Broseley really put the cat amongst the pigeons last week as they became only the third team this season to defeat current first division leaders and reigning champions Hills Lane A in Division one of the Telford Snooker League (sponsored by Golden Purse Jewelers).

Carl Walker led the way with a 37 break in the opening frame against Matt Bailey and although Shaun Harris drew Hills Lane level by taking frame two from Richie Hulme, Mick Brezwyn's close 54-31 victory over Tim Hicks put the home side back in front.

Visiting captain Darren Pountney was in no mood to see his side falter as he took the next with breaks of 37 and 33 against Paul Humphries to set up an exciting finale between Simon McLeod and Ian Duffy.

Ian, currently top of the averages, seemed to have the frame sewn up when his opponent needed a snooker with the last four balls remaining. However Simon duly obtained the one snooker he required before clearing from brown to black to take the frame by a single point to give Broseley their seventh win of the season.

Despite their defeat, the Madeley side still head the table by four points ahead of Wellington Billiard Hall A who took four points from their home clash with bottom of the table Shifnal F.

The first frame saw the two Harpers come face to face as former individual champion Wally Harper took on the current holder, Paul Harper.

A 28 break put Paul 31 in front with just the six colours remaining and he eventually cleared them all to take the first frame for the home side.

Graham Darrell then made it 2-0 when his opponent Chris Painter conceded on the green and it looked as though two nil might increase to three when Nigel Fletcher potted the first three colours to lead Nev Whitehead by seven points.

But the League President potted a superb blue and followed this up by potting the pink and then the black, off three cushions, to take the frame by 54 points to 43.

The home side took frame four though as Morton Hughes gave visiting skipper Brian Painter little hope with Brian conceding on the brown before Phil Whitby all but consigned Shifnal to relegation to Division 2 by taking the last frame of the evening against Dave Peplow.

Dawley A seem to be making a late run to avoid relegation themselves as they completed a 3-2 win over highly placed Maddocks A thanks to Rick Bailey's deciding frame win over visiting captain Dave France.

However Rick didn't have things all his way as Dave battled back from 38 points down at one stage only to miss a crucial black with the rest allowing Rick to eventually sink brown, blue and pink to seal victory.

Chris Woods initially gave Dawley the lead with a fine win over Phil Davies but Ian Skelton soon levelled with a 67-35 win over Mark Jones.

Sean Nolan then restored Dawley's lead as he took frame three against Mark Finucane only for Ade Barraclough to force the decider with a 60-29 defeat of Barry Roden.

John Fallows gave Shifnal A the lead as they entertained another of the sides looking over their shoulders at relegation, Hadley A.

Steve Hoof levelled matters though with a close 58-43 success over Linsay Knox before super sub Nick Browne put the home side back in front with victory over visiting captain David France.

Roy Martin then extended their lead still further with an excellent display against Martin Watkins only for John Squire to make the scoreline more respectable with a final frame win over Andy Easthope.

Bayley A's season is slowly petering out after they fell to their second successive defeat as they entertained Little Dawley A.

Rick Cousins gave the visitors the lead as he took the opening frame from Arthur Burrows but Steve Nicholls responded for the home side to level matters.

Little Dawley took the next two frames though thanks to Graham Wiley's excellent display against Chris Morgan-Adams and Richie Heighway's win over Robin Clarke.

And although Steve Fletcher survived some excellent snookers from Jesse Lowe to take the final frame for the Bayley, the visitors still left with a well-deserved 3-2 win to help them in their fight for first division survival.

DIVISION 2

Minnesota Fats still head the division 2 table after a brilliant 4-1 win over fellow promotion chasers Wellington Billiard Hall C sees them remain one point ahead of Little Dawley B who took all five points from their game at Shifnal E.

Things looked good for the Billiard Hall early on as Dave Cartledge took the opening frame against Paul Smith with a 28 break.

Steve Collins replied for Minnesota with a 59-31 defeat of home captain John Rawlins and the visitors took the lead when John Wright knocked in a 34 break on the way to beating Steve Minshall.

Kev West's 27 break sealed the next frame too against Mick Birch and although young Matty Locklin compiled a run of 23 it wasn't enough to prevent Paul Devey taking the frame by 58 points to 37 to seal a fine win for the title favourites.

And with just two games remaining the Billiard Hall's defeat means that they will be playing second division snooker again next year as they are now ten points behind second placed Little Dawley B who took all five points on offer against Shifnal E.

Two of the league's brightest prospects came face to face when Ian Eldridge just edged out Arron Sparkes 53-51 to give the visitors the lead. Another close frame also went Little Dawley's way as Byron Mitchell pipped Chris Petford 47-44 and the visitors then reeled off the next three frames as well.

Lee Elcock made it three as he got the better of Jeff Sparkes and further wins from Darren Wincott and Rob Withington sealed a fine performance from the Little Dawley boys.

Coddon B celebrated reaching the consolation cup final with a 4-1 win over the Donnington club's C side.

They had to come from behind though after Fraser MacKinnon gave the C team the lead with a 52-32 win over Andy Jones.

Mark Wall soon made amends with victory over Paul Wilson before Nick Pearce got the better of his namesake Dennis Pearce to put the B side ahead.

Steve Downes and then Phil Szklarzewicz completed an Excellent win for B team who stay fifth, one place above Anstice B who continued their recent revival with a 4-1 win away at Maddocks C.

Stewart Wimbush set them on their way as he took the first frame against Graham Hoof.

John Darrock then made it two before Jim Hill pulled one back for the home side with a 64-42 win over George Hammond.

Nigel Wallcroft restored Anstice's two frame advantage as he claimed the next frame from Billy Rushton leaving Danny Weaver to complete a 4-1 win by taking the last frame of the evening from Joe Oliver.

Bottom of the table Bayley C travelled to Oakengates knowing only a comprehensive victory against their hosts Pot Black A would lend any assistance to their vain attempts to scramble away from the Division 2 relegation dogfight.

However, losing three frames on the black, two of which were respotted blacks epitomized the luck the Wellington side had endured all season.

Craig Whitehead put the visitors in front early on as good potting restricted Tony Hall to requiring snookers on the last red, an advantage which saw Bayley take the early lead they so desperately needed, 66-31. Dave Welsh then clawed back a frame for the home side as he fought grimly to deny a spirited fightback from Jim Lewis, taking the second frame on the first re-spotted black of the evening, 68-61.

Toby Welsh then took advantage of Mick Healey's mis-calculation of the score when the visitor was in control on the colours, to come back and take the third frame to another re-spotted black. The visitor was left gutted, as Toby finished off his one time unlikely recovery and sunk the second black to take the third frame 67-60.

Although in the fourth frame both players found consistency hard to come by, it was Tom Firmstone who managed to find the edge needed to secure the frame by taking the last four colours against his opponent Craig Johnson, 55-29, to take the score to 3-1.

Finally, Chris Hall's cavalier approach paid dividends against Bayley skipper Ian Johnson, who's brave fight back on the colours ended when the Bayley man went in-off the final pink, to leave the Wellington side on the wrong end of a 4-1 defeat.

A scoreline which must now underline the writing that has been on the wall for the Bayley side for a number of weeks.

DIVISION 3

Wellington Billiard Hall X have all but secured the Division 3 title after a 4-1 win away at Little Dawley G leaves them a massive nine points clear of their closest rivals, Pot Black D, with just two games remaining.

John Powell led the way once more with a fine win over Graham Copson before M Shadab increased their lead with a 60-41 defeat of Roy Leneveu.

M Surfraz took the third frame too against Mick Rhodes and things looked even gloomier for the home side when A Ali made it 4-0 against Gary Clements.

Only John Clarke's 54-40 last ditch victory over A Mahmood saved the day for the home side as they prevented the whitewash, leaving the Billiard Hall side victorious by four frame to one.

Pot Black D look certain to have claimed runners up spot following their 3-2 win away at Maddocks D who had Ken Davis and Roy Adams to thank for winning their two frames as the visitors romped into an early 2-0 lead only to be pegged back.

Mick Pearson set Pot Black on the way to their fifteenth win of the season before Rob Palin got the better of Roy Lowe to make it 2-0.

Ken Davis began a mini comeback for Maddocks though as he took the next 52-42 against Mick Egan and things looked a lot better for Maddocks after Roy Adams took the next frame too, by just four points, against Kirk Stephenson.

However, the visitors regrouped and Neil Pearson took the deciding frame 73-49 from Colin Smith to leave Pot Black victorious by the odd frame in five.

Maddocks B fared no better as they travelled to Little Dawley C and went down by the same score.

Les Hicks did give them the lead though against Craig Newey only for Mike King to level matters with a close 67-52 win over John Archer.

Graham Tudor then restored Maddocks' lead only for Craig Walton to level matters once more against Tony O'Neill.

That left Paul Spencer to claim the deciding fifth frame with a 67-29 success over Graham Arnold to leave the Little Dawley side on top by three frames to two.

A similar scoreline was achieved by Wellington Billiard Hall B as they visited Newport British Legion B and came away with their ninth win of the campaign.

John Yapp did give the home side the lead though as they searched for what would have been their third victory, but Andy Kendrick levelled matters soon afterwards with a 65-40 win over Colin Farge.

Alan Munn put Newport back in front as he got the better of Alan Francis only for the visitors to take the last two frames courtesy of Ian Atkinson and Roy Francis who got the better of M Gidda and Mike Doverskog respectively as the Billiard Hall ran out the winners by three frames to two.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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