Broseley A's title bid received a boost last week when they took all five points from their trip to Anstice D to leave them level at the top of the Telford Snooker League first division table along with Anstice A.

Broseley are enjoying their best season for years and they signalled a warning shot to the other title chasing sides by claiming maximum points from a tricky away tie.

Anstice A will have been hoping that their D team would have been able to do them a favour by taking some points from their closest rivals for the title - and the D team's form this season has seen them take points against all of the top teams but they soon found themselves trailing after Richie Hulme took the first frame from Darren Stevens.

Tim Hicks continued in the same vane with a superb 59-15 defeat of John Jones in the next and although Nigel Wallcroft put up some stubborn resistance for the home team there was nothing he could do to prevent Paul Humphries making it 3-0 as he took the third frame by 58 points to 35.

Simon McLeod's 74-38 win over Phil Reynolds continued the trend leaving Broseley captain John Shepherd to put the icing on the cake with a final frame victory over Andy Elliot.

That five point haul leaves Broseley in joint first place with Anstice A who won 3-2 away at Dawley Social - although unfortunately no match card has been received yet.

Nonetheless the Madeley side have a narrow advantage over Broseley as they have won eleven out of fourteen games - one more than their rivals.

Coddon A's chances of repeating last season's end position of runners-up took a jolt when they were beaten 3-2 away at Bayley E - to leave them six points off the pace.

A 28 break gave John Powell the opening frame for the home side as he secured a 66-26 win over Adrian Smith. A 23 break wasn't enough for team-mate Phil Whitby though as Zenon Lembicz drew Coddon level with breaks of 28 and 26 and the visitors went ahead courtesy of Darren Weston's win over Ray Evans which included a run of 49.

Just as things seemed to be slipping away from the Billiard Hall side up stepped Nigel Stallard to rattle in a 21 break on the way to a superb victory over Ian Ferriday to draw his side level and set up a tense finale which saw M Shadab steal the show with a 71-35 deciding frame triumph over Terry Brenthall.

Coddon now share third spot with Maddocks A who recorded a brilliant 4-1 win over Little Dawley A.

The Oakengates side had Phil Davis in great form in the opening frame as he gave Richie Heighway little chance on the way to giving the home side the lead.

Leigh France was also unstoppable in the next against Ade Henry and although Jesse Lowe provided some hope for the visitors, it was Darren Wincott who edged out the experienced Little Dawley man 63-41 to put Maddocks three up.

Ian Skelton has been in scintillating form of late and to all accounts his performance last week was of the highest quality - knocking in an impeccable 48 break on the way to making it 4-0 against Rick Cousins.

And the Little Dawley side will have been grateful to close-season signing Darren Pountney who rescued his side from a possible whitewash with a 62-26 final frame success over home captain Dave France to leave the final score 4-1 to Maddocks.

Wellington Billiard Hall had differing fortunes as they travelled to Minnesota Fats A and found themselves on the wrong end of a 4-1 score line.

John Wright took the first frame with an excellent 71-45 success over Graham Darrell and although Andy Phelan drew the visitors level with a fine performance against Steve Collins the home side turned up the gas to take all three of the remaining frames.

Kev West restored their lead, beating Mick Hughes 48-38 before Steve Osborn made it 3-1 with a 28 break against Mick Gears.

Paul Devey's 50-31 defeat of League Secretary Alan Turner put the seal on the home side's sixth win of the season to ease them away from the relegation zone to a creditable seventh place.

Shifnal F have not really shown much form this season but this week they excelled themselves when they played hosts to their A team and relieved them of four points.

Wally Harper started the 'blitz' when he took the first frame from Angus Way 66-26.

Chris Painter followed suit when some fine safety play earned him a 67-37 result over Andy Easthope and Spencer Rowley secured the match with a tight finish against John Fallows. With both players virtually even on the colours, it was then that lady luck shined upon Spencer when he fluked green & brown and then later took blue & pink to win 64-45.

Simon Biddulph then saved the A team's blushes when a 34 break reaped its rewards with a 65-27 triumph over Dave Peplow.

F team skipper Nev Whitehead then released the balloons as a 25 break helped him to an emphatic win over Lindsay Knox to complete a 4-1 win for the F side - a result which needs to be repeated more often if they are to retain their first division status next year.

DIVISION 2

Shifnal E put the cat amongst the pigeons in Division 2 when they made the trip to table-topping Bayley E and came away with a super 3-2 win - courtesy of a nerve-wracking black ball win for their Director of Snooker Rob Wright in the deciding frame.

Aaron Sparkes set the visitors on their way to a dramatic victory with an excellent 62-37 win over Martin Watkins.

Steve Hoof levelled soon after for the title favourites with a 48-16 defeat of Ray Edmunds and they took the lead when Andy O'Brien got the better of Jeff Sparkes 58-44.

But the visitors, without star man Matthew Davies, drew on the tactical nouse of Chris Petford to draw them level with a 63-41 victory over Ali Jones to leave Rob Wright to take the plaudits by sinking the final black to take the deciding frame by 48 points to 41 against John Squire and inflict a second successive defeat on the Bayley side.

The victory sees Shifnal E close the gap on Bayley E to just 3 points as they consolidate their position in second spot - one place and three points ahead of Bayley A in third place.

The Wellington side fell to their fifth defeat of the season when they were beaten 3-2 by Coddon B. Bob Dando gave the home side the lead with an opening frame victory over Steve Nicholls before Mark Wall made it 2-0 with victory over Arthur Burrows in the next.

Chris Morgan-Adams, having earlier made a 95 break in practice, saved a point for the Bayley by taking the next frame against Andy Jones only for the home side to take the fourth frame through Steve Downs.

Steve Fletcher rescued another point for the Bayley with a final frame win over Nick Pearce but the Wellington side will have to pull their socks up if they hope to make a swift return to Division 1 as their promotion dreams have wavered of late.

Little Dawley C also saw their promotion plans falter when they lost out in a close derby clash with their G side.

Dave Leneveu's 56-37 win over Mike King put the "home" side ahead only for C team captain Steve Farrington to level things up again with a good win over Gary Leneveu.

Pete Frost restored the G side's lead with a black ball finish against Lee Drinkwater but the ding-dong nature of this match continued when Lee Elcock got the better of Ray Leneveu to force the decider.

And what a decider it proved to be with Graham Copson producing a fantastic 45 clearance to take the final frame against Rob Withington.

The G team's win could prove so important to them at the end of the season as they now lie just one point ahead of Audco after the Newport side also won 3-2 against Minnesota Fats B.

The Newport side's third win of the season still leaves them just one place ahead of Anstice B at the wrong end of the table - but the win did their hopes of surviving the drop no harm at all.

But things didn't look good for the home side early on as Neil Pearson produced some of the evening's best snooker with a brilliant 54 break to take the opening frame from Andy Heathcote.

Pate Smith's 55-46 win over Mick Pearson drew Audco level though and they took the lead when Neil Hendy got the better of Rob Palin in the next.

Mark Matthews then made it 3-1 by beating Mick Egan but the visitors finished strongly with Kirk Stephenson taking a high-scoring final frame 74-49 against Chris Austin.

DIVISION 3

Bayley F continue to set the pace in Division 3 and they have now opened up a two point lead over their closest rivals for the title Anstice C.

Indeed they did so courtesy of a 3-2 win over the Madeley side although they may be disappointed to have only won by the odd frame having taken an early 3-0 lead.

Darren Wilkie has been the man to watch so far in this division and he continued to impress with a 20 break in the opening frame. However it proved insufficient to deter Eddie Whitehead who rallied to take the frame by 57 points to 40 to give the Bayley the lead.

Young Tom Maxfield then fired the Bayley side further ahead with some quick-fire potting against Dave Harper and when dad Paul took the next frame too against Kev Smith the home side looked set for a memorable victory.

However the Anstice have hopes of winning the title themselves and who knows they might still just lift the coveted trophy after Jason Miller took the fourth frame for them with a 55-36 defeat of Chris Shaw.

Colin Westwood's narrow 59-49 final frame victory over Andy Summers left the final score 3-2 to the Bayley leaving the Anstice two points behind in second place - but four points ahead of Maddocks B who jump up to third on the back of a 4-1 win at Newport British Legion B.

Doug Morrey now has a share of the most wins in Division 3 following his opening frame victory over Keith Gardner and although Manjit Gidda took the second frame for Newport, with a 40-31 success against veteran Les Hicks, it was all his side could muster.

Steve Pritchard put the visitors in front again by beating Alan Munn 43-29 before John Archer and Ant Loveitt completed an excellent win for the Oakengates team with wins over John Yapp and Alan Davies respectively.

Minnesota Fats C drop one place to fourth following a 3-2 reverse at the hands of second from bottom Wellington Billiard Hall F.

Richard Tranter set the home side on their way to what was to be only their fifth win of the season when he snatched the opening frame on the black against Toby Welsh.

Chris Fletcher put them further in front with a fine 68-38 triumph over Mike Thompson and the home side continued to shine as Rob Cook took the next frame as well with the aide of a 22 break to deny Tom Firmstone on the black.

However their joy was tempered somewhat as the visitors staged a mini recovery with Dave Welsh taking the fourth frame from Andy Fletcher and A Beech beating John Tranter to leave the final score 3-2 to the Billiard Hall.

Bayley B's promotion hopes also took something of a dive when they slipped to a 3-2 defeat away at Little Dawley B.

Gary Clements took the first frame for the home side against Danny Oliver but the Bayley fought back through Dickie Oliver's 77-55 defeat of Craig Darrock.

The visitors took the lead thanks to Dickie Beddall's 66-31 win over Mike Rhodes but any hopes they had of continuing their good start to the season were soon thwarted as Rob Barlow and Phil Cottey took the final two frames for Little Dawley to secure a 3-2 win which leaves them one place and one point ahead of Shifnal D who won 4-1 at home to Wellington Billiard Hall B.

Sanjay Chauhan led the way with a fine win over Gareth Hughes and the Shifnal lads continued to dominate proceedings with Terry Askew and Mick Guest taking the next two frames as well against Kevin Whitehead and Alan Francis.

Iain Atkinson salvaged a point for the visitors with a 44-12 win over Geoff French only for Shifnal to have the final say through George Nelson's final frame triumph over Roy Francis.

Bayley C continued their progressive form with a third straight win, this week against home team and rivals Bayley D.

The 3-2 result now puts the teams on level points.

In the opening frame, Craig Whitehead was fortunate on more than one occasion, which helped him overcome Dave Williams 66-28 to give the C team the first chalk.

Home skipper Darren Rhoades fought back well against Jim Lewis in the second, but he could not stop the C side man from recording his seventh successive victory to take the scoreline to 2-0.

The third frame was a very tight affair between Brian Aberdeen and Chris Haycox. So much so, the frame deservedly had to be decided on a respotted black, which Chris took courtesy of a long pot to give the former basement boys a 3-0 lead.

However, cometh the hour, cometh the "red socks", and Steve Lane stepped up to begin the D teams recovery, although he had to call upon all his experience to fight off a spirited performance from young Craig Johnson, who played probably his best frame of the season, albeit in defeat.

The D Team's spirits were clearly not dampened and with Dave Dudley back in his usual anchorman role for the home side, Ian Johnson found it tough going. Although both players had plenty of chances, it was Dave who ran out a 58-17 winner to secure the fifth frame, and continue his march towards the top spot of the division averages.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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