Second Division Coddon B upset the form book to knock Shifnal A out of this season's Consolation Cup with a magnificent semi-final display to book their place in next month's final against Dawley Social.

With last Wednesday being semi final night in the Telford Snooker League (sponsored by Golden Purse Jewelers) only four matches were played - those being the two semi-finals in both the main knockout competition and the Consolation Cup.

With both Consolation Cup semi's played at Wellington's Sir John Bayley Club, there was plenty of atmosphere as all four teams involved brought along spectators and it was Coddon who rose to the occasion best to defeat last year's winners of the main cup competition by a total of 53 points overall.

Although conceding 60 points start, Shifnal's first division pedigree still made them favourites but their task was made more difficult right from the start when Steve Downes kicked off his frame against Linsay Knox with a 28 break.

An excellent brown enabled Linsay to take blue and pink before eventually sinking the black but it wasn't enough to prevent Steve taking the frame by 69 points to 37 to give the Donnington side just the start they were looking for.

Coddon's Phil Szklarzewicz soon followed suit as he posted an early 20 break to lead against John Fallows. However an unlucky in off on the pink gave John the opportunity he needed to take pink and black for a frame score of 65 to 49 to pull his side back into contention.

Nick Pearce then took on Shifnal's Andy Easthope in a game full of tactical safety. However Andy eventually took a foothold with a 31 break which belied his recent absence from the game through injury.

But just as things seemed to be going Andy's way Nick responded by clearing the colours from green to pink and although the Shifnal man potted the final black the frame winning margin of just ten points kept Coddon in the driving seat - 66 points ahead overall with just two games remaining.

And when Mark Wall restricted Simon Biddulph to a winning score of 47 points to 34 in the next the Coddon boys went into the final frame of the evening some 53 points to the good.

Roy Martin set about the task of recouping those points in determined mood and with eight reds left the deficit had reduced to 39 points, but Coddon's Andy Jones stuck to his guns and with three reds left the difference was 62 and Coddon were safely through to the final where they will play Dawley Social.

In their semi, Rick Bailey's team took on Little Dawley G of the third division who received a 90 point handicap at start of play.

A truly solid display from the Dawley skipper saw him pull back 68 points of that start in the opening frame and when Mark Jones took the next frame too, by some 25 points against Graham Copson, the third division side were left with a mountain to climb.

Steve Nolan then put Dawley firmly in the driving seat before Chris Wood's victory over Gary Clements left Barry Roden with an overall lead of 126 going into the last frame against Ron Leneveu and despite a brave effort the Little Dawley man was unable to make any headway as Barry took the frame 63-33 to see Dawley, losing semi finalists last year, through to this year's final.

In the main cup competition, Broseley will take on Wellington Billiard Hall A after they both overcame tough opposition in their semi finals which were played at Shifnal War Memorial Club.

Broseley swept into the final of the A & D Cup by beating second division leaders Minnesota Fats. The key factor in their victory was the potting performance of Simon McLeod who knocked in a 57 break on the way to giving his side the lead after only two frames.

Having conceded 15 points start to Minnesota, the Broseley team fell further behind when a brilliant display saw Steve Collins overcome Mick Brezwyn by 51 points to 26. Mick's usual potting power deserted him a little allowing Steve to take full advantage to clear up the last three colours as Minnesota built on their 15 point start.

However Simon Mcleod did not let this deter him as he knocked in a break of 57 to take the second frame 120-11 to put Broseley firmly in control.

K West replied for Fats by claiming the next frame 65-26 against John Shepherd but Broseley took frame four 55-36 thanks to Carl Walker's victory over Paul Devey to leave Richie Hulme with a comfortable 79 point lead going into the last against Jonathan Wright.

Richie duly took the frame by 76 points to 50 to book a place in the final against Wellington Billiard Hall A who beat their arch rivals Hills Lane A in a closely contested match.

Both sides started off scratch so Matt Bailey's 73-26 win over Graham Darrell gave the Madeley side the early advantage.

Darren Pountney then took the next frame too for Hills Lane when he defeated Morton Hughes by six points only for Phil Whitby to claw back some of the deficit with an 80-36 win over Tim Hicks.

Wellington's Darryl Grainger then drew Hills Lane skipper Ian Duffy in a game that was expected to be a tight affair. And close it was with Ian running out a 54-52 winner.

That left the Billiard Hall's Nigel Fletcher just ten points adrift going into the final frame against Shaun Harris. In a tense finale Nigel duly retrieved the deficit to see his side safely through to yet another final.

My thanks to referee Nev Whitehead for his reports on the two semi finals at Shifnal.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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