With the festive season just around the corner, attention this week turned to the first round of the cup competition - and as expected there was the usual crop of upsets with several teams from the third division accounting for higher placed opponents.

Perhaps the shock of the round saw Wellington Billiard Hall B, currently second from bottom in Division 3, come out on top against Minessota Fats of the first division although two other third division sides beat top flight opposition too as Billiard Hall C and Bayley D accounted for Shifnal F and Dawley A respectively.

Elsewhere the Billiard Hall's F team got into the festive spirit as they travelled to Pot Black D in their usual Christmas outfits of waistcoats and bow ties and Coddon A, winners of the A & D Team Knockout trophy last year, eased through to the second round with a comfortable home win over Shifnal E.

Billiard Hall B left behind their disappointing league form to hold off a spirited fightback from Minessota fats who were conceding 135 points handicap at the start of play.

Paul Lloyd narrowly took the opening frame for the visitors against Andy Kendrick before Mick Brezwyn got the better of Ian Atkinson by 57 points to 44 to further reduce the deficit.

The turning point came in the next frame as Alan Francis produced a superb performance to come out on top against visiting captain John Shepherd by 75 points to 35 to put the home side well and truly in the driving seat, although a brilliant display from Paul Humphries gave Minessota Fats hope as he took the next by 109 points to 23 to leave his team-mate Simon McLeod 64 points behind going into the last.

But the Billiard Hall clung on for a memorable victory as A J Maiden restricted Simon to a 71-37 win to give the home side the match by a 30 point margin overall.

With the Billiard Hall's C side running away with the third division title, their victory over Shifnal F was perhaps less of a shock, especially as the Shifnal side have not been enjoying the best of fortune of late.

Having started the match with an 80 point advantage, the home side increased their lead to 118 points when Dave Cartledge defeated Nev Whitehead 66-23.

Shifnal's Fred Harper will have been pleased to get back to winning ways when he took the pink and black to reduce the difference by 9 points having survived his in-off jinx to eventually take the frame by 49 points to 40.

Home captain John Rawlins then turned the game in his side's favour with a fine 70-31 win over his opposite number Brian Painter before young Matt Locklin, who would have taken some beating by any player by all accounts, produced a breathtaking display to take the next frame by 104 points to leave his dad Martin with a massive 252 point lead going into the final frame against Craig Whitehead.

Martin was therefore able to relax before eventually taking the frame by 30 points to confirm his side's place in round two where they will be joined by Bayley D who bounced back from two successive home defeats to defeat division one outfit Dawley Social.

Visiting captain Steve Lane set about defending his side's 105 point handicap start with a solid performance against Chris Woods. The Dawley player eventually took the frame by 14 points although with Mark Beddall restricting Steve Nolan to a black ball victory in the next, the Wellington side were on course for a memorable win.

However things then took on a different complexion as Brian Aberdeen sadly didn't have a good evening as he started the next frame frantically searching for his magnetic chalk holder.

Sadly the efforts of both his team-mates and the Dawley players proved to be in vain as they were unable to find the illusive clip and Brian was clearly distracted as his opponent Mark Jones raced to an impressive 101-28 success to turn the tie in Dawley's favour although there was at least some consolation for the Bayley player as his team-mates now know what to buy him for Christmas.

However the ever reliable Dave Dudley then rescued the situation for the visitors with a brilliant 90-11 success over Barry Roden to leave the Ice Man Bill France with a 91 point lead going into the final frame against Rick Bailey.

And the Wellington player had to rely heavily on his ice cool temperament as Rick fought back strongly to take the frame by 65 points to 28 but it wasn't enough to fend off defeat and Rick's Dawley side will now have to take their chances in the Consolation Cup along with all the other first round losers.

Another notable success saw Little Dawley B make the most of their 75 point head start to defeat runnaway division 2 leaders Hadley A by an aggregate score of 370 to 322 points.

The third division side started well as D Wincott only narrowly lost out to Andy O'Brien by 49 points to 52 before an equally impressive display from G Whiley saw him come to within five points of M Watkins and although the visitors also took the third frame through Dave France's 50-35 success over L Elcock they still trailed going into the last two frames by 52 points overall.

And their task was then made all the more difficult as young Byron Mitchell put the home side firmly in control with a classy 62-45 defeat of Steve Hoof to leave A Jones with a mountain to climb in the last.

Although the Hadley player eventually took the frame by 65 points to 44 over R Goldie he couldn't prevent last season's runners-up slipping to defeat and into the Consolation Cup.

It was proving to be a good night for the Little Dawley club as their A side also claimed a notable scalp as they returned home from Wellington with a resounding 174 point victory over Bayley A.

With Steve Nicholls partying the night away at his work's Christmas Party Robin Clarke stepped into the breach for the home side but he could do nothing to prevent Richie Heighway taking the opening frame by 74 points to 36 with two twenty plus breaks.

Jesse Lowe then put the visitors further in front with a 31 break against Arthur Burrows and although Steve Fletcher narrowly got the better of Ray Clements by a margin of 62 to 45, Ade Henry's 48-27 win over Bob Mason put his side 161 points in front overall without including their 30 point handicap.

Chris Morgan-Adam's 69-52 win over visiting captain Rick Cousins therefore proved irrelevant as the visitors cruised into round two.

Winners of the competition the season before last, Hills Lane B, continued their recent good form as they conceded 15 points to second division Wellington Billiard Hall E - although they were made to fight all the way for a narrow 24 point winning margin.

Steve Powell gave them the perfect start however as an 82-38 success over Warren Barber put his side ahead and with Lee Harris also taking the next 66-54 over Alan Turner the home side looked to be well in control.

The Billiard Hall fought back strongly though as they took the next two frames to set up an exciting finale.

First Mick Hughes got the better of home captain Kev Davis before Chris Morris weighed in with an excellent 49-29 win over Paul Eyke to leave Hills Lane trailing by 17 points going into the last.

However Richy Jones held his nerve to see his side safely through to victory as he secured the final frame 65-24 over Ray Evans to leave the visitors hoping they will be able to repeat their achievement of last season when they won the Consolation Cup.

It was less than a month ago when Pot Black D had inflicted Wellington Billiard Hall F's heaviest defeat of the season so it was with some intrepidation that the Wellington side travelled to Oakengates with what seemed like a small consolation of a 15 point start.

This was the first time that a cup fixture had coincided with the Billiard Hall side's third annual waistcoat evening so the visitors were hoping that their snooker would be as lively as their dress sense.

Rob Cook, sporting black trousers and waistcoat with a red shirt, put in a fighting performance but could not stop Pot Black's Mick Pearson taking the opener 46-26.

It was then the turn of Chris Durham who, due to a lack of waistcoat was wearing a "roses grow on you" Hawaiian style shirt.

His opponent, Rob Palin must have wished for some sunglasses as Chris put in a dazzling display to match his atire as he completed an historic first away win of the season by taking the frame by 69 points to 39.

Captain Steve Weatherall in an all white ensemble topped with blue waistcoat and bow tie brightened up the Billiard Hall's evening in more ways than one with some good potting an a little fortune on snookers to beat Mick Egan 88-17.

Andy Fletcher may have adopted the casual look with jeans, beige waistcoat and light coloured shirt but there was nothing casual about his performance as he forged ahead before concluding the frame with a superb thunderbolt black which hit the pocket with such force that the noise echoed around the room.

Home captain Harry Jones could be forgiven for checking to see if the ball was still in one piece.

This left Chris Fletcher, in a stylish all black outfit of matching shirt, waistcoat and bow tie to secure the match for the visitors.

Despite losing 33-55 to an ever trying Neil Pearson the 100 plus gap proved too much to retrieve which meant the Billiard Hall finally triumphed 308-198 against very sporting opponents who also had the good hospitality to provide sandwiches on the night.

My thanks to the Billiard Hall's captain Steve Weatherall for his comprehensive report on the above match.

Cup holders Coddon A moved swiftly into round 2 after a comfortable win at home to second division Shifnal E.

The home side were conceding 75 points handicap but this was soon wiped out after the fisrt two frames. Despite a brave performance from veteran Ken Holwell, Lee Szklarzewicz won a close first frame 65-55 before home captain Dave Lloyd got the better of Rob Wright to put the his side twelve points in front overall.

Adrian Smith then got the better of Jeff Sparkes before a brave performance from young Arron Sparkes saw the Shifnal youngster fall 75-48 to Darren Weston whose excellent run of 56 was the highlight of the evening.

That left Ian Ferriday to wrap things up with a final frame win over Dave Barden to keep Coddon well placed to defend the trophy they won last term.

With Hills Lane A receiving a bye into round two, their close rivals Wellington Billiard Hall A were in no mood to let things slip as they comfortably accounted for the ever improving Newport British Legion A by winning all five frames.

Morton Hughes set about reducing the visitor's 85 point start as he got the better of Colin Farge in the opening frame.

Steve Minshall's 81-43 win over Matt Bothwell put the home side in front and they never looked back as a vintage performance by former county champion Graham Darrell put the tie out of Newport's reach.

Spencer Rowley then got the better of a freezing Paul Jones who somewhat unwisely turned up wearing a T shirt before Phil Whitby completed the scoring with a 69-14 success over Simon Thornley.

Another first division side safely through are Maddocks A after they clawed their way back from conceding a 135 point handicap start against third division Little Dawley E.

Phil Davies' 33 break put the Oakengates side on the right track before Ian Skelton's 60-38 win over Graham Copson put them just 22 points behind overall.

G Clements hit back for the visitors with a superb 55-36 victory over Leigh France only for Adrian Barraclough to put Maddocks back in the driving seat by taking the next frame 87-28 against C Jones.

And with Dave France beating Paul Perks 68-24 in the final frame, Maddocks safely booked their passage into the second round where they could meet Pot Black A who won a close encounter away at Shifnal D.

Neil Robinson put the visitors in front as his 61-42 win over Mat Hester wiped out the 15 point start they were giving to their third division opponents.

Mick Guest's 57-54 defeat of Paul Crooks made the overall difference just one point and with all of the remaining frames also proving to be close affairs it was no surprise that the winning margin was eventually just 31 points overall.

Tom Firmstone tipped the balance Pot Black's way with a 66-45 win over Geoff French in the next before Mike Thompson added another frame for the visitors with a 39-27 win against Mick Smith.

Barry Easthope's valiant effort in the last wasn't quite enough as he took the frame by three points from Toby Welsh to leave the Oakengates side victorious by an overall score line of 381 points to 350.

Two other Shifnal sides came face to face as the B team from the second division played host to their high flying A side who are currently second in Division 1.

The B string started the day with a 60 point handicap and they must have fancied their chances after a brilliant display from Rich Whitehead secured the first frame by 72 points to 56 against Matthew Davies.

John Fallows responded for the A side with a 95-26 defeat of John Jones and further wins from Andy Easthope and Darren Pountney put the "away" side firmly in control.

And with Simon Biddulph taking the last 76-25 against Steve Nolan the A side moved swiftly into the next round by 378 points to 290.

Another derby match took place at Donnington where two second division sides, Coddon B and Coddon C did battle with the C side receiving 15 points start.

This was another close affair with the B side eventually coming out on top by a winning margin of just 30 points.

Sef Tusel took the opening frame with a fine 60-47 success over Phil Szklarzewicz but the B team hit back to take the next two frames through Bob Dando and Mark Wall who got the better of Keith Morris by 69 points to 49.

The match then swung back in favour of the C team as Chris Ferriday got the better of Steve Downs 72-25 to open up a 13 point lead with just one game remaining but it was Nick Pearce who stole the show with a 72-29 success over Vic Graham to secure a second round berth for the B team.

The closest match of the evening came at the Bayley club where the Wellinton club's C team went through on the final black against Anstice B. Although no match card is available for this match, it ended with a tense safety battle on the final black with home captain Ian Johnson feeling that Christmas had come early when his opponent Stuart Wimbush unluckily went in off in the middle pocket to give the home side victory by just twelve points.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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