Third Division Bayley D are still celebrating after one of their best ever performances saw them knock last season’s cup finalists Wellington Billiard Hall A out of this season’s competition at the second round stage.

The Bayley side started the match with a 110 point handicap and although the Billiard Hall battled hard, they came up against some determined resistance as the home side protected their lead jealously.

Nigel Fletcher’s 54-39 win over Darren Rhoades in the opening frame did manage to pull back some of the deficit and Ian Eldridge also took the next frame for the Billiard Hall, having first experienced a mixture of both good and bad luck, against Bill France.

However both Bayley players had certainly done their homework and in restricting their opponents to a total of just 37 points difference, the Bayley were able to maintain the early initiative.

However the experienced Alan Turner produced some of his old form with a fine display of potting to deny Dave Williams in the next.

Alan freely admitted to having had some good fortune on the way to an 84-37 win – stating that he should have done the lottery before playing his game!

The match then looked to be swinging the visitor’s way when Graham Darrall took an early lead against Dave Dudley – but the Bayley man rallied superbly to take the last five balls to take the frame and leave the home side 31 points ahead with just one game remaining.

Cometh the hour , cometh the man – and up stepped Bayley captain Steve Lane to knock in a couple of early runs of 17 leaving Andrew Kendrick too much to claw back – eventually taking the frame by 58 points to 32 for a memorable win – prompting Alan Turner to jokingly ask for a random drugs test!.

The game itself was played in a good spirit throughout – and the sportsmanship of the first division side was much appreciated by the home team.

The Billiard Hall weren’t the only first division side to stumble against third division opposition. Bayley A were well and truly outplayed by Little Dawley G as the home side took all four frames played for a comfortable passage into the last eight.

The visitors could have no complaints with the outcome, even though they only had four players available on the night, as every one of the Little Dawley players were clearly up to the task and played brilliantly.

Graham Copson led the way with a 27 break on the way to an opening frame win over Arthur Burrows and the writing was on the wall when Ray Leneveu took the next frame too, 44-32 against Bob Mason.

Dave Leneveu’s win over Dennis Fletcher further dented the first division side’s hopes – and with Garry Clements clearing the last four balls for an excellent 49-43 win over Steve Fletcher, the home side booked a well deserved place in the last eight – and they must now fancy their chances against any of the teams left in the competition.

Coddon A made no mistake though when they too entertained third division opposition in the shape of Anstice C and came out on top in the end by 285 points to 169.

Conceding 130 points start seemed only to spur the home side onto bigger and better things as Lee Szklarzewicz took the opening frame against Jason Mills.

Kevin Smith did well to restrict former County Champion Zenon Lembicz to a 51-42 win but Adrian Smith was in scintillating form for the Coddon to bring them right back into contention with an excellent performance against Steve Camp.

Dave Lloyd took the next frame too for Coddon with a 52-36 success over John Smith and with Darren Weston taking a 44 break in the final frame the Coddon were able to join Hills Lane A in the last eight.

The Madeley side had a difficult trip to cup holders Broseley, having lost there earlier in the season, however it was last year’s winners who soon found themselves behind after Matthew Davies’ 54 break secured an 87-23 opening frame win over John Shepherd to give Hills Lane an early lead.

Indeed, Matthews success wiped out the home teams handicap of 40 points and although Richie Hulme restricted Shaun Harris to a 49 points to 44 win the tide well and truly turned Hills Lane’s way thereafter.

The in-form Matt Bailey stepped up next to take on the potentially dangerous Mick Brezwyn and he came out of the blocks flying, firing in a quickly taken 47 break with an awesome display of potting.

With the League Champions almost home and dry, Paul Humphries came to the table for Broseley and after four reds and four blacks, played a shot into the pack that split the reds everywhere – only to miss the following red. However he maintained a 40 point lead over Darren Pountney for some time until Darren got into his stride to draw level on the colours.

A good yellow and even better green down the cushion helped Paul clear to the pink but his winning margin of 22 points still left Broseley trailing by 70 points with just one frame left.

And it proved too much for Carl Walker to claw back as Ian Duffy claimed the final frame for an overall points victory of 352 to 227 to book Hills Lane’s place in the quarter-finals as they attempt the illusive double.

They will be joined there by second division leaders Shifnal E who recouped a 45 point deficit to come out on top against third division Maddocks B.

Aaron Sparkes’s 54-22 win over veteran Les Hicks set them on their way and when dad Jeff followed up to take the next 54-25 against Doug Morrey the visitors knew they were going to have to pull their socks up if they were to keep alive their cup dreams.

Chris Petford turned that dream into more of a nightmare for Maddocks by taking frame three against Tony O’Neil and although John Archer came close against the in-form Rob Wright, a narrow 59-57 defeat was not enough to help Maddocks and left Geoff Tudor too much to do against Fred Harper in the last. Geoff’s 45-42 win was scant consolation as Shifnal moved into the next round by 285 points to 214.

Second division Coddon C also went through after a close match with current third division leaders Little Dawley C.

Both sides started the match level as they had the same handicap – and it was therefore even more important to get a good start. Ray Whitehead duly obliged with a 63-41 opening frame win over Lee Drinkwater to put the Coddon in front.

Mike King replied for Little Dawley with a 54-38 success over Mick Stokes but the match swung back Coddon’s way when Don Bayliss got the better of home captain Steve Farrington 78-22.

In a topsy-turvy game, Lee Elcock then brought Little Dawley back into the contest with a superb 73-39 win over Fraser MacKinnon to reduce Coddon’s lead to just 28 points going into the last.

But there was no way Sef Tusel was going to let his side’s lead slip – and he safely negotiated a tricky final frame against Byron Mitchell to see Coddon safely home.

Wellington Billiard Hall C also progressed to the quarterfinals after beating the team immediately below them in the second division table, Audco A.

John Rawlins recouped the 15 points handicap start by taking the opening frame for the Wellington side against Paul Smith. Mark Matthews replied for the home side with an excellent 78-52 win over Laki Badhan before Dave Blagborough defeated Andy Heathcote by just two points.

Wayne Weeks then turned the match the Billiard Hall’s way with a fine display of potting to deny Ray Hendy by 79 points to 25 and although the final frame between Chris Austin and Paul Lucas was tied at 60 points apiece, it was the Billiard Hall who went into the hat for the next round.

CONSOLATION CUP

Cup heroes Bayley D eliminated Anstice A in the first round of the main cup competition forcing the first division side into the Consolation Cup for first round losers. So it was with some trepidation that the Madeley side took on another of the Bayley’s third division sides – Bayley B.

And what’s more they were conceding 180 points to the Wellington side but thanks to Phil Reynolds they were soon on track to gain some measure of revenge.

Phil played brilliant snooker to take the first frame against visiting captain Bob Tracy but although the Anstice took all four of the remaining frames as well their overall winning margin was a close one – as they took the match by 364 points to 356.

Mick Cahill’s 71-33 win over Danny Oliver was followed by Nick Oakley’s 51-41 defeat of the Welsh Wizard Paul Jones. Dicky Beddall did well too by restricting Neil Price to a narrow 64-44 win leaving the Anstice trailing by 2 points overall going into the last frame.

And what a close call it was to prove as Paul Easthope battled all the way against Keith Price only to lose out in a final frame thriller by 58 points to 48 as the Anstice scraped through to the next round on the final pink.

Another first division side through to the next round are Shifnal A after they accounted for Maddocks C.

The second division side started with 60 points start – but that didn’t bother John Fallows as he took the opening frame for Shifnal with a 79-31 win over Joe Oliver.

Linsay Knox followed suit against Jim Hill but the Maddocks boys rallied, first through Billy Rushton who took the third frame from Andy Easthope by 55 points to 46.

Dave Thomas then played superbly to take the next frame too for the visitors with a 56-28 win over Roy Martin to leave the game delicately poised with Maddocks just 8 points in front.

The final frame proved to be something of a marathon, with Simon Biddulph freely admitting that his opponent Geoff Hoof had been very unlucky to give away a series of in-offs and foul strokes. However, it was Simon who eventually took the frame by 76 points to 42 to see his side safely into the next round.

One second division side safely through are Wellington Billiard Hall X after accounting for former cup specialists Hills Lane B.

The Third Division outfit soon built on their 30 point start when captain Kev Davis took the first frame by 32 points against A Khan.

M Surfraz hit back for last year’s third division champions to take the next frame 77-34 against Richy Jones before A Alyas put them back into contention with a 56-39 win over Matt Davis.

The home side were now only two points behind overall and they turned that slight deficit into what was to prove a winning advantage when M Shadab got the better of Lee Harris 62-41. And although the final frame of the evening went the way of the visitors, Steve Weaver’s 53-52 defeat of A Ali wasn’t enough to prevent the Billiard Hall from moving into the next stage of the competition.

Wellington Billiard Hall F failed in their attempt though as they found Maddocks D too strong and lost out by a total of 290 points to 228.

The home team soon increased their 30 points handicap start to 40 points overall when Brendan Wincott took frame one 43-33 against Rob Cook.

Ken Davies was in fine form in the next frame to deny Richard Tranter by 74 points to 29 as Maddocks took control.

And even though Chris Durham and Steve Weatherall took the next two frames for the visitors, Colin Smith’s 57-45 win over Chris Fletcher made certain of Maddocks’ place in the last eight.

Billiard Hall B suffered a similar fate when they made the trip to play Pot Black D and came away second best on the night.

Mick Pearson set about retrieving the 30 point start the Oakengates side were conceding as he took the first frame from Ken Francis by 78 points to 31.

Rob Palin continued to pile on the pressure with a 52-36 success over Gareth Hughes before Iain Atkinson responded for the Billiard Hall with a fine 62-36 triumph over Mick Egan.

However, further wins from Kirk Stephenson over Allen Francis and Neil Pearson against Kev Whitehead completed a good win for the Oakengates side.

Pot Black A are also through after an excellent away win over Little Dawley A.

The second division side received 65 points handicap from their first division hosts and they increased that lead still further when Paul Crooks took the first frame by some 17 points against Richie Heighway.

Graham Wiley brought Little Dawley back into contention with a 68-48 win over Toby Welsh and Ray Clements continued the fightback with a close 55-50 win over Dave Welsh.

Rick Cousins also won frame four for the home side, 66-41 against Neil Robinson but it wasn’t to be Little Dawley’s night. In a tight deciding frame Ade Henry was unable to see off a determined Bob Lane and although the Little Dawley man was still in with a shout on the colours Bob held on to see Pot Black safely through.

Shifnal F took on one of their closest league rivals and went about gaining revenge from their 4-1 drubbing two weeks ago by Wellington Billiard Hall E and did it in style.

With both teams on scratch, Islander Spencer Rowley gave his comrades all the confidence they needed by beating Pete Wilkes with the aid of breaks of 36 and 29.

Wally Harper increased their lead by another 11 points in overcoming John Powell 48-37 before Wellington's Chris Morris restored some respectability with breaks of 30 & 20 on the way to an 82-55 win over Brian Painter.

With Shifnal’s lead now 77 points, Dave Peplow’s 78-34 win over Ray Evans put the match result in little doubt and Nigel Stallard a mountain to climb especially against the experience of Nev Whitehead who finished up enhancing the total points with a 48-10 victory.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

Return To Top