The top two teams in the first division both failed to progress to the final of the Telford Snooker League Team Knockout competition as both the current league leaders Hills Lane A and second placed Wellington Billiard Hall A lost out to Shifnal A and holders Coddon A respectively in the semi-finals played at Wellington's Sir John Bayley Club last week.

Former English Amateur Champion Matthew Davies won a high quality first frame against Richard Wade by 103 points to 29 with the Hills Lane player notching all his points in one visit to the table before Lindsay Knox improved Shifnal's chances still further with an excellent 55-44 win over Madeley captain Ian Duffy.

The reigning League Champions now looked to be in serious trouble as they were also conceding 25 points handicap start to their opponents however an excellent display from Matt Bailey brought his side back into contention with a brilliant 108-24 win over former team-mate Darren Pountney and with Keith Price also taking the next frame 45-35 from John Fallows Shifnal began the final frame with a slender 16 point advantage.

As expected the final frame was a tense affair with both players producing some excellent safety play however it was Shifnal's Andy Easthope who came out on top against young Jamie Fallows to book his side's place in the final where they will be joined by holders Coddon A who accounted for former winners Wellington Billiard Hall A.

Holders Coddon A romped into the final for the second year running with a thumping 390 to 183 point victory over Wellington Billiard Hall A.

Adrian Smith soon built on the Donnington side's 25 point start with a 72-44 opening frame victory over Phil Whitby before Darren Weston put them firmly in the driving seat with an excellent 104-16 success over Graham Darrall.

Paul Harper gave the Wellington team something to cheer about with an 85-43 success against Lee Szklarzewicz only for Coddon to book their place in the final by taking the last two frames.

Dave Lloyd virtually secured victory with his 82-21 win over Spencer Rowley before Ian Ferriday wrapped things up with a 64-17 final frame defeat of Morton Hughes.

CONSOLATION CUP

Second division leaders Hadley A and Anstice A of the first division will contest the final of the Consolation Cup after accounting for Dawley Social and Pot Black D respectively in the semi-finals played at Coddon Club last week.

However the evening highlighted the lack of referees in the Telford League and the contentious implications of the miss rule.

For the first time both semi-finals were played at the same venue on the same evening as it was thought that this would help create a good atmosphere and it is to be hoped that the problems encountered at Coddon do not put a stop to what is perhaps a good idea.

However with only one referee available to cover the two matches, it was pleasing to see players from the other table offer and agree to referee games in the other match, although with the miss rule in operation for a semi-final, it was perhaps inevitable that different referees might have slightly differing interpretations on the implementation of the rule.

And so it proved with misses being awarded and subsequently queried which again highlighted the need for qualified referees to be on hand to resolve any such disputes and it is to be hoped that lessons can be learnt from the events of last week so that future semi-finals and finals can be covered by appointed referees.

However, as far as the actual games were concerned, Hadley A continued their excellent season by securing a place in the final of the Consolation Cup at the expense of first division Dawley Social.

The Hadley side, currently running away with the second division title, started well when John Squire doubled their 15 points handicap start by taking the first frame by 65 points to 50 against Chris Woods.

Rick Bailey wasted no time in recovering Dawley's 30 point deficit as he raced into a 30 point lead against Ali Jones before finally taking the second frame 92-38 to put his side in the driving seat.

Steve Hoof then turned the match Hadley's way with an 82-26 success against Barry Roden before Martin Watkins' 10 point victory over Pete Nolan meant that Andy O'Brien had a 42 point advantage going into the final frame of the evening against Mark Jones.

And although the Dawley player fought back to within 15 points at one stage it was Andy who clinched victory with a 33 break to see Hadley, runners up in the main cup competition last year, through to yet another final where they will play Anstice A who recovered a 120 point handicap deficit to end Pot Black D's excellent run in the competiton.

Nick Oakley pulled back 17 of the 120 points handicap the Madeley side were conceding with a 57-40 first frame win over Mick Pearson before John Darrock put the first division side in pole position with a 76-18 win over Mick Egan.

Neil Price then put the Anstice in front overall by beating Neil Pearson 93-41 but any thoughts the Madeley side may have had of a comfortable passage into the final were soon put on hold as Rob Palin kept his nerve to put Pot Black back in front by an aggregate lead of four points with an excellent 50-39 success over Phil Reynolds.

However, despite a valiant effort from Kirk Stevenson, which saw some brilliant snooker attempts towards the end of the frame, it was Mick Cahill who secured the frame by a score of 60-20 to book the Madeley side's place in the final.

STEVE FLETCHER 

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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