side's third win of the season.

The derby match at Little Dawley saw the club's B side take on their E team - and it was a closely fought contest with the B side coming out on top by the odd frame.

B Mitchell put the B team ahead 51-29 against C Smyth and B Wincott followed suit to make it 2-0 as he defeated Andy Meredith by 44 points to 13.

Graham Copson hit back for the E side though as a 50-23 win over D Wilson reduced the deficit to just one frame.

D Wincott opened up a two frame gap once more as he got the better of Sheridan Smyth but Paul Perks' final frame win over R Goldie left the E side with two points.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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