Hills Lane's grip on the Telford Snooker League title grew even stronger last week when they defeated Bayley E by four frames to one. However it was former England International Matthew Davies who stole the limelight with a super break of 87 to equal the previous highest break in Division 1, made just a few weeks ago by Matthew's team-mate Ian Duffy.

A missed blue prevented Matthew extending his break even further and into the century break zone. With all the colours still remaining he attempted a difficult positional shot rather than just rolling the blue into the pocket - nonetheless his opening frame victory over Martin Watkins set the Madeley side up for their sixth consecutive victory as they look for a fourth successive league title.

Visiting captain David France became only the fourth player this season to take a frame from the reigning champs as he kept his cool under pressure to sink the blue to leave his opponent Matt Bailey needing a snooker.

The home side were soon back in front though as Shaun Harris made no mistake against John Squire and further wins from Darren Pountney and Ian Duffy completed the scoring to leave Hills Lane well clear of second placed Coddon A.

With the current League table missing a couple of results, Coddon lie in second spot - ten points adrift of Hills Lane, but with only five of their six results listed.

There are then three teams, all on 15 points as the race for second place hots up.

Shifnal A are one of those teams, following a 4-1 win away at struggling Bayley A.

John Fallows and Andy Easthope led the way with early wins over Bob Mason and Arthur Burrows respectively.

Linsay Knox followed with victory over Steve Nicholls before Steve Fletcher replied for the home side by taking the next against Roy Martin.

And the home side looked to be on the way to claiming the final frame as Chris Morgan-Adams took the lead on the colours against Simon Biddulph. But it was the Shifnal man who rallied to take the last four colours to leave the visitors with a comfortable 4-1 win.

Maddocks A join Shifnal on 15 points after they too won away, by three frames to two against Dawley A.

Under 21 champion for the past two years, Darren Wincott, took frame one from Mark Jones by 49 points to 27 to give Maddocks the lead. That lead was soon doubled thanks to Phil Davis' 60-36 triumph over Barry Roden and Dave France continued in the same vane to put the visitors three frames up by beating Sean Nolan.

However the Dawley lads rallied to take the last two frames as Gaz Bradshaw first beat Leigh France 59-27 and then Rick Bailey accounted for Ian Skelton 60-41 to leave Maddocks with victory - but only by the odd frame.

Little Dawley a had Ade Henry on form as they took the lead at home to Minnesota fats.

Ade's opening frame win over Steve Collins paved the way to a 4-1 win for the Little Dawley side who went further ahead with Richie Heighway's re-spotted black finale against John Wright.

Rick Cousins won a close fourth frame too, 54-45 against Kev Blackham before Kevin West pulled one back for the visitors by defeating Ray Clements.

The home side finished in style though with Graham Wiley's 31break securing a good 4-1 win.

DIVISION 2

Early indications seem to suggest there will be an abundance of Shifnal sides in Division 1 next year - at least that is if the Shifnal club's E and F sides continue to perform as they have so far this season.

The E side now head the table with 25 points from seven games, two points ahead of their club-mates with Audco A hot on their tails with 22 points from 8 games played.

Aaron Sparkes led the way for the E team as they entertained Wellington Billiard Hall X and came out 4-1 winners.

Aaron took the opening frame 69-35 against D Khan, however his dad Jeff couldn't quite follow in his son's footsteps as he fell to a narrow 45-54 defeat at the hands of A Ali in the next.

R James put the home side back in front though and they never looked back as Rob Wright made it 3-1 by defeating R Fiaz 63-33 and Chris Petford took the last against M Shadab.

Shifnal F march on as they recorded another 4-1 victory this time at the expense of Coddon B.

Spencer Rowley showed the way for the home side with a victory over Andy Jones 55-48. Andy took an early 35 lead but Spencer rallied back with a 34 break and pinched the frame on the black.

Coddon's Mark Wall then equalled the match with a 57-29 victory over Wally Harper as a break of 25 gave Mark enough lead to win on the last blue.

Chris Painter then put Shifnal back on course with a win over Nick Pearce who required a snooker on the blue but it wasn't Nick's night and went down 60-29.

Dave Peplow then put the match safe by defeating Coddon skipper Steve Downs 73-23. Nev Whitehead then popped the icing on the cake by getting the better of Phil Szklarzewicz 66-35. Phil's first shot produced a 25 break but he could only sit back and watch his opponent claw his way back and reverse the difference by a 31 lead on the brown to which Phil had no reply.

Audco did their promotion prospects no harm at all with a stunning 5-0 whitewash of Coddon C.

R Hendy's 50-41 win over Sef Tusel gave them the lead and they went from strength to strength as M Matthews defeated Matt Bothwell and Paul Smith got the better of Don Bayliss.

N Hendy then made it four as he defeated M Stokes before a 69-35 win for C Austin over Ray Whitehead sealed a fine victory for the league newcomers from Newport.

Anstice B celebrated their second win of the campaign with a 3-2 success away at Maddocks C.

Nigel Wallcroft gave them the lead and John Darrock made it 2-0 with a black ball finish against Jimmy Hill.

George Hammond made it 3-0 as he took the next from Dave Thomas before the home side replied by taking the last two frames of the evening.

Joe Oliver has obviously been getting in some practice on his own table as he took the next 72-22 against Steve Smallwood and the Oakengates side pulled another frame back thanks to Billy Rushton's 51-20 success over Stewart Wimbush.

DIVISION 3

Little Dawley C take over at the top of Division 3 following on from a 4-1 success at home to Maddocks B.

Lee Elcock and Mike King, the latter on the pink, secured the opening two frames with victories over Les Hicks and Doug Morrey.

John Archer replied for Maddocks by beating Lee Drinkwater - but it was all his side could muster as further wins from Steve Farrington and Craig Walton completed a 4-1 win for the new leaders.

Their lead is now five points over Anstice C who claimed a good 3-2 win over fellow promotion hopefuls Bayley D.

Mark Beddall took a break from his caravanning exploits to take the first frame for the visitors by rolling in the final black against John Smith.

The home side were soon level though as Andy Elliot melted the Ice Man Bill France. Steve Mills gave Anstice the lead with a close 46-38 win over Darren Rhoades before Steve Camp made certain of victory for the Anstice by claiming frame four 69-32 against Dave Dudley.

However, with Dave Williams taking the final frame 73-44 for the Bayley against Kev Smith, the Wellington side's hopes of Division 2 snooker still seem a possibility next season.

Bayley C also suffered a 3-2 reverse as they travelled to Maddocks D and soon found themselves a frame down thanks to a positive potting display from Brendan Wincott.

Pete Woodcock got a point back for Bayley in the next though before home skipper Roy Adams got the better of Jim Lewis on the black to put Maddocks ahead once more.

Craig Whitehead again brought the match level with a 75-16 win over Christine Eldridge. However, Maddocks still had an ace to play, and former Division 1 player Colin Smith showed far too much class for his opponent Ian Johnson, running out a convincing winner 67-8 to give Maddocks only their second win of the season.

Newport British Legion are still looking for their first win after falling to a 4-1 defeat at home to Hills Lane B.

Lee Harris only just managed to give the visitors the lead though as he took the first frame by just nine points against Alan Davies.

Mark Davis cut it even finer in the next as a black ball finish saw him make it 2-0 to the Madeley side 46-43 against Manjit Gidda.

Steve Powell increased the visitor's lead still further against debutant Darren Edwards before Keith Gardner gave Newport some hope with a fine 50-32 win over visiting captain Kev Davies.

However with Richie Jones taking the final frame for Hills Lane, Newport were left to reflect on what might have been.

Chris Durham was unable to stop K Whitehead giving Wellington Billiard Hall B the lead in their derby match with Billiard Hall F.

However Steve Williams, who confesses to being a little rusty lately after a two year lay off, showed no signs of fatigue as he ground out a 65-34 win over G Hughes to draw the F team all square again.

Steve Weatherall then put them in front only for Ian Atkinson to claim the next against Chris Fletcher and force the decider in which Richard Tranter secured an excellent victory over R France to secure frame and match for the F side by three frames to two.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

Return To Top