It is said that when the going gets tough, the tough get going - well if that's the case then Little Dawley A can certainly consider themselves amongst the tougher teams in the Telford Snooker League first division.

Battling against possible relegation to the second division, the Little Dawley outfit took all five points against high-flying Anstice A to open up a four point gap over second from bottom Bayley A, who themselves recorded a fine 3-2 win at home to Maddocks A.

But it was Rick Cousin's side who look the most likely to escape the drop after Graham Wiley put them on the road to what was to become their best win of the season.

Although Adam Moore opened up with a 29 break, Graham hit back with a run of 24 of his own before eventually taking the frame by 65 points to 56.

There was some high-class snooker in frame two as well with Richie Heighway knocking in a 40 break to lead Keith Price by 43 points with just the six colours remaining.

But Keith never gave up and obtained the necessary penalty points with some brilliant snookers before forcing the game to a re-spotted black. But it was to be Little Dawley's frame as Richie held his nerve to sink the final black for a frame score of 73-66.

Another close frame saw Jesse Lowe draw on all his experience to defeat Mick Cahill 52-44 and the home side went four frames up when captain Rick Cousins sealed a 61-28 win over Nick Oakley with a 27 clearance.

That left Ade Henry to wrap things up with a final frame win over John Jones to leave Little Dawley on 40 points - three points ahead of Dawley A.

Gaz Bradshaw's 71-26 success over Alan Turner set Dawley on their way to a much needed 3-2 win over Wellington Billiard Hall A, and although Ian Eldridge drew the visitors level against Chris Woods, Mark Jones soon restored Dawley's lead.

Mark has been in great form this season, and he continued to shine with a 38 break easing him to victory over Andrew Kendrick before Rick Bailey secured Dawley's sixth win of the campaign by getting the better of Graham Darrall.

However, the Billiard Hall took the final frame of the evening through Nigel Fletcher's 51-39 victory over Barry Roden to leave Dawley a point ahead of next weeks' opponents Bayley A.

The Wellington side had Chris Morgan Adams to thank for a deciding frame win over visiting captain Dave France as they recorded their sixth win with a 3-2 success over Maddocks A.

Chris set off like a train with a quick fire 50 break to complete a crucial win for the Bayley as they strive to maintain their first division status.

The match itself started in unusual fashion with Steve Fletcher breaking off only to notice that the green was some six inches off its spot.

As the mistake was discovered during the opening stroke, a restart was in order and although Darren Wincott took advantage of a poor break this time, the Bayley captain eventually ran out a 68-26 winner to give the home side the lead.

Phil Davis and Ian Skelton turned the tables somewhat by taking the next two frames from Bob Mason and Arthur Burrows respectively to put the visitors 2-1 up only for a solid display from Steve Nicholls to see him safely through to victory over Leigh France to draw the scores level once more.

Bayley E are also fighting for their lives although they still remain bottom, two points adrift of their A side after taking two very valuable points from their away trip to second placed Coddon A.

Darren Weston opened the scoring with a fine 68-22 win over Martin Watkins and things continued to go Coddon's way with Lee Szklarzewicz putting them two up with a 59-25 win over Steve Hoof.

Andy O'Brien reduced the deficit to a single frame with an excellent 83-42 success over Ian Ferriday and although Andy Jones came close to restoring parity he couldn't quite prevent Zenon Lembicz claiming the next on the black for Coddon.

However Dave France's 64-50 final frame victory over Adrian Smith could prove vital for Bayley E when the season ends in three weeks' time.

At the other end of the table, Broseley A produced a superb display to defeat runaway league leaders Hills Lane A.

Having beaten the reigning champions earlier in the season, the Broseley side did it again to complete the double over Hills Lane, with a 3-2 win.

Mick Brezwyn led the way with a superb 68-37 defeat of Shaun Harris and the visitors took a firm grip on proceedings when Richie Hulme got the better of former English Amateur champion Matthew Davies 60-39 to put them two up.

Matt Bailey replied for Hills Lane by taking the next from Carl Walker 64-38 only for Paul Humphries to inflict what was to be Hills Lane's second reverse of the season with a 66-29 win over Darren Pountney.

Home captain Ian Duffy was in no mood to see a repeat of his side's 4-1 capitulation at Broseley as he made no mistake in the last frame, knocking in a run of 53 on the way to defeating Simon McLeod 74-26.

Despite that defeat, the Madeley side still head the table by seven points with second placed Coddon A having just three weeks to make up the gap.

Broseley move up to third spot, and although they are now nine points adrift of Coddon, they still have an outside chance of snatching the runners-up spot providing they get a good result when they play the Donnington side next week.

DIVISION 2

Second Division leaders Coddon B lost ground on the other teams chasing for promotion when they returned from Maddocks C with a 3-2 win.

On the face if it this was a good victory - but with both Shifnal sides, F and E winning 4-1, the Donnington side are going to have to hope their fellow title challengers drop some points soon, as they have played a game more than all of the other promotion hopefuls.

Mark Wall's 65-22 success over Graham Hoof set Coddon on the way to their sixteenth win of the season and although Dave Thomas drew Maddocks level, his 48-38 win over Andy Jones was cancelled out by Steve Down's victory over Jim Hill in the next.

Nick Pearce put Coddon 3-1 up by getting the better of Billy Rushton only for Joe Oliver to save another point for Maddocks by taking the final frame against Phil Szklarzewicz.

Shifnal F join Coddon on 65 points as they returned to winning ways when they travelled to the Duke of York to play Pot Black A.

But they had to come from behind after Paul Crooks took the opening frame for Pot black with a 51-24 win over Chris Painter.

However a 28 point lead on the yellow was enough to see Wally Harper level matters against Neil Robinson and the visitors took all three of the remaining frames for a 4-1 win.

Spencer Rowley put them in front for the first time as he took frame three from Toby Welsh before Nev Whitehead secured his side's fifteenth win of the season with a pink ball win over Dave Welsh.

And with Dave Peplow taking the last frame from Bob Lane the Shifnal boys went away happy with their evening's work.

Shifnal E were also happy following a 4-1 win in the derby clash with the War Memorial Club's F team.

Aaron Sparkes led the way once more with a 42-29 success over Steve Morse only to see his dad Jeff miss out by just three points to Terry Askew, whose 23 break proved decisive as the F team drew level.

The Rocket Rob Wright lived up to his name with a 56-16 win over Geoff French in the next and the E team never looked back with further wins from Chris Petford and Fred Harper completing an excellent 4-1 victory which sees them leapfrog into third place over Wellington Billiard Hall E who had a bye this week.

Wellington Billiard Hall X did play though - but unfortunately for them came out on the wrong side of a 3-2 result as they entertained Pot Black D.

Mick Pearson gave the visitors just the start they were looking for with a 62-22 win over D Khan and they soon doubled their advantage when Rob Palin beat Bill Gathercole to make it 2-0.

A Ali's 68-60 defeat of Mick Egan pulled a frame back for the home side and they drew level thanks to a 50-39 win for M Shabir over Kirk Stevenson.

However, Neil Pearson turned the match Pot Black's way by taking the deciding frame against M Shadab by 60 points to 33.

Anstice B also recorded a 3-2 win when they played host to Coddon C.

Matt Bothwell's brilliant 50-36 defeat of Nigel Wallcroft put the Coddon in front, but they were unable to build on his lead as the Anstice took the next three frames in what were nail-biting affairs.

Danny Weaver was successful in his attempt to draw the home side level as he took the second frame 62-34 from Sef Tusel and this was followed by John Darrock's black ball win over Fraser Mackinnnon as the home side went 2-1 up.

Steve Smallwood also claimed the next for Anstice on the black as Don Bayliss was denied by 60 points to 56 though the visitors did claim the final frame thanks to Ray Whitehead's 65-30 defeat of George Hammond to leave Anstice with 36 points overall.

However, with third from bottom Pot Black A also having 36 points - albeit from one game more, the Madeley side's chances of escaping the drop remain in the balance.

DIVISION 3

Little Dawley C have all but secured the third division championship after coming out on top by four frames to one against Bayley C.

Byron Mitchell got the league leaders off to a perfect start when, with the help of a run of 22, he defeated Mick Healey and Lee Elcock then collected the home side's second point when he got the better of Craig Whitehead.

Mike King will be kicking himself after he should have wrapped up the third frame against Jim Lewis.

But with his opponent requiring a snooker on the final pink Mike, needing only to roll the pink over the bag, played a pot at pace into the corner pocket.

Unluckily, the pink jawed in the pocket before running along the rail and knocking in the black which was hanging over the opposite corner pocket. With the points for the foul and the pink sitting over the corner pocket, Jim held his nerve and potted the final two balls for victory.

However, this was the only blip the home side encountered - although Pete Woodcock should have secured a second frame for the Wellington lads, but missed too many chances which allowed Steve Farrington off the hook for Little Dawley's third frame.

Rob Withington then tidied up proceedings by outpointing young Craig Johnson 55-28 in the final frame to leave Little Dawley victorious by 4 frames to 1.

Hills Lane B still head the race for the runners-up spot following a 4-1 away win over Wellington Billiard Hall B.

Steve Powell and Kev Davis soon put them in the driving seat and although Kev Whitehead replied for the home side with a 70-24 success over Steve Weaver, the Madeley side took the final two frames for an important victory.

Richie Jones' win over Allan Francis made it 3-1 leaving Lee Harris to wrap things up with a 46-25 defeat of Roy Francis.

Anstice C move up to third place on the back of a resounding 5-0 win at bottom of the table Newport British Legion.

Steve Ward and Colin Westwood got the better of Manjit Gidda and Mike Doverskog respectively before Kevin Smith won the third frame by just a single point against an unlucky Darren Edwards.

Jason Mills' 70-46 triumph over Keith Gardner made it four in a row leaving Steve Camp to complete the full house with a 30 break against Alan Davies.

That win leaves the Anstice two points behind Hills Lane - and level on points with Bayley B who defeated Maddocks B by three frame to two.

Paul Jones lived up to his tag as the "Welsh Wizard" left his opponent Les Hicks spellbound with some fine safety play to take the opening frame by 38 points to 28.

Young Danny Oliver is certainly one to watch for the future - and he duly put the home side two up with an excellent 51-36 win over visiting captain John Archer.

Doug Morrey replied for Maddocks with a 55-47 win over Paul Easthope but the home side restored their two frame advantage when Dicky Beddall got the better of Geoff Tudor to make it 3-1.

However, Tony O'Neil saved another point for the visitors with a close 48-37 victory over Bayley captain Bob Tracy to leave the final score 3-2 to the home side.

Wellington Billiard Hall F and Little Dawley G are both two points adrift of Anstice C and Bayley B after the Billiard Hall side got the better of their Little Dawley opponents by the odd frame.

Steve Williams set them on their way with a 61-27 success over Roy Leneveu and the home side extended that lead when Chris Durham beat Dave Leneveu 50-33 in the next.

A 25 clearance from Chris Clifford saw Little Dawley halve the deficit as he took the next from Andy Fletcher only for Richard Tranter to record a 44-31 win over Gary Clements to give the Billiard Hall a 3-1 lead.

However a fine performance from Graham Copson saw him take the last frame of the evening to deny Rob Cook.

That result leaves both sides still in with a shout of claiming the runners-up spot, but the same sadly cannot be said for Bayley D who saw their promotion hopes dashed with a second successive 4-1 defeat.

Martin Wincott gave Maddocks D the early advantage, taking the opening frame from Steve Lane by 39 points to 30.

Brendan Wincott made it 2-0 with a palendromic 63-36 score over Darren Rhodes before the visitors sprang into action with Dave Williams' 53-31 win over Roy Lowe.

That was to be the Bayley's only success though with Ken Davies taking the next frame against Bill France and Colin Smith coming out on top against Dave Dudley.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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