It couldn't be closer at the top of Division 2 of the Telford Snooker League (sponsored by Golden Purse Jewelers) as three teams are now tied for first place with another just a point behind.

Wellington Billiard Hall E were the main beneficiaries last week as they claimed all five points from their match with Shifnal D to share top spot with fellow Billiard Hall side W.B.H. C and Little Dawley B who both lost their games by three frames to two.

Warren Barber gave Billiard Hall E the perfect start as he began proceedings with a 78-33 success over S Morse as the Wellington side travelled to bottom of the table Shifnal D.

Alan Turner then doubled the advantage before Mick Hughes made it 3-0 by taking the next off Arthur Aston.

Chris Morris only just added a fourth, 45-37 against G Nelson before Ray Evans completed the whitewash by taking the last against Barry Easthope.

Wellington Billiard Hall C didn't have things all their own way though when they made the trip to Minnesota Fats and were beaten 3-2 by the Cannongate team who as a result now move into fourth spot just a point behind the leaders.

Paul Smith gave Minnesota the lead 72-39 against Dave Cartledge and they went further ahead as there was a distinct lack of "Rawlins Specials" in the next frame which enabled J Wright to get the better of visiting captain John Rawlins to put the home side two up.

Steve Minshall made no mistake in the next however as he followed an early 33 break with a 27 clearance to pull a frame back for the Billiard Hall and an exciting finale was then guaranteed as Matty Locklin made it two frames all with one to play after a 63-40 win over K West.

Exciting it proved to be too as Mick Birch led by 9 points with just the blue, pink and black remaining. However an attempted cut on the blue ended in disaster for the Wellington player allowing P Devey to snatch a 54-37 victory for Minnesota's sixth win out of 8 matches played.

Shifnal E put the cat amongst the pigeons when they travelled to Little Dawley B who started the day in top spot, and came away with a priceless 3-2 victory.

Aaron Sparkes won the battle of the young guns as he took the opening frame for Shifnal with a 47-19 win over Byron Mitchell but the visitor's lead didn't last long as Lee Elcock drew Little Dawley level with a 51-33 success over Chris Petford.

Fred Harper soon restored Shifnal's lead with a 60-49 defeat of Darren Wincott before Rob Wright secured his side's fifth win of the campaign with a 43-27 victory over Brendan Wincott.

However Ian Eldridge's final frame win over Jeff Sparkes kept Little Dawley in with a share of top spot.

Coddon B now lie fifth, some four points off the lead following a 4-1 derby win over their C team who as a result slip to sixth.

They had to come from behind though after Frazer MacKinnon's 21 break secured the opening frame for the C side against A Jones.

Steve Downes levelled the scores soon after and the B side took the lead after Mark Wall won a ding dong battle with Ray Whitehead.

Mark's 36 break proved just enough to edge out Ray by 54 points to 45 after the C side player had made a break of 23 himself. That certainly seemed to have tipped the balance of play in favour of the B team who responded magnificently through Nick Pearce's 57-23 win over Steve Lumley to go 3-1 in front.

And with Phil Szklarzewicz finishing things off in style with a 35 break the B string look set to mount a challenge to return to Division 1 after a gap of a couple of years.

Anstice B recorded only their second win of the season as they entertained Maddocks C and ran out winners by four frames to one.

Pete McCleary wasted no time in giving them the lead, notching a 24 break on the way to victory over Graham Hoof and N Wallcroft did even better with runs of 29 and 21 to make it 2-0 against D Thomas.

John Darrock took a nail-biting third on the black to put the home side three up before Joe Oliver rescued a point for Maddocks with a fine win over George Hammond.

However another black ball finish went the Madeley side's way as Billy Watson potted the final ball to complete a 44-40 win over Bill Rushton to make the final frames score 4-1 to the Anstice.

DIVISION 1

A stunning 5-0 win for Coddon A over high flying Anstice A lifts the Donnington side into joint third spot along with the Madeley side after the top two in the division, Billiard Hall A and Hills Lane A both dropped points in 3-2 wins.

Despite a run of 34 early on Keith Price was unable to get the better of Coddon's Darren Weston as the home side took the lead.

Lee Szklarzewizc also notched a 34 break on the way to making it 2-0 against Neil Price before Ian Ferriday continued his fine season with a 52-34 success against Mick Cahill.

Home captain Dave Lloyd survived a 28 break by Nick Oakley to take the next 61-33 leaving Adrian Smith to complete a fine evenings work by the Donnington side with a 68-41 win over Phil Reynolds.

That win leaves both Coddon and Anstice on 23 points - four behind leaders Billiard Hall A who were made to fight all the way against Shifnal F before eventually taking the match by the odd frame.

Old rivals Wally Harper and Morton Hughes met again in the first match and it was the Shifnal man who came out on top with some excellent potting including a 30 break to secure the opening frame.

Graham Darrall then evened things up as he overcame Chris Painter 54-34 before home captain Brian Painter restored his side's lead with an exciting finale against Phil Whitby.

Phil forged a 17 point lead with the least three colours remaining only to see Brian produce a brilliant clearance to snatch victory by a single point to give Shifnal the lead at 2-1.

Nev Whitehead then tried to seal the match as he took on former team mate Spencer Rowley but the Wellington man had other ideas and secured the frame 76-38 on the green to draw his side level.

For once anchor man Dave "Rock" Peplow finally became unstable as he took on reigning individual champion Paul Harper who sealed victory with breaks of 26 and 24 to clinch his side's sixth win of the campaign.

Reigning Champions Hills Lane A didn't have things all their own way when they took on Broseley at home and were eventually pleased to take the match 3-2 to keep them just two points behind leaders W.B.H. A.

Things started well though as Richard Wade took the first frame against Mick Brezwyn and then Matt Bailey scraped home against Carl Walker by just two points 58-56.

Richie Hulme then played superbly to defeat Shaun Harris to retrieve one frame although with Ian Duffy claiming the next against Paul Humphries the home side looked to be back in control.

They hadn't accounted for Simon Mcleod's 43 break however as the Broseley man took the final frame against Darren Pountney to leave last year's Champions with the narrowest of 3-2 wins.

Little Dawley A maintained their fine start to the season with a 3-2 win over Bayley A.

Ade Henry's 32 clearance to the pink secured the opening frame against Arthur Burrows before Jesse Lowe put the home side firmly in control with victory over Bob Mason in the next.

Worse was to follow for the Bayley as Richie Heighway secured the next frame too for Little Dawley 60-49 against Steve Nicholls before Steve Fletcher provided some light for the visitors with a 47 break against Rick Cousins.

Chris Morgan-Adams then rescued another point for the Wellington side when he took the last frame of the evening against Graham Wiley.

Andy O'Brien's 34 break helped Hadley A take the lead as they entertained Shifnal A. Mark Watkins then doubled their advantage with a close 60-51 win over Linsay Knox and although David France weighed in with a 32 break in the next he couldn't stop Andy Easthope pulling a frame back for Shifnal with a 65-62 black ball win.

Ali Jones soon restored the two frame advantage for Hadley as he took the next from Roy Martin only for Simon Biddulph to save another point for Shifnal with a 59-29 final frame victory over John Squire.

Maddocks A's fourth win of the season came courtesy of a 3-2 success after a see-saw encounter with Dawley Social.

Phil Davis opened the scoring with a 58-29 defeat of Sean Nolan only for Mark Jones to level with a 64-43 success over Leigh France.

Ian Skelton made it 2-1 to Maddocks with a 35 break against Chris Woods only for Rick Bailey to draw his side level again with victory over Mark Finucane on a re-spotted black.

However with Dave France playing a captain's role in the last against Pete Nolan, Maddocks were able to celebrate a fourth win of the season by taking the match by three frames to two.

DIVISION 3

Wellington Billiard Hall X continue to lead the way in Division 3 after a 4-1 win over Little Dawley G leaves them two points clear of Wellington Billiard Hall F who jump into second spot after they too took four points from their game with Bayley B.

The X men had D Khan to thank for giving them the lead - a lead which was soon doubled as M Shadab took the next with a 20 break against G Clement.

Graham Copson hit back by taking the next for Little Dawley but it was to prove too little too late as further wins from A Ali and M Surfraz, the latter with a 36 break, completed a 4-1 win for the league leaders.

Wellington Billiard Hall F completed their seventh consecutive victory with a 4-1 win as they entertained Bayley B.

Captain Chris Durham continued his excellent season by taking the opening frame against his opposite number Bob Tracy and further wins from Richard Tranter and Rob Cook over Robin Sturmey and Kevin Ryan respectively put the F team into a commanding 3-0 lead.

Chris Fletcher was unable to continue the trend though as Dicky Beddall pulled a frame back for the visitors only for Steve Weatherall to claim the last frame for the Billiard Hall with an excellent display against Dave Western.

Pot Black D have the same number of points as W.B.H.F but have won one less match, and therefore currently lie third despite winning 3-2 at home to Maddocks D.

Mick Pearson set them on their way with a 50-33 success over Alan Bould and things looked to be going even better for the home side when Rob Palin put them further ahead against Roy Lowe and then Harry Jones took the third frame too against Roy Adams.

However the visitors stuck to their guns and Colin Smith soon reduced the deficit to 3-1 with a 55-28 win over Mick Egan before Steve Pritchard took the next frame too for Maddocks against Kirk Stephenson to leave the final tally 3-2 to Pot Black.

Another Oakengates team, Maddocks B were even happier after last week's results saw them take four very good points at home to newcomers Little Dawley C.

G Arnold gave them the perfect start against Steve Farrington before veteran Les Hicks made no mistake against Mike King.

John Archer continued in the same vane to take the next frame too for Maddocks before Craig Walton pulled one back for Little Dawley with a 51-13 win over G Tudor.

However with Tony O'Neil taking a close final frame 47-39 against Russ France the home side were left celebrating their third win of the season.

Two other side's with 4-1 wins were Wellington Billiard Hall D, who got the better of Newport British Legion, and Bayley D who accounted for Hills Lane B.

Colin Farge gave the Newport side the lead but it was to be their only success as R Francis levelled matters with a 23 break and then Ian Atkinson put the Billiard Hall in front with a 24 break in his 62-41 win over Alan Munn.

Ken Francis then made it 3-1 with a 62-33 defeat of Mike Doverskog leaving T Nicholls to wrap things up nicely with victory in the last.

Ice Man Bill France gave Bayley D the lead as they entertained Hills Lane B but Steve Powell hit back to level for the visitors with a 44-30 win over Darren Rhoades.

Dave Williams was in scintilating form in the next as two 25 breaks gave him the frame and the Bayley the lead against Lee Harris.

Home captain Steve Lane didn't let his side down either as he claimed the fourth frame against Steve Weaver leaving substitute Dave Dudley to take the last on the black for a 4-1 win to the Bayley boys.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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