There's no stopping League leaders Hills Lane A and their closest rivals Wellington Billiard Hall A as they carried their league form over to the cup competition last week to reach the last four of the Telford Snooker League (Sponsored by Golden Purse Jewelers) Team Knockout.

Hills Lane eased into the semi-finals by beating fellow first division side Little Dawley A whilst the Billiard Hall also came out on top against top flight opposition in the shape of Maddocks A.

Hills Lane captain Ian Duffy set about turning a 40 point handicap deficit into a lead when he notched a 32 break in his opening frame win over Ade Henry. Tim Hicks then improved the home side's chances even more with an excellent win over Little Dawley captain Rick Cousins before Shaun Harris put the tie out of reach with breaks of 49 and 33 against the unlucky Richie Heighway.

Matt Bailey's 45 break secured the next frame too against Graham Wiley and although the visitors did gain some small consolation with Jesse Lowe's final frame win over Darren Pountney it was never enough to prevent the reigning champions homing in on yet another trophy.

They are joined in the last four by Wellington Billiard Hall A who overcame a tricky away tie at Maddocks A.

With both side's starting off scratch, Phil Davis' 71-39 defeat of Morton Hughes gave the home side a 32 point lead early on. A close second frame saw Spencer Rowley pull back a little of the deficit when he defeated Leigh France by eleven points.

But the Wellington side turned the tide in their favour as they welcomed back former England International Daryl Grainger - and his 40 point winning margin after an excellent frame of snooker with Ian Skelton, tipped the match the Billiard Hall's way.

Further wins from Phil Whitby over Mark Finucane and Graham Darrall against Dave France secured a semi final berth for the former cup winners.

Yet another first division side, Broseley A made it through to the semi's as well after another all first division clash away at Hadley A.

Once again, the two teams were evenly matched, with both receiving the same handicap start and things looked good for Hadley early on when Andy O'Brien took the first frame against Carl Walker by 17 points.

Simon McLeod replied for Broseley by taking the next 87-50 against Mark Watkins and when John Shepherd won frame three 62-36 against Steve Hoof the visitors led by some 46 points overall.

And when they took the last two frames too, thanks to Richie Hulme and Mick Brezwyn, the Broseley side's chances of progressing still further in the competition continued to look rosy.

Standing in their way however could be Minnesota Fats who, in beating third Division Bayley D, become the only team outside the first division to reach the semi finals.

Paul Smith is clearly a man in form as he rattled in a 36 break on the way to defeating Brian Aberdeen in the opening frame.

Steve Collins then took frame two for Minnesota by just two points against Darren Rhoades and when John Wright won the third frame as well things looked bleak for the third division side who had started the match with high hopes having received a 90 point handicap against their second division opponents.

Minnesota clearly aren't top of the second division table for nothing and T Blackham's win over Bayley captain Steve Lane added to their lead. A lead that Paul Devey never looked like losing as he took the last frame too by 50 points to 36 against Bill France to keep alive his side's hopes of a cup and second division title double.

CONSOLATION CUP

With three teams in the last eight, Shifnal War Memorial Club must have had high hopes of claiming some silverware in the Consolation Cup this season, but after the quarter-finals only their A team remains after both E and F teams fell by the wayside.

Second division Coddon B look likely to narrowly miss out on promotion back to the first division once again, but they may have some consolation if they can continue their cup form for a little longer after they accounted for first division Shifnal F to book a place in the last four.

However the home side's 30 point start was wiped out immediately as Wally Harper took the opening frame against Mark Wall with a 31 break.

Andy Jones put Coddon back on track with some superb potting against Ivor Peplow to give the home side the lead again.

And they continued to shine as Steve Downes weighed in with an early 24 break , but for the second week running Shifnal captain Brian Painter rallied to finally take the frame by 62 points to 47.

Shifnal still found themselves trailing though and try as he might Nev Whitehead couldn't dent the home side's lead by any more than a point as a dogged performance from Nick Pearce saw him lose out by the odd point 56-55.

Although Shifnal had now won three of the four frames they were still 68 points down on aggregate going into the last frame.

And it proved too much for Dave "The Rock" Peplow to pull back as Phil Szklarzewicz used all his experience to craft a 57-19 final frame win for the Donnington boys who move into the last four.

However they won't be joined by their A side after an excellent performance from Little Dawley G saw them protect a 145 point handicap to win through by 58 points overall against the side currently third in Division 1.

However things didn't look good early on as Lee Szklarzewicz set about reducing the deficit by taking the first frame by 51 points.

R Lenevell then played superbly to hold Dave Lloyd to a 59-40 win as Coddon chipped away at the visitor's lead.

Another good performance saw Mike Rhodes lose out to Coddon's Adrian Smith by a narrow 54 points to 37 as Little Dawley continued to protect their handicap.

And although Coddon took the next frame too when Darren Weston got the better of G Clements 46-42 the home side were left trailing by 16 points going into the last.

However Graham Copson wasn't going to let his side down after all their good work had kept his side in with a chance - and a super display against the in form Ian Ferriday saw him take the final frame by 58 points to 54 to ensure the third division side go into the hat for the semi-final draw.

Shifnal A are now their club's only representatives in the competition after clawing back a 75 point deficit away at Anstice B to move into the next round.

Linsay Knox took the opening frame for the visitors and although John Darrock got the better of Bernie Southern in the next the Shifnal boys took all of the remaining frames for a remarkable victory.

John Fallows once again made the long trip from Banbury to play an important part in his team's success as he took frame 3 against George Hammond and when Roy Martin beat G Smallwood 49-24 the visitors were still trailing by some 60 points.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man as former county champion Simon Biddulph rolled back the years to take the final frame by 80 points to put Shifnal into the semi's where they could meet fellow first division opponents in the shape of Dawley Social.

Dawley recovered a 30 point deficit at start of play to overcome Shifnal E who must have fancied their chances after Jeff Sparkes took the opening frame for them by 57 points to 53.

Aaron Sparkes then gave the home side further hope with a brilliant 76-29 win over Mark Jones before the visitors began a superb comeback that was to eventually see them reach the semi-finals for the second successive year.

Rick Bailey is always difficult to beat - and so it proved for Fred Harper as the Dawley man took the next 80-36 to put his side back in contention.

Barry Roden then cleared the last four balls to come out on top against Chris Petford 54-38 before Sean Nolan wrapped things up with a final frame win over Rob Wright to leave the visitors victorious by an aggregate score of 295 points to 252.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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