The last unbeaten run in the Telford Snooker League came to an end last week when second division leaders Shifnal E fell to a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Coddon B.

Bob Dando led the way by taking the opening frame against Aaron Sparkes and the Donnington side then extended their lead when Andy Jones won the next 42-22 against Richard Jones.

And the visitors then made sure of victory as Jeff Sparkes failed to stem the tide, falling to a 67-54 defeat against the impressive Mark Wall.

Mark's win ensured the visitors of their seventh win in ten and condemned the Shifnal side to only their first defeat in as many games, but the shock of losing their "hundred percent" tag spurred the home side's last two players into action as first Rob Wright claimed frame four against Steve Downs and then Chris Petford won a high scoring final frame 60-48 against Nick Pearce.

Despite that defeat Shifnal E still head the table by one point over their close rival from the same club, Shifnal F.

The F team continued their push for first division snooker next season as they travelled to Audco and came away with four very useful points.

Wally Harper opened the batting by beating Rich Hendy 59-49 - Rich took an 18 lead on the colours but the experienced islander cleared up from the green to put Shifnal 1-0 up.

Breaks of 24, 19 and a clearance of 27 saw Nev Whitehead secure the second frame over Pete Smith 81-14 and Chris Painter then made the match secure by beating Tony Heathcote on the final brown to record of score of 58-41.

A 13 lead on the yellow by Dave Peplow was enough to clinch his frame 58-37 from Neil Hendy and make it 4-0 but any thoughts the visitors had of completing a nap hand were soon dashed as Audco's Colin Austin was in no mood to see his side whitewashed and he played a true anchor man's game by beating Spencer Rowley 60-50.

The frame looked to be going the Shifnal man's way but lady luck stepped in for Colin as he fluked the last pink and landed perfectly on the black and thus saved Audo's blushes.

The other Shifnal side in division two, Shifnal D recorded a morale boosting 4-1 win as they strive to pull away from the wrong end of the league table.

Mick Guest gave them the perfect start with a 56-30 win over Pot Black D's Mick Pearson and further wins from Simon Ackland over Rob Palin and Sanjay Chauhan against Kirk Stephenson put the visitors well and truly in the driving seat.

Mick Smith's 54-23 win over Mick Egan extended Shifnal's lead to 4- 0 and only Neil Pearson's final frame defeat of Arthur Aston prevented the visitors from returning home with all five points.

It wasn't a good night for the Pot Black teams as the A side also lost out from their trip to Coddon C, the Donnington side taking the match by three frames to two.

Paul Crooks put Pot Black in front though with a fine 54-33 win over Sef Tusel and they took the next frame too thanks to Neil Robinson's 25 break against Mick Stokes.

It was then that the wheels started to come off though as Matt Bothwell began a Coddon revival with a 22 break on the way to victory over Tom Firmstone and Don Bayliss secured the next frame too for the home side by beating Toby Welsh.

That left Ray Whitehead to complete the comeback with a 57-28 final frame win over Dave Welsh to leave Coddon with their fifth win of the season.

DIVISION 3

Third Division Leaders Little Dawley C were looking to bounce back after last week's defeat at Bayley B but they soon found themselves trailing as they entertained Wellington Billiard Hall B.

Kevin Whitehead's black ball win over Byron Mitchell gave the visitors the lead - and the home side must have had thoughts of going further behind when Roy Francis took young Lee Elcock to the final black only for the Little Dawley youngster to take the frame 49-44 to leave the match all square at one frame apiece.

Normal service was then resumed as Mike King took the next from Ken Francis before Steve Farrington made certain of victory for his Little Dawley side with a 56-33 win over Iain Atkinson.

However, with Alan Francis securing frame five 63-41 over Lee Drinkwater the current leader's position at the top of the table was cut to just three points after Hills Lane B went one better with a 4-1 win over Bayley D.

Visiting captain Steve Lane was powerless to prevent Lee Harris giving Hills Lane the lead as he took the opening frame by 61 points to 26.

Steve Weaver soon doubled that advantage by taking the next 50-25 over Bill France and although Darren Rhoades put up a brave fight against Steve Powell it wasn't enough to prevent his side slipping further behind as Steve took the frame 59-47.

Dave Williams continued his own recent good form to retrieve a frame for the Bayley as he got the better of home captain Kev Davis 72-47 but Richie Jones' 61-45 defeat of Dave Dudley left the final score 4-1 in favour of the home side who now move a point ahead of Little Dawley G.

Ray Leneuve's opening frame success over Harry Hulme gave Little Dawley the lead as they entertained Maddocks D. Dave Leneuve then followed suit with a 56-34 win over Brendan Wincott before Roy Lowe replied for the visitors with a 51-36 victory over Gary Clements.

A 27 break from Graham Copson couldn't prevent Colin Smith from levelling the match at two frame all though but with Paul Perks narrowly winning the decider 57-41 over Martin Wincott the home side were happy to claim their seventh win in nine games to leave them handily placed in third.

A true basement battle ensued at the Sir John Bayley Club, as Division Three strugglers Bayley C took on bottom side Newport B, in a real 'ten pointer'. And it proved to be a good night for the home side as a 4-1 win lifts them up to fourth from the bottom.

Bayley's Chris Haycox eventually took a very scrappy first frame from John Yapp 39-34, before Newport pulled level, as A Davies ground out a 58-50 success over Ian Johnson.

Son Craig then regained Bayley's advantage beating Keith Gardner, before Pete Woodcock gave yet another confident display as he outpointed Alan Munn to secure what was to be only Bayley's second win of the campaign.

Captain Craig Whitehead then capped a good night for the home side as he gradually overcame Mike Doverskog 60-37 to earn the C team a valuable fourth point on the night.

DIVISION 1

It's business as normal back at the Hills Lane camp as the reigning champions returned to their devastating best with a 4-1 win away at Maddocks A.

Visiting captain Ian Duffy hit form to take the opening frame from Phil Davis only for Ian Skelton to level things up by taking the next against Shaun Harris - Shaun's only defeat of the season so far.

After a nice 48 break, Matt Bailey restored the Champion's lead against young Darren Wincott and Tim Hicks put the match beyond reach after a tight encounter with Adrian Barraclough.

Last but not least, League Chairman Dave France took on the League's treasurer Darren Pountney - and it was the man holding the purse strings who came out on top to complete a good 4-1 win for Hills Lane.

Their lead at the top is still four points however as Anstice A recorded a similar result from their home game with struggling Bayley E.

Nick Oakley won a tight opening frame against Andy O'Brien by eleven points to give the home side the lead - a lead that was soon doubled thanks to Phil Reynold's victory over David France.

Neil Price maintained his own hundred per cent record with a 66-28 defeat of Martin Watkins to make it 3-0 before Ali Jones restored some pride for the former Hadley team as he scored an excellent black ball win over Keith Price.

However with John Jones taking the final frame of the evening the Madeley side retained their position in second place - but no longer share it with Coddon A after the Donnington side dropped two points from their trip to Shifnal A.

The home side welcomed back pool professional Craig Reynolds to the league and he wasted no time in making an immediate impact as two twenty plus break won him the first frame against Zenon Lembicz.

Darren Weston levelled matters though with a 64-22 success over John Fallows before a run of 47 saw Coddon take the lead with Adrian Smith's break proving the difference in a high scoring 71-47 win over Lynsay Knox.

Not to be outdone Simon Biddulph went one better with a break of 48 on his way to victory over Ian Ferriday and the match hung delicately in the balance as Andy Easthope took on Terry Brenthall in the decider.

And what a tense finish it proved to be with Terry eventually clinching victory by just a single point as he sank the black to secure Coddon's eighth win in nine games.

At the other end of the table Little Dawley A came away from Dawley Social with three very valuable points.

Chris Woods gave Dawley the lead with a 55-26 success over Richie Heighway. Mark Jones looks to be a man in form at the moment and he emphasised this with a superb performance against Jesse Lowe to put the home side two up.

Visiting captain Rick Cousins wasn't going to see things get even worse for his side though and a 23 break secured the next frame over Barry Roden before Ade Henry and Graham Wiley rounded off the next two frames to complete an excellent comeback for the Little Dawley outfit.

Bayley A secured their third win of the season - and second on the trot, with a 3-2 success at home to Minnesota fats.

Steve Nicholls led the way as he took the opening frame against Paul Smith.

Steve Collins put in a super performance in the next however to deny Chris Morgan-Adams, Steve's 67-41 win drew Minnesota level but the home side's lead was restored as substitute Dennis Fletcher took the next from Keith Blackham.

Kev West's 71-36 triumph over Arthur Burrows forced the decider which saw Steve Fletcher come out on top against Paul Perks.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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