Shifnal A really put the cat amongst the pigeons last week as they became the first team this season to defeat League Leaders Hills Lane A when they returned from Madeley with a superb 4-1 win to leave the title race wide open once more.

And with second placed Wellington Billiard Hall A winning 3-2 at Coddon A, the reigning champion's lead at the top of the table has been cut to three points.

Shifnal took the opening frame through Linsay Knox, whose 53-34 victory over Richard Wade set the scene for a superb performance all round as John Fallows took the next with a 41 break against Matt Bailey to put the visitors 2-0 up.

Matt Davies wasted no time in the next as he got the better of home captain Ian Duffy before Andy Easthope took a close fourth frame 58-47 over Keith Price to leave the league leader's facing a possible whitewash.

However, Shaun Harris had other ideas as he continued his recent run of good form with yet another big break as a run of 52 secured the final frame over his former team-mate Darren Pountney to leave the final frames score 4-1 to Shifnal, who move into third spot just four points off the lead.

Wellington Billiard Hall A's hopes of regaining the league title look brighter after a 3-2 win away at fourth placed Coddon A sees them close the gap on Hills Lane to just three points - and with the two teams meeting in the league next week the race for the title is now hotting up nicely.

However the Wellington side will be disappointed to have returned home from Donnington with just three points after taking an early 2-0 lead.

Morton Hughes set them on their way with victory over Leon Parker in the opening frame before Phil Whitby made it 2-0 against home captain Dave Lloyd. Adrian Smith hit back for Coddon by taking the next 63-51 from Steve Minshall only for Paul Harper to restore the Billiard Hall's two frame advantage with a 38 break against John Kibble.

Back came Coddon however as Ian Ferriday blasted his way to a 70 points to 39 win over Spencer Rowley to leave the Donnington side in fourth place on 27 points but having played a game more than the other teams around them.

Shifnal F's battle for First Division survival suffered another setback when they went down 5-0 for the second week running as they entertained Hills Lane B.

Dave Powell drew first blood as he took the opening frame with a 36 break compiled mostly of baulk colours to defeat home captain Brian Painter 57-27.

Nev Whitehead then found himself 23 behind on the colours before fighting his way back to get the snooker he required only for his opponent Lee Harris to secure the frame by 51 points to 39 by doubling the pink.

The next two frames were both decided on the final black as first Richie Jones defeated Dave Peplow to make it 3-0 before Shifnal's Fred Harper, who must be wondering what he has to do to win, saw a 31 point lead whittled away by Steve Weaver who forced the game to a re-spotted black before duly dispatching it for a 4-0 lead.

Paul Eyke then completed the whitewash with a 48-36 victory over Craig Whitehead, who despite battling back to secure the snookers he needed on the green, couldn't prevent Paul from finishing off the frame in some style as Hills Lane recorded their second win of the campaign to move three points above their opponents at the foot of the table.

The Madeley side now have 15 points - three more than Shifnal F who now lie just two points ahead of Dawley Social who, with the result from this week's match not yet in, are a further two points adrift at the foot of the table but have a game in hand on their immediate rivals.

Maddocks A lie fifth, ten points off the lead, following a 4-1 home win over Bayley A.

Two twenty plus breaks saw Phil Davis give the home side the lead against Arthur Burrows before a fluke on the final blue proved vital as Ian Skeltom took the next 74-54 against Steve Nicholls to put the home side two up.

Two former winners of the John Bethell Trophy then came face to face as Steve Fletcher took on last year's winner Leigh France - but although the Bayley captain secured the frame to reduce the deficit to 2-1 the home side took the last two frames for a 4-1 win.

Adrian Barraclough weighed in with an early 24 break and although his opponent Bob Mason battled valiantly Adrian eventually completed a 63-29 win to leave Dave France to complete victory with a solid display against Chris Morgan-Adams.

DIVISION 2

Hadley A have now opened up a massive seven point gap at the top of the Division 2 table following a 4-1 success away at Maddocks C.

Andy O'Brien set them on their way with a 59-22 win over G Hoof and Steve Hoof made it 2-0 against Dave Thomas.

A Watkins followed suit with a 46-24 defeat of Craig Rowley before Ali Jones won a close fourth frame 57-47 to put the league leaders into a commanding 4-0 lead.

Only Mark Finucane's brilliant final frame win over John Squires prevented the whitewash and leaves the Oakengates side in the bottom half of table with 20 points from ten games played.

Hadley however have 39 points from their ten games played and are now seven points clear of Little Dawley A who head the chasing pack following a 3-2 win against Wellington Billiard Hall E who are now third, a further two points behind.

League Secretary Alan Turner took the first frame for the visitors on the black against Richie Heighway before Jesse Lowe held his nerve in another tense finish to edge out Ray Evans 41-32 to level the scores at one frame each.

Ray Clement's 70-44 success over Chris Morris put the home side ahead but it wasn't for long as Mick Hughes forced the decider with a 55-46 win over home captain Rick Cousins.

Ade Henry then completed the Little Dawley side's eighth win in ten games as he got the better of Nigel Stallard by 62 points to 27 to complete a 3-2 win for the home side.

The derby match at Coddon saw the B team come out on top by four frames to one against the C string although the frames scores would suggest a much closer affair than the 4-1 scoreline would indicate.

Bob Dando put the B team ahead with a black ball victory over Sef Tusel by 51 points to 49 before Mark Wall took the next in some style against Mick Stokes.

Steve Lumley pulled a frame back for the "away" side with an excellent 54-41 win over Nick Pearce before Keith Garmson put the B side 3-1 up with another close finish, again on the black, against Keith Morris leaving Steve Downs to wrap things up with a 59-27 final frame victory over Chris Ferriday.

DIVISION 3

Wellington Billiard Hall C show no signs of slowing down as they now head the race for the Division 3 title by a whacking ten points after a 5-0 home win over Little Dawley E kept their unbeaten record intact.

Dave Cartledge once again potted in machine gun style to take a scrappy opening frame against new boy John Rowlinson before John Rawlins got back to winning ways beating a very good Graham Copson in a tight frame that went all the way to the black ball.

Once again Mick Birch ground his way to a 48-18 victory over the unlucky Chris Jones who suffered a severe bout of in-offs.

Young Matty Locklin is rapidly making a name for himself after some brilliant potting saw him pull through to a 62-27 victory over G Clements to complete his tenth win in as many games before a wonderful mid-frame 28 break saw dad Martin cruise through to a 74-40 win over Paul Perks to secure maximum points for the home side.

Bayley D stay second despite falling to their first home defeat of the season as they entertained Wellington Billiard Hall F.

And it was the visitors who made the early running as Steve Weatherall got off to a good start building up an early lead against the Ice Man Bill France.

However the Billiard Hall captain then played a forcing shot with a bit too much power resulting in his tip flying off the cue before rolling around the table missing all of the balls - which begs the question as to whether or not a foul would have been called had it hit anything?

After deliberating on cues Steven now found himself using the infamous "lost in the car" cue of team-mate Chris Fletcher before settling down to take the frame 59-20.

The Bayley will be thankful that captain Steve Lane was available for selection as he levelled the scores against John Weatherall who, playing his first match frame for seven years, was unlucky not to follow his son Steven with a victory as he showed that none of the edge off his safety game had been lost.

However a tense finish saw the Bayley captain pot a fine black in every sense to level the frame scores at one each.

There seems to be much cue swapping in the Billiard Hall's ranks as Richard Tranter played a good snooker to clinch the next 47-14 against Mark Beddall before handing his cue to debutante Chris Bates who ensured the visitors of a first away win with a fine 46-25 success against Dave Williams.

Another tense finale saw Dave Dudley rescue another point for the Bayley but only after Chris Fletcher had missed a relatively straight forward black to clinch the frame which featured one particularly brilliant shot when Dave produced a miraculous escape from a snooker on the yellow by using the jaws of the corner pocket to divert the white along the bottom rail to hit the yellow perfectly.

Nonetheless the Bayley side's 3-2 reverse leaves then just a point ahead of third placed Bayley B who returned home from bottom of the table Newport British Legion B also with a 3-2 win.

Fred Spragg opened the scoring for the Wellington side by taking the first frame from Kevin Gardner before Kevin Ryan made it 2-0 with a 45-21 success over M Gidda.

Things got worse for the home side before they got better as Dicky Beddall put the visitors three up with a stunning victory over A Munn before the Newport side clicked into gear with Mike Doverskog's 44-30 win over Steve Scenters.

And with John Yapp taking the last against Dave Western the Wellington side had to settle for a 3-2 win to keep them in third spot a point behind their D side and a point ahead of Little Dawley B who also secured three points from their trip Wellington Billiard Hall B.

However the Little Dawley boys will probably be happier with their 3-2 result than the Bayley were with theirs having fought back from 2-0 down to eventually take the match by three frames to two.

Paul Gubats gave the Billiard Hall the early advantage when he took the first frame by a narrow 45-32 margin against G Whiley and things seemed to be going the way of the home side as Andy Kendrick took the next 67-26 against B Wincott.

The tide soon turned though as D Wincott secured the next from Ian Atkinson before young Byron Mitchell produced a classy performance as he levelled the scores with breaks of 35 and 27 to defeat Alan Francis.

That left captain Rob Withington to complete his side's comeback with victory over R Francis in the decider to leave his team well in contention for promotion to Division 2.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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