It's tough at the top, or so they say - and that's exactly how it looks at the top of the Second Division table of the Telford Snooker League with three teams all sharing top spot after each recording 4-1 wins in last week's fixtures.

Of the three, Shifnal F will be happiest as they have already missed one week with a bye and so have only played six games whereas Coddon B and Wellington Billiard Hall C have played one more game to obtain their total points haul of nineteen.

The Memorial Men returned to winning ways when they triumphed 4-1 at home to Pot Black A. Shifnal's opener Spencer Rowley slowly settled down after the referee spent some time trying to eliminate an irritant fly under the shade and then recorded a 54 break against Toby Welsh - the highest to date in division 2 - to give the home side the lead.

Wally Harper was then made to fight for the home side's second frame as Paul Crooks took it all the way to a black ball finish but was unlucky to see his white sail in off into the top pocket to lose out by 57 points to 43.

Dave Peplow, complete with Spanish sun tan, then made it 3-0 by defeating visiting skipper Mick Thompson, who conceded the frame on the blue, however things did get better for the visitors as a superb potting display from Neil Robinson saw him safely home against Ivor Peplow to put Pot Black's first point on the board.

Anchor man for the night, Nev Whitehead (to whom I am indebted for this report) then wrapped up Shifnal's fourth point by beating Dave Welsh. Nev's 27 lead on the colours proved decisive as he claimed the final frame of the evening for a 4-1 win to Shifnal.

Coddon B actually head the table alphabetically ahead of Shifnal as they too have 19 points following a 4-1 win at home to Maddocks C.

However they didn't have things all their own way early on as Graham Hoof put the visitors ahead with a fine 63-51 win over Andy Jones.

Steve Downs soon redressed the balance by taking the next from Dave Thomas and the Donnington side then moved in front thanks to wins from Mark Wall and Phil Szklarzewicz who got the better of Jimmy Hill and Joe Oliver respectively.

That left Nick Pearce to round off a good evening for the home side by taking the final frame against Billy Rushton to retain Coddon's position amongst the early front-runners.

Having just failed in their promotion bid last season, Wellington Billiard Hall C will be hoping to maintain their good start to this campaign with more results like the one they claimed by beating Audco 4-1 last week.

Dave Blagborough's 22 break paved the way to an opening frame success over Mark Matthews . John Rawlins followed suit by posting a 51-17 success against Steve Handley to make it 2-0 and the Wellington side took the third frame too as Alex Turnbull just edged out Andy Heathcote on the final black to put the home side three up.

Neil Hendy did pull a frame back for the Newport side in the next as he defeated Laki Badhan 60-28 but with Paul Lucas stealing the final frame 44-31 against Richard Hendy, the home side retained a share of the top spot.

Shifnal E are hot on their heals though following a resounding 5-0 win against fellow club-mates Shifnal D which leaves them just a point off the lead with 18 points from seven games played.

The sparkes were flying early on in this match as father and son Jeff and Aaron Sparkes gave the home side a 2-0 lead.

Aaron led the way with a sparkling performance against Simon McLeod and things continued to go the E team's way when dad Jeff weighed in with a 28 break to take the next frame too against Mick Guest.

Ron James made it 3-0 against Geoff French and with Rob Wright making no mistake against George Nelson and Chris Petford sealing the fifth frame too, the "away" side were left with a perfect score to boost their chances of promotion to Division 1.

At the other end of the table, Pot Black D recorded their second win of the season when they came from behind to defeat Wellington Billiard Hall X 3-2.

Last season's third division champions took an early lead when M Shadab got the better of Mick Pearson by 65 points to 34.

Rob Palin drew Pot Black level with a close 55-42 win over A Ali and the home side then took the lead through Kirk Stephenson's 52-24 success against Azar Khan.

The Billiard Hall made things all square again though when M Shabir took the fourth frame only for Neil Pearson to secure win number two for the Oakengates side by taking the decider from B Hussain.

DIVISION 1

In division 1 the Hills Lane bandwagon continues to trundle inexorably towards a fourth successive League title following a 5-0 win away to Little Dawley A.

Shaun Harris set the ball rolling with an opening 65-20 win over former team-mate Jesse Lowe and although Rick Cousins put up a brave fight in the next he was unable to prevent Matt Bailey from doubling the visitor's lead.

Tim Hicks continued his recent good form with a 32 break on the way to defeating Richie Heighway in the next and further wins from Darren Pountney and Ian Duffy saw the reigning champions extend their lead at the top of the table to seven points ahead of Anstice A.

With the absence of a result card from Coddon A's match, the Anstice take over in second spot after a 3-2 win over Shifnal A.

They didn't waste any time in racing to a 2-0 lead either as Phil Reynolds took the opening frame from John Fallows and Neil Price got the better of Linsay Knox.

Keith Price looked to be on the way to making it 3-0 as he knocked in a run of 41 only for Roy Martin to hold on for a brilliant 66-54 win to pull a frame back for Shifnal.

Mick Cahill's 63-47 defeat of Andy Easthope restored Anstice's two frame advantage before Simon Biddulph sunk the final black to deny Nick Oakley in the last frame of the evening leaving the final score 3-2 to the Madeley side.

Wellington Billiard Hall A drop to fourth as they suffered their third defeat of the season at the hands of Maddocks A.

A close first frame went Maddocks way with Phil Davis defeating Morton Hughes 52-43 but a 36 break from youngster Ian Eldridge squared things up as the former Little Dawley youngster defeated his former team-mate Darren Wincott 57-46.

Ian Skelton put the home side in front again before Andy Kendrick once again drew the Billiard Hall level by taking the next over Mark Finucane.

That left Leigh France to secure Maddocks' second win of the campaign with a 48-30 defeat of Alan Turner.

Two teams struggling at the foot of the table, Bayley E and Bayley A came face to face at the Wellington club last week and the A side's dismal start to the season looked to be continuing as they fell two frames behind early on.

Martin Watkins took the first frame against Arthur Burrows and although Steve Nicholl's took a 20 point lead over John Squire, the former Hadley captain bided his time and eventually won the frame on the black to give Bayley E a two frame cushion.

Bob Mason 's wife Pat may just have made a significant improvement in Bayley A's fortunes this year, as it was she who put Bob Mason's new tip onto his cue - and it worked wonders for the former bus driver who pulled a frame back for the "visitors" with a black ball win over the unlucky Andy O'Brien.

Steve Fletcher then drew the A team level leaving Chris Morgan-Adams to complete the A string's first win of the season with a deciding frame win over E team captain David France.

DIVISION 3

There was an unusual turn of events in Division 3 last week as two of Wellington Billiard Hall F's players both lost on a re-spotted black.

Nothing unusual about that you may think, but in the previous match two weeks ago, the same two players both won on a re-spotted black.

Furthermore one of them, Steve Weatherall, had won his earlier game when his opponent potted the black and went in-off - and yes, you've guessed it, Steve did the exact same thing himself last week to lose out in the deciding frame against Maddocks D.

The Oakengates side went ahead when Brendan Wincott beat Rob Cook by 59 points to 35 only for former Bayley player Steve Williams to pull the home side level with a black ball win over Roy Lowe.

Chris Fletcher then lost out to Mike Wincott on one of those infamous re-spotted blacks before yet another close finish saw Richard Tranter beat Roy Adams 54-46 to set up the deciding frame between home captain Steve Weatherall and Maddock's Colin Smith.

And who would have thought it would have gone all the way to another re-spotted black with Colin eventually winning out by 53 points to 46 when Steve potted the black only for his white to go in off.

At the top of the table, Bayley D share top spot with Anstice C after both teams recorded 3-2 wins last week.

The Ice Man Bill France proved too hot for Welsh Wizard Paul Jones to handle as Bayley D took the lead in the derby match with their B side.

Darren Rhoades' 27 break then increased the D team's lead and things got even better for them as Dave Williams took the third frame too against Kevin Ryan.

However, the B side were not going to lie down any longer, and so up stepped Dicky Beddall to take a closely fought frame 65-53 from home captain Steve Lane and the deficit was reduced to just a single frame soon after when Robin Sturmey claimed the final frame of the evening, 49-39 against Dave Dudley.

Nonetheless those three points see Bayley D at the top of the pile along with Anstice C who also recorded a 3-2 win from their match at Billiard Hall B.

They fell behind early on though as Roy Francis gave the Wellington side the lead with victory ver John Smith.

Andy Elliot drew the Anstice level only for Kevin Whitehead to knock in a 31 break on the way to a 69-27 win over Frank Williams.

John Mill's black ball win over Alan Francis drew the Madeley side level once more and they secured their second win of the campaign with Steve Camp's 45-33 deciding frame triumph over Ian Atkinson.

Little Dawley C continued their good start to the campaign with a 3-2 away win at Newport British Legion.

Lee Elcock set the scene with a 40 break to take the first frame against John Yapp and Lee Drinkwater made it 2-0 soon afterwards.

Keith Gardner won a close third frame for Newport 55-46 against visiting captain Steve Farrington and the home side were all square again after Alan Davies made it two frames all against Craig Walton.

However Mike King's deciding frame win over Manjit Gidda secured another vital win for the Little Dawley team.

For the fifth consecutive week Bayley C managed a 3-2 result, this week against hosts Maddocks B, but yet again, found themselves on the wrong end of the scoreline.

The Foundrymen opened up with veteran Les Hicks taking a very scrappy first frame from Chris Haycocks, although he did need to sink the last three colours to secure victory.

Doug Morrey was grateful for the 22 points in fouls which Pete Woodcock handed him, otherwise the frame may have been a little more difficult to win. Instead the home player ran out a comfortable 60-27 points winner, as Maddocks extended their lead to 2-0.

Home Skipper John Archer then took on young Bayley pretender Craig Johnson, and only a re-spotted black could separate the opponents, but again it was Maddocks' who picked up the pieces to move into a match winning position.

It was then up to Ian "Dad" Johnson to reclaim some pride for the Welly lads, and he did just that by taking the fourth frame from Geoff Tudor 43-27.

Visiting captain Craig Whitehead took time off from scribbling down his match report to take the final frame against Tony O'Neil

However he made heavy weather of his 51-23 win, before sending the Bayley boys back to Wellington with 2 points.

With several changes being rung by the Bayley management, a new look C side will return to Maddocks next week when the hosts this time are Maddocks D.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

Return To Top