All teams in the Telford Snooker League (sponsored by Golden Purse Jewelers) were able to put their league form on the back burner last week as the League's Knockout competitions took centre stage once more.

The winners of round one, which was played before Christmas, naturally progressed to the second round of the main cup competition whereas those teams not fortunate enough to get over the first hurdle had the compensation of entering the Consolation Cup.

With teams each receiving a handicap, it was points rather than frames that counted so when League Champions, and current first division leaders Hills Lane A found themselves drawn against runaway third division leaders Wellington Billiard Hall X they could have been excused feeling just a little apprehensive.

They needn't have worried though as a strong performance saw them recoup the 130 point handicap the home side received to eventually take the match by an aggregate points score of 297 to 232.

Tim Hicks began the fightback by taking the opening frame for the Madeley side with a 57-36 defeat of A Ali.

Both Darren Pountney and Matt Bailey made sure of the next two frames before Shaun Harris took the fourth by some 70 points to leave Ian Duffy with a slender 20 point lead going into the last against M Surfraz.

Once again Ian proved as solid as a rock as a 62-17 success secured a place in round 3 for the favourites for the trophy.

Having lost in the final a few years ago to Hills Lane B, Wellington Billiard Hall A will not have relished their trip to Madeley to play the Hills Lane side once again, especially as they were conceding 160 points handicap to the third division side.

However they soon got into their stride as Paul Harper knocked in a 45 break to take the first frame from Steve Weaver before Morton Hughes and Nigel Fletcher combined to put the visitors ahead overall on aggregate.

Further wins from Spencer Rowley and Graham Darrall secured a third round spot for the Wellington side although unfortunately they will not be joined there by their C side as they lost at home to Minnesota Fats in a keenly contested match.

Both these two teams have hopes of gaining promotion to the top flight as the Billiard Hall currently lie top of the second division with Minnesota just a point behind them in second place.

However it was the visitors who took control right from he off as Paul Smith weighed in with two 22 breaks and although John Rawlins took the next frame against K Blackham with a 21 break, S Collins' 55-38 win over Dave Cartledge meant that the Cannongate team remained ahead overall.

And pretty soon it was all over as K West got the better of Mick Birch thanks to a 35 break and then Paul Devey notched a brilliant run of 50 to deny Matty Locklin any chance of a comeback as Minnesota coolly booked their place in the third round draw.

Having successfully negotiated the opening round, the League's bottom side Newport British Legion B must have been hoping for an easier draw than having to travel to first division newcomers Little Dawley A.

However, they did have as compensation a handicap start of some 135 points, but this was soon whittled down as the home side took the initiative through Ade Henry and Richie Heighway who took the first two frames for Little Dawley against M Gidda and Alan Davies respectively.

Jesse Lowe used all his experience to edge his side ahead overall by 16 points by taking frame three against Alan Munn.

Graham Wiley then added a 32 break on the way to defeating Keith Gardner 66-30 to leave the visitors still in with a shout with just the last frame remaining. However despite another valiant effort from Mike Doverskog, home captain Rick Cousins made certain his side went into the hat for the third round draw as he took the final frame of the evening by just nine points to leave his side victorious by some just 56 points overall.

Another first division side safely through to the next round are Maddocks A who retrieved a 175 point handicap away at third division newcomers Little Dawley C.

However the home side must have thought it was going to be their night when Russ France produced a superb 52-40 opening frame victory over Phil Davies to extend their overall lead.

But Leigh France and Ian Skelton took the next two frames for Maddocks as Mike King and then Steve Farrington were unable to follow in Russ's footsteps before a brilliant performance from Ade Barraclough saw him reduce the aggregate deficit to just 12 points with captain Dave France still to play.

And Dave didn't let his charges down as he successfully completed a comfortable win over Danny Childs to ease the Maddocks side into round three where they could meet Hadley United Services A who won through a tough away fixture at Maddocks B.

The Oakengates side received a 120 point handicap start and they set about protecting it with some steel as veteran Les Hicks restricted Andy O'Brien to victory in the opening frame by just five points.

Steve Hoof turned the tide Hadley's way though as he was in unstoppable form in posting a 32 break on the way to victory over Graham Tudor before Mark Watkins and Ali Jones got the bettor of Tony O'Neil and G Arnold respectively to put the visitors firmly in the driving seat.

And with John Squire finishing things off nicely with a final frame win over John Archer the Hadley side cruised through to the next round by a comfortable 138 point margin.

CONSOLATION CUP

Shifnal F's fortunes have taken a turn for the better just recently as they followed their league victory over Dawley last week with two successive wins in the Consolation Cup.

Firstly they despatched Bayley C in a preliminary round match before accounting for second division high fliers Little Dawley B.

Bayley C are perhaps a little unfortunate to be struggling at the foot of the second division table as they might have expected to have started the season in the third division but for some re-arranging of the league tables, and consequently as a second division outfit their 45 point start was never likely to be enough against an experienced Shifnal side, and so it proved as the Islanders cruised through their preliminary round tie by a total of 400 points to 296.

Wins from Wally Harper and Chris Painter put Shifnal in the lead overall before Pete Woodcock held his nerve to defeat Brian Painter by 66 points to 49 to give the Bayley some hope.

However Dave Peplow is once again returning to his old formidable self and his side never looked back after Dave secured frame four to put Shifnal well and truly in the driving seat.

And although Craig Whitehead beat dad Neville in the final frame the scoreline of 49 points to 30 was not enough to prevent Shifnal progressing to the first round proper where they played Little Dawley B, conquerors of Wellington Billiard Hall B in their preliminary round tie.

This was a match of contrasts, not least as the Shifnal Side contained many of the league's more seasoned campaigners with the young guns of Little Dawley just starting to make a name for themselves as they strive to reach the first division having been promoted from Division 3 last term.

With The Shifnal side presently at the foot of the first division table there is only three places separating the two sides and they started the day on level handicaps.

It was therefore imperative that either team tried to get off to a good start and Ian Eldridge did exactly that as he swept into an early 30 point lead with some excellent potting against Wally Harper.

The former individual champion drew on all his experience though to turn that early deficit into a three point lead on the brown before clinching the frame 56-53 on the final black to give Shifnal an early 3 point advantage.

An excellent performance from Chris Painter then increased the home side's lead still further when he overcame Under 21 Finalist Byron Mitchell by 62 points to 34 and when captain Brian Painter followed his son with some excellent safety play to defeat Lee Elcock 53-35 the home side were beginning to look the part with a 53 point aggregate lead.

A 30 break from Dave Peplow then accounted for Brendan Wincott to increase that lead to 85 points with just the final frame remaining.

However Darren Wincott seemed undeterred by the task facing him as he raced into an early 37-0 lead against League President Nev Whitehead.

Some excellent tactical play saw Nev draw within touching distance with just 13 points separating the two players on the pink and although Darren slotted the last two balls home for a 66-52 win, it wasn't his side's day as Shifnal ran out the winners overall.

However President Nev Whitehead was left in no doubt that the Little Dawley youngsters will shortly be a real handful for the best teams in the League as they continue to improve each year.

This was demonstrated in the Little Dawley side's preliminary round victory at home to Wellington Billiard Hall C, which they won by 44 points overall.

The visitors received a 105 point start which was reduced by 22 points when Ian Eldridge won the first frame 63-41 against Paul Gubats

A run of 22 was swiftly followed by a 22 clearance as Byron Mitchell took the next frame against R Francis and although Andy Kendrick took the next for the Billiard Hall, 71-38 over Lee Elcock, further wins from the Wincott brothers, Brendan and Darren saw Little Dawley safely through to play Shifnal F.

Another Shifnal side through to the next round are the club's A team who eliminated Bayley B from the competition with a final points tally of 400 to 285.

Despite receiving a 120 point start the visitors struggled to find their usual form and soon found themselves two frames down - and more importantly 62 points worse off after Linsay Knox and Bernie Southern both won their opening frames by 31 points each.

John Fallows was the hero of the night for Shifnal though as his win over Kevin Ryan gave the home side the lead, which they never surrendered as Simon Biddulph took the next with a 45 break before Roy Martin rounded things off by taking the last frame 66-41 from Harry Parkes.

Bayley A also failed to progress any further in the competition when they came unstuck at home to fellow first division side Dawley A.

However things looked to be going their way when Steve Nicholls had pulled back a 33 point final frame deficit to lead by a single point on aggregate. However an unlucky in off on the final pink gave Pete Nolan the opportunity to sink the pink and put Dawley into the hat for the next round.

Earlier Chris Morgan-Adams recovered from 40 behind to lose out by just six points against Mark Jones as the visitors added to their 15 point handicap.

Bob Mason's 12 point win over Chris Woods made it even tighter before two 40 breaks from Steve Fletcher looked to have turned the tide the Bayley's way only for his opponent, Sean Nolan to crucially take the last four balls.

And with Rick Bailey also notching a run of 40 to take frame four against Arthur Burrows the visitors were able to eventually clinch victory by an aggregate score of 299 to 288.

Coddon A are no stranger to success in the knockout competitions and this year seems no different as they safely negotiated a tricky away tie at Maddocks C to whom they were conceding 45 points.

Craig Rowley did well to hold last year's individual runner up Lee Szklarzewich to a 37 point win in the opening frame however further wins for Ian Ferriday and Dave Lloyd put the Donnington side in front before Adrian Smith and Darren Weston put the icing on the cake to complete an overall winning margin of 80 points.

Anstice B join Coddon in the next round thanks to an excellent win over fellow second division side Wellington Billiard Hall E.

Nigel Wallcroft set them on their way with a 73-40 win over Mick Hughes and although Chris Morris and Ray Evans took the next two for the Billiard Hall followed by Nigel Stallard's 45-22 defeat of Steve Smallwood, it wasn't enough to see the visitors over the winning line as they were unable to field a final man, thus losing the last frame 72-0 and with it the match.

MIXED FORTUNES FOR INTER-TOWN TEAMS

There were mixed fortunes for the League's two representative sides as Telford A moved into the last eight of the West Midlands Inter-Town competition courtesy of a 4-2 win over Whitchurch with the B side losing out 6-1 away at Stourbridge.

Daryl Grainger was called upon to make a last minute appearance for the A team and he didn't let them down as a solid display saw him produce a run of 38 on the way to an opening frame victory over P Bailey.

Meanwhile Nigel Fletcher, playing on the adjacent table, lost out on the brown to A Barber as the first two frames were shared and although Nigel was understandably disappointed, he did have the consolation of beating his pal Daryl 4-2 at darts later in the evening.

Hills Lane youngster Matty Bailey is playing some of his best snooker ever at the moment and that shone through as he led P Duckers right from the start before running out a comfortable winner by 71 points to 17 to give Telford the lead.

The home side soon drew level though as M Dubicki laid some brilliant snookers to deny Keith Price any chance of taking frame four but the visitors regained the lead shortly after when captain Ian Duffy secured the next frame on the brown for a 57 points to 31 victory over G Edwards.

Steve Fletcher then survived an early foul and miss which resulted in the several reds having to be replaced before taking the sixth frame against Colin Nuttall to clinch the match by four frames to one.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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