Bayley C skipper Craig Whitehead got his team's match with visitors Maddocks B off with a bang when he recorded the Telford Snooker League Division 3 highest break to date, in the opening frame against Doug Morrey.

The 44 break, which just surpasses Kev Whitehead's previous division best by a single point, came to end on the final yellow. After potting the last red, Craig was debating whether to take on a more difficult pink which would have given good position on the yellow, but decided to surrender the position in favour of taking the easier black.

With the run then at 44, Craig failed to sink the long yellow, but had already done more than enough to wrap up the first frame for the basement boys.

For the second week running, Bayley then made the scoreline 2-0 when Chris Haycox produced a Houdini act against Les Hicks, taking the last three balls - all difficult shots - to run out a 53-39 winner.

Craig Johnson again continued his improved form in recent weeks, but could not close out his frame against Steve Pritchard, eventually going down 43-31.

Foundrymen captain John Archer then made the match all square but struggled to get over the finishing line in a scrappy affair against Les Frances.

But Bayley's hopes of a fifth league success were lifted when Jim Lewis took to the table against Maddocks' Geoff Tudor. The Bayley anchorman continued his fine form and made no mistake in outpointing the visitor 52-10 to secure the match for the Wellington side, and in doing so give the other two Bayley sides in Division 3 a helping hand in their chase for promotion.

There were mixed fortunes for the two Little Dawley sides hoping to gain promotion from the third division.

Top of the table Little Dawley C triumphed 5-0 at home to Newport British Legion B, but their G team who started the day in second place lost ground on the other contenders when they fell to a 3-2 defeat at home to Hills Lane B.

Lee Elcock gave the champions-elect the perfect start with a 25 break on the way to taking the first frame from Alan Davies.

Mike King won a close second 54-31 against Alan Munn and Lee Drinkwater made it 3-0 with another close win over Keith Gardner.

Manjit Gidda and Darren Edwards could do nothing to prevent Little Dawley's Steve Farrington and Byron Mitchell from sealing a 5-0 win as Little Dawley C stretched their lead at the top to seven points.

Bayley B move into second place, one point ahead of Little Dawley G's conquerors Hills Lane B, following a fine 4-1 derby win over Bayley D.

Snookerman Steve Lane may have been ruing his decision to sit this one out as his team lost ground on the other promotion candidates with their ninth reverse of the season. B string captain Bob Tracy led the way with a 63-30 win over Brian Aberdeen before the frame of the evening saw Darren Rhoades battle his way back to pot brown, blue and pink only to jaw a difficult black, allowing Dicky Bedall to clinch a high quality frame 71-65 for a 2-0 lead to the B team.

Paul Easthope made it 3-0 against Dave Williams and things continued to go the B team's way with Danny Oliver's 45-18 defeat of Bill France.

Dave Dudley's 48-36 last gasp win over Welsh Wizard Paul Jones was scant reward for Steve Lane's side who drop to sixth place as a result - five points behind their opponents.

Hills Lane B are only a point behind Bayley B though after an excellent 3-2 away win over Little Dawley G.

Steve Powell's single point win over Gary Clements ultimately proved the difference as the last four frames were shared.

Dave Leneveu drew the home side level with a 47-28 win over Kev Davis only for Hills Lane to go back in front through Lee Harris.

Richie Jones made it 3-0 against Mick Rhoades only for Ray Leneveu to crucially snatch the final frame against Alan Morris on the black to keep his side in the hunt for second place, just two points adrift of the runners-up place.

DIVISION 2

Shifnal F look destined for a quick return to Division 1 after a stunning 4-1 away win over fellow promotion hopefuls Wellington Billiard Hall C leaves them six points clear at the top of Division 2.

However they had to pull out all the stops to record their fourteenth win of the season.

Home player Dave Blagborough took an early 25 lead against Wally Harper only to be pipped at the post as the Shifnal veteran potted a brilliant black to snatch the opening frame by 64 points to 59.

Dave Peplow, surprisingly batting second. then made it 2-0 when he defeated home captain John Rawlins 55-32 and things got worse for the Billiard Hall side when the in-form Spencer Rowley claimed frame three from Wayne Weeks with a score of 73-44.

The hosts then battled back with Alex Turnbull putting on something of a potting exhibition to take the next 64-15 against Chris Painter and it looked like Wellington might pull back another frame when Laki Badhan took a 30 point lead on the yellow against Nev Whitehead.

But as Nev would say 'It's never over the until the fat lady sings' and he plugged away to get the snookers he required before picking off the remaining colours one by one including a super fine cut on the black to cheers from his team-mates.

As a result Billiard Hall C fall ten points behind Shifnal, but another of the Billiard Hall teams, WBH E, kept their promotion prospects well and truly alive with a thumping 5-0 win over Shifnal E.

Aaron Sparkes looked to be on the way to giving Shifnal the lead though when he led by 32 points with just one red remaining - but a brilliant fight-back from Paul Wilkes saw him snatch the first frame on the pink.

Chris Morris combined some good potting with steady safety play to put the visitors two up against Fred Harper and with Ray Evans' long potting well and truly in the groove there was no stopping him taking the third frame as well to deny Jeff Sparkes 64-23.

The Rocket Rob Wright never got off the launch pad against John Powell as the Wellington man inflicted a rare defeat on the Shifnal marksman which sees him surrender his position at the top of the averages. And with Nigel Stallard notching his fourteenth win of the season against Chris Petford, the Wellington side consolidated their position in second place - with 57 points from 18 games played.

Shifnal E on the other hand drop to fourth with 53 points - although they have played one game less than the Billiard Hall.

Coddon B remain in third as the result from their fixture at Pot Black A is not yet in, leaving them still on 54 points from 17 games.

Pot Black D's result is in though - but they may want to keep it quiet as they fell to a 3-2 reverse away to Audco A.

Mick Pearson put the Oakengates side into an early lead with a close 53-45 success over Pete Smith but the home side replied in some style with Mark Matthews taking the next over Mick Egan and Andy Heathcote clinching the next 40-32 from Kirk Stevenson.

Neil Pearson drew Pot Black level again in another tight finish 48-36 against Ray Hendy only for Chris Austin to clinch a 3-2 win for the Newport boys with a 51-26 deciding frame win over Rob Palin.

D Khan was also a final frame winner for Wellington Billiard Hall X as a 48-36 success over Steve Smallwood secured a 3-2 win over Anstice B.

Nigel Wallcroft moved to the top of the most wins chart on his own when he claimed the second frame for the Anstice against M Shabir and the visitors came close to making it 3-0 when John Darrock forced the next frame to a re-spotted black.

However it was A Ali who held his nerve to pull one back for the Billiard Hall and it proved to be a turning point as M Shadab took the next against George Hammond as the home side went on to complete a 3-2 win.

Steve Morse's 20 break wasn't enough to prevent Ray Whitehead from giving Coddon C the lead as they entertained bottom of the table Shifnal D.

Ray took the opening frame 66-41 with a 24 break of his own and the Donnington side soon raced into a 3-0 lead with further wins from Fraser MacKinnon and Don Bayliss.

But the tide was stemmed with two fine victories as Mick Smith and Barrie Easthope got the better of Matt Bothwell and Sef Tusel respectively to pull back two points for the visitors.

DIVISION 1

The Hills Lane A bandwagon continues to roll inexorably towards a fourth successive league title as they now lead the first division table by eight points following a 4-1 win over Little Dawley A.

Shaun Harris was in irresistible form, knocking in breaks of 56 and 37 to take the first frame from Richie Heighway and Matt Bailey followed with an 82-41 win over Jesse Lowe.

Breaks of 40 and 34 saw Ian Duffy win the battle of the captains against Rick Cousins and although Ade Henry pulled one frame back for the visitors with a 47-34 defeat of Tim Hicks, Darren Pountney wrapped things up nicely with a 30 break to take the last frame from Graham Wiley for a 4-1 win.

Coddon may be too far back to catch the runaway leaders - but they did their hopes of securing the runners-up spot a power of good with a thumping 5-0 win over Minnesota Fats.

Darren Weston's 41 break secured frame one against Paul Smith. Zenon Lembicz followed suit with a run of 30 on the way to victory over Steve Collins but the highlight of the evening was a superb run of 62 by Lee Szklarzewicz against the unlucky John Wright.

Kev Blackham did come close for the Oakengates side when he lost out on the final black to Coddon's Dave Lloyd but with Adrian Smith proving as solid as ever in the last to deny Keith West the home side were able to celebrate a brilliant 5-0 win.

Coddon now lead third placed Anstice A by four points after the Madeley side won 4-1 away to Shifnal A.

Neil Price set off with a 30 break to take the first frame against John Fallows. Keith Price followed with a 65-37 win over Linsay Knox to put the visitors two up - and they went further ahead thanks to Nick Oakley's 54-27 defeat of Roy Martin, who will probably be handing his new glasses back to Dennis Taylor after this defeat.

Phil Reynolds then made it 4-0 only for Simon Biddulph to save Shifnal's blushes with a nail-biting 54-43 final frame win over Mick Cahill.

Maddocks A move into fourth spot on the back of a 3-2 win away at Wellington Billiard Hall A.

Darren Wincott gave them the early lead against Andy Kendrick and they went further ahead when Phil Davies got the better of Morton Hughes by 63 points to 40.

Graham Darrell replied for the home side before Ian Eldridge drew them level by taking the fourth frame against Dave France.

However, the visitors had the last laugh with Leigh France claiming the decider 62-42 against Alan turner to complete Maddocks' ninth win of the campaign.

If the top of the table looks like a foregone conclusion - the same cannot be said for the relegation battle at the other end.

Both Bayley E and Dawley won 3-2 last week - so it is now "perm any two from four" to see who will go down come the end of the season.

Bottom of the table Bayley E secured their sixth win of the season against fellow strugglers Bayley A - and what's more they did it with only four players.

Steve Nicholls gave the A string the early advantage when he came from 30 points down to eventually defeat Martin Watkins on the blue.

The home side were unable to build on his lead however with Andy O'Brien inflicting a second defeat in as many weeks over A team captain Steve Fletcher as he levelled matters with a pink ball win.

Bob Mason continues to play some of his best ever snooker - but he couldn't prevent Ali Jones giving the E Team the lead at 2-1 and they made certain of a fine win when captain David France took the next frame too from Chris Morgan-Adams - leaving the A side relieved that their opponents weren't able to field a fifth man.

Despite their win, Bayley E remain bottom - two points behind three teams who share the second relegation place with 33 points each.

Little Dawley A and Bayley A are two of those teams - the other being Dawley Social who won 3-2 at home to Broseley last week.

Things didn't look good for the home side early on though as Paul Humphries and Richie Hulme - the latter with a 30 break - took the opening two frames for Broseley.

Mark Jones rekindled the home side's fortunes with a 55-21 success over Mick Brezwyn and with Rick Bailey defeating John Shepherd and Gaz Bradshaw taking the decider from Simon McLeod, the home side recorded their fifth win of the campaign as they enter the relegation dogfight.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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