Paul Harper's reign as the Telford Snooker League (Sponsored by Golden Purse Jewelers) individual champion continued when he won the Chris Ward Individual crown for the third successive year with a 4-0 win over Broseley's Mick Brezwyn.

The snooker room at Shifnal War Memorial Club was packed with over 40 onlookers as Paul took the opening frame with a 55 clearance.

The Wellington Billiard Hall player then raced into an early lead in the next frame only to be pegged back as Mick threatened to clear all the colours. However the Broseley man jawed a long blue crucially leaving the ball over the corner pocket. Paul stepped up to sink the blue and take the frame and he went further in front thanks to a 42 break in frame three.

Although Mick fought valiantly to recoup the deficit the position of the two remaining reds made it difficult for him to obtain blacks with each of them and so he had to make do with lower value colours which left him requiring a snooker.

Some excellent safety saw Mick come close to getting the snookers he required but it was not to be his night as Paul took the frame to leave him needing just one more to retain his title.

In what proved to be an exciting final frame, Paul saw a 22 point lead disappear as Mick replied with a 35 break only to snooker himself on the green after potting the yellow.

Both players then played some brilliant safety as they vied for an opening and it was Mick who slotted home the blue to leave him needing just one of the two remaining balls.

Back came Paul as he potted the pink to leave the frame delicately balanced and although both players swapped perfect safety shots on the black it was Paul who eventually clipped the last ball of the match into the corner pocket to complete his fifth win in the competition.

The same evening saw the Maddocks trio of Mark Finucane, Dave France and Adrian Barraclough come out on top in a keenly contested final of the Three-a-Side competition at Coddon.

Their opponents, Ian Duffy, Matt Bailey and Darren Pountney from Hills Lane must have started the match in confident mood with their Hills Lane A side having already clinched the League title for a third successive season, and they went into a 45 point lead as Matt Bailey took the opening frame against Ade Barraclough.

The Oakengates side were in no mood to lie down however as Dave France pulled his side back into contention with a fine 42 point victory over Ian Duffy.

And the fightback was soon completed as Mark Finucane put in a superb display against Darren Pountney to clinch victory for Maddocks before the colours.

The Maddocks team had something else to celebrate the following evening when the A side's Phil Davis reached the final of the First Division Individual.

The competition, which was open to all first division players, attracted an entry of 14 and Phil was clearly the man on form as he defeated his Maddocks team-mate Ian Skelton in the first round before opening up a 38 point lead early on in his quarter-final against Paul Harper.

Paul, who had earlier recovered from a similar deficit in his opening round victory over Phil Whitby, looked as though he might do the same again as he recouped the difference only to miss a long blue giving Phil the opportunity he required to sink blue and pink for a semi-final place against Chris Morgan-Adams.

Chris had earlier defeated Maddocks' Dave France in round one before accounting for Shifnal's Linsay Knox in the next round. However he had no answer to Phil's potting as the Maddocks player reached the final where he will play the Bayley's Steve Fletcher.

Steve took full advantage of playing on his home tables to defeat Anstice's Phil Reynolds in the first round before coming out on top against the Hills Lane pair of Ian Duffy and Matt Bailey to reach the final which will be played on Wednesday 30th May.

Ian's first round win over Carl Walker saw him notch the highest break of the evening - a run of 61 and his team-mate Matt had earlier defeated the in form John Fallows who himself had claimed the notable scalp of Anstice player Keith Price in round one.

The Second Division's competition had to be broken down to four preliminary rounds to accommodate the 20 strong field.

The four preliminary matches saw the winner for the past two season's, Ray Evans defeat his Billiard Hall team-mate Nigel Stallard in a close game, won on the final black. Wins for Sef Tusel, Rob Wright and Ray Whitehead also saw them join Ray in the first round proper.

Shifnal's Fred Harper potted well to overcome Little Dawley youngster Brendan Wincott and the Billiard Hall's John Rawlins was up to his usual tricks as a couple of "Rawlins Specials" accounted for Ray Whitehead as both players progressed to the second round.

They were joined there by two more youngsters from the Little Dawley Club as Ian Eldridge and Darren Wincott safely negotiated difficult games against Nick Pearce and Bill Watson respectively.

Defending champion Ray Evans came through another close encounter as some good potting mixed with solid safety play saw him defeat Rob Wright on the colours. Nigel Wallcroft also made it through to the second round as some consistent potting helped him to victory against Chris Petford and Wayne Week's seemed to have picked up a trick or two from his team mate John Rawlins as a "Rawlins Special" clinched his opening round match against Shifnal player Jeff Sparkes.

John Darrock overcame Sef Tusel in round one only to come up against under 21 champion Darren Wincott and it was the Little Dawley youngster who prevailed to book a semi final place against Ian Eldridge, who accounted for John Rawlins in his quarter-final.

The semi final clash of the Little Dawley youngsters provided a match of high quality and it was Ian's break of 25 which proved to be just too much for Darren to recoup as Ian booked his place in next week's final.

Ray Evan's superb run in this competiton had to come to an end at some point, and so it proved as another high quality encounter saw Ray pot a good green only to go in off, giving Nigel Wallcroft the opportunity to clear the colours to the pink for a heroic victory which was to see him through to the semi final to play the Billiard Hall's Wayne Weeks who reached the last four courtesy of a 27 break against Fred Harper in the quarters.

However it was there that the Billiard Hall player's run ended as Nigel continued the good form he had shown throughout the evening to claim his place in next week's final against Ian Eldridge.

Billiard Hall X player A Ali put the icing on what has been a fine season for his side, when he defeated Billiard Hall F's Steve Weatherall in the division three final by two frames to nil.

He followed a 36 break in the first frame with a 26 in the next to take the title after defeating his team-mate M Shadab in the semi final.

A tough second round game saw the eventual winner defeat Bayley favourite Mark Beddall after accounting for Chris Durham in the first round.

A handy 16 players turned up for the competition and the highlight of the first round was John Powell's performance as he knocked in breaks of 21 and 35 to defeat Bayley D's Steve Lane. There was some joy for the Bayley though as Dave Dudley got the better of Billiard Hall F player Chris Fletcher only to fall in the next round at the hands of Hills Lane's Lee Harris.

John Powell was unable to continue his stunning form into the second round where a fine display from Steve Weatherall saw him safely through to the semi final where another excellent display saw him edge home against one of the favourites Lee Harris.

A reminder that the League's Presentation Evening is on Friday June 8th at the Winning Post in Donnington (7.30pm). Tickets are now on sale at the amazingly low price of £2.00. Please contact League Secretary Alan Turner at Wellington Billiard Hall for further details.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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