SHIFNAL A WIN TEAM KNOCKOUT FINAL

Shifnal A beat the holders Coddon A to lift the A & D Team Knockout Trophy in front of a packed audience at Wellington's Sir John Bayley Club last week.

Supporters from both sides turned out for what promised to be an enthralling match between two evenly matched side's and although Shifnal came out on top by an overall aggregate score of 325 to 192 the actual frame score was two frames each with one game ending all square.

Coddon captain Dave Lloyd was hoping his side could repeat last year's success when they beat Hadley A in the final as he opened up a commanding lead against a somewhat jetlagged John Fallows who had returned home from working in Reading.

However the Shifnal player responded well to take the final blue and pink only for Dave to complete a 52-31 opening frame win with a simple black to the corner pocket.

Having recently reached the final of the West Midlands Individual for the third successive year, Matthew Davies continued his recent brilliant form as he followed his 104 break the previous week with another unstoppable display against the unfortunate Adrian Smith.

Having opened up an early lead, Matthew threatened to make this his own version of the "Matthew's Final" as he looked all set to make yet another big break only to leave himself awkwardly placed in the middle of the reds with his break on 36.

His opponent continued to battle valiantly but was powerless to prevent the former England international clearing all the colours to put Shifnal in the driving seat.

Having narrowly lost out in the individual final the night before Lee Szklarzewicz looked to be in determined mood as he opened up with an early 24 break against Darren Pountney.

However the former Hills Lane man, transferred to Shifnal in the close season, wasn't phased and replied with a run of 20 before taking the frame by 58 points to 34 to further improve his side's chances of a first trophy of the new Millennium.

Shifnal captain Andy Easthope then took an early lead in the next leaving his opponent Ian Ferriday with a huge task on his hands if he was to give Coddon any hope of retaining the trophy. The Donnington man, a finalist in the Over 40's competition, never gave up however and potted an excellent pink and black to tie the frame score at 58 points apiece to leave he overall aggregate score 274 points to 154 in favour of Shifnal.

The 120 point deficit was always going to be a mountain to climb for Darren Weston as he took on Shifnal's Linsay Knox in the final frame. And so it proved, although the Coddon man did have a glimmer of hope as he began with a 20 plus break only to miss a long red into the bottom pocket. The rest of the game was then nip and tuck and although Darren took the frame by 51 points to 38 it was Linsay and his team-mates who celebrated overall victory by 325 points to 192.

HADLEY CLAIM LEAGUE AND CUP DOUBLE

Hadley A, runners-up in the Team Knockout competition last term, made amends this year with victory over Anstice A in the final of this season's Consolation Cup to complete a unique double of Division 2 champions and Consolation Cup winners in the same season.

Andy O'Brien gave them just the start they were looking for as he took the last four balls to complete a 68-15 win over Phil Reynolds to add to Hadley's 30 points handicap start.

And things looked to be getting even better for Hadley as Steve Hoof opened up a 40 point lead over Anstice's Mick Cahill only for the Madeley player to hit back strongly to eventually take the frame by 61 points to 56 to reduce the overall deficit to 78 points with three frames still to play.

Hadley's lead was then increased still further as a timely run of 31 helped Ali Jones to an 83-22 success over Mick Downing and then John Squire beat John Darrock by 19 points to give the second division champions an unassailable 158 point lead going into the last.

And although Neil Price took the final frame for the Madeley side with a 45-38 win over Hadley captain Dave France, it wasn't sufficient to prevent the Hadley team from completing a league and cup double.

STEVE FLETCHER 

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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