Wellington Billiard Hall F's superb run of nine consecutive victories came to an abrupt halt last week when they lost out to Pot Black D by three frames to two in the Match of the Day in Division 3 of the Telford Snooker League (sponsored by Golden Purse Jewelers).

Having lost their opening day fixture against Maddocks B The Wellington side then embarked on an amazing run which saw them remain undefeated until their visit to Pot Black yielded just two points from a possible five. Nonetheless they still cling onto second spot, three points behind Wellington Billiard Hall X who claimed four points from their trip to Bayley B.

Mick Pearson gave Pot Black D the early incentive they were looking for when he took the opening frame by 57 points to 25 against Richard Tranter only for visiting captain Chris Durham to reply by taking the last two balls against Rob Palin as the Billiard Hall drew level at one frame apiece.

Things then looked good for the Wellington side as Andy Fletcher made light of his jetlag after returning home from Cheltenham to defeat Harry Jones 72-35 but any hopes his side had of extending their unbeaten run to ten soon faded as the hosts claimed the last two frames for a 3-2 win.

First Mick Egan sneaked home by just three points as he came from behind against Chris Fletcher to set up the deciding frame which saw Kirk Stephenson triumph 46-20 against Steve Weatherall to leave the Oakengates side celebrating their eighth win of the season as they move up to third place just two points behind their opponents.

Meanwhile current third division leaders Wellington Billiard Hall X were busy increasing their lead at the top with a 4-1 win away at Bayley B.

J Powell gave them the perfect start with a 53-40 win over home captain Bob Tracy and this was soon followed by an excellent performance from D Khan who accounted for Kevin Ryan in the next to make it 2-0.

Robin Sturmey hit back for the Bayley by taking the next with a 61-48 success over M Shadab but it was all his side could muster as A Ali's 65-34 win over Dicky Beddall made it 3-1 and then M Alyas rounded things off for the X men with a 65-26 final frame win over Dave Weston.

Maddocks D's hopes of moving up to Division 2 next year have dipped somewhat over recent weeks and they were clearly hoping for an upturn in their fortunes when they travelled to play Wellington Billiard Hall B.

Sadly it wasn't to be however as they slipped to their sixth defeat of the season to leave them now seven points off the pace in fourth spot.

Harry Higgins did give them the lead though as he claimed frame one against Paul Gubats by 49 points to 36. H Hulme came close to doubling that advantage in the next only to eventually lose out by just four points as Ken Francis levelled things up with a black ball win and although Alan Bould restored the visitor's advantage, beating Alan Francis 67-33, the home side took the last two frames.

R Francis drew the home side level again by claiming the fourth frame against Roy Lowe leaving Ian Atkinson to secure the Wellington side's fifth win with victory over Roy Adams in the last.

Fifth placed Hills Lane B now have 28 points after a 3-2 win at Little Dawley C also saw them claim a fifth win of the season.

They had to come from behind though after Mike King gave the home side the lead with a fine 61-47 win over Hills Lane captain Kev Davis.

The visitors responded by taking the next frame on the black through Steve Powell as his 58-48 defeat of Russ France left the scores all level at one frame apiece.

Steve Farrington made no mistake in frame 3 as he restored Little Dawley's lead against M Butler only for Hills Lane to take the last two frames of the evening.

Leigh Harris squared things up again with a 66-29 win over Danny Childs before an exciting finale saw A Morris rattle in a 29 break before clinching victory on the final black against Paul Spencer to leave Hills Lane the victors by the odd frame.

DIVISION 1

Long time division 1 leaders Wellington Billiard Hall A now find themselves dropping one place to second after their arch rivals and reigning champions Hills Lane A claimed all five points against newly promoted Little Dawley A.

Shaun Harris kicked off by taking the first frame by 57 points to 12 against Ade Henry and although Richie Heighway pushed Matt Bailey all the way it was the Hills Lane man who potted a fine blue down the rail before slotting home the pink to finish off the frame 59-41.

Tim Hicks then proved to be in good form against an out of touch Jesse Lowe to make it 3-0 before an unstoppable display from former captain Ian Duffy saw him clinch the next against Ray Clements aided by a 34 break.

This left the two captains to finish off the match and despite Rick Cousins feeling in confident mood his opposite number Darren Pountney proved too strong with Rick conceding on the blue with the scoreline 63-29.

Hills Lane's win leaves them one point ahead of the Billiard Hall who took the last two frames of their game at Shifnal A for a 3-2 win.

Morton Hughes gave the Billiard Hall, runners up to Hills Lane for the past two seasons, the early lead when he beat Bernie Southern 48-14 but the home side soon levelled thanks to a superb performance from Linsay Knox who potted the final black for a 57-53 success over Nigel Fletcher.

Simon Biddulph then put the home side in front with another close victory this time by 46 points to 34 over Phil Whitby before the visitors clinched their ninth win in eleven games by taking both of the remaining frames.

Spencer Rowley's 44-32 triumph over Roy Martin set up Graham Darrall for a barnstorming finish in a high scoring 65-51 win over Shifnal skipper Andy Easthope.

Bayley A's poor season received a lift when they entertained Shifnal F and took all five frames in what was undoubtably their best performance of a mixed season so far.

A nip and tuck first frame saw both players miss opportunities to put their respective sides in front but it was Steve Fletcher who eventually potted green to pink to snatch a 56-31 victory over the in form Wally Harper.

Chris Morgan-Adams came out on top in the next frame too as things seemed to be going the home side's way with a 75-56 success over Chris Painter before Arthur Burrows took the next frame after a bizarre incident worked in his favour.

Arthur was clearly not fully awake as he left the table only for one of the reds to drop in almost unnoticed. Even the ref was half asleep and it was only when the fluke was pointed out by his opponent that Arthur stepped up to rattle in a run of 22 to double his lead against the unlucky Brain Painter.

Arthur then went on to clinch the frame with some solid potting before Bob Mason went into overdrive as he took on League President Nev Whitehead.

The phrase "potting them off the lampshades" sprang to mind as Bob played out of his skin to make it 4-0 leaving Steve Nicholls to wrap things up with a stunning 71-26 defeat of the "Rock" Dave Peplow.

DIVISION 3

With the top two in Division 3 both losing by the odd frame, Coddon B's 4-1 win over bottom of the table Shifnal D has enabled them to move ever closer to the leaders as they challenge for a return to the top flight.

The Donnington side are now just two points behind leaders Wellington Billiard Hall E with the Billiard Hall's C side sandwiched in between in second spot.

Andy Jones set the tone by taking the opening frame 55-26 from Mick Guest and things continued in the same vane as Steve Downes took the next frame too against George Nelson.

Shifnal favourite Arthur Aston was unable to stem the tide as Mark Wall completed a 60-40 third frame victory for a 3-0 lead and the home side threatened to make it a full house when Nick Pearce took the fourth frame as well against Barrie Easthope.

Fortunately for the visitors Steve Morse was in no mood to let things get any worse and he bravely fought off Phil Szklarzewicz to take the final frame to salvage a point for the Shifnal boys who now share bottom spot along with Bayley C.

Leaders Wellington Billiard Hall E fell to only their fourth reverse so far this season when they travelled to Shifnal E and were beaten by three frames to two.

Rob Wright's brilliant potting saw him open up an early lead over Mick Hughes but the Wellington man battled his way back into contention only for Rob to finally clinch victory on the brown to give Shifnal the lead.

Some excellent long potting from Shifnal's young star Aaron Sparkes paved the way to a 54-35 win over Warren Barber as the home side took control and it took a good performance from Alan Turner to put the brakes on Shifnal's dominance.

In a game of two halves, the former individual champion finally managed to break away from some dogged resistance by his opponent Jeff Sparkes to snatch the third frame on the blue but the respite was short-lived as Chris Petford restored Shifnal's two frame advantage with a 62-28 win over Nigel Stallard.

It was then left to Ray Evans to try to salvage another point for the Billiard Hall and he didn't let his side down as he took the final frame of the evening by 50 points to 33 against Fred Harper.

With the E side losing, last year's Division 3 winners W.B.H. C missed a golden opportunity to take over at the top of the table when they too lost 3-2 at home to Pot Black A.

Tony Hall's 61-40 defeat of Steve Minshall gave the visitors the perfect start but the home side soon got back on track as they took the next two frames.

There may have been a distinct lack of Rawlins Specials in the last few weeks but home captain John Rawlins soon made amends with a 41-17 defeat of Neil Robinson to draw his side level and they then took the lead as Dave Cartledge weighed in with a 20 break on the way to a 63-27 win over Toby Welsh.

The next frame flowed first one way and then the other as Chris Hall swept into an immediate 33 point lead only to see Mick Birch rally superbly to take the lead.

However the Billiard Hall player was made to pay for giving away a total of 31 points in fouls as Chris eventually took the frame 56-41 to pull the Oakengates side level.

That left Dave Welsh to complete a fine win for Pot Black with an excellent 65-43 deciding frame victory over young Matty Locklin .

Anstice B's fortunes seem to have taken a turn for the better recently and last week proved no exception as they ran out 3-2 winners at home to Coddon C.

Nigel Wallcroft wasted little time in giving them the lead against Fraser MacKinnon only for Ray Whitehead to level with a 67-33 success over Stewart Wimbush.

John Darrock then put the home side back into the lead with a 57-33 win over Mick Stokes and when Steve Smallwood completed a great win over Keith Morris in the next the Madeley side were certain of win number four this season.

However any thoughts they had of claiming a further point were soon dashed as Sef Tusel took a close last frame by 56 points to 43 against George Hammond to leave the Anstice victorious overall by three frames to two.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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