The quarter-finals of the Telford Snooker League team knockout competitions proved to be a happy hunting ground for the Bayley Club last week as all three of the Bayley sides left in the two competitions made it safely through to the semi finals.

It was a different story for Maddocks however as only one of their three representatives progressed to the last four - although Maddocks A only just lost out after a truly heroic effort from Ian Skelton who almost pulled off the comeback of the century requiring just one snooker on the pink after starting the last game 136 points behind.

Bayley B were one of two survivors from the Wellington Club as the main cup competition reached the quarter-finals stage and they were up against it as they travelled to play first division opponents in the shape of Shifnal F.

Cup week always produces some nail biting finishes and it was no different this time around as the third division side made the trip to tackle Shifnal F knowing they had an 80 point lead to defend and that's just what they did, clocking up three winners on their way.

Bayley's Kev Mcleod went into bat first against the experienced Wally Harper and added another 34 points to their lead with an excellent performance coming home 65-31.

Shifnal rallied through Chris Painter who took just 15 minutes to defeat Dicky Beddall and together with a 39 break reduced the deficit to 54 by winning 89 -29.

Bayley then struck again when Dickie Oliver won a pink ball frame against Spencer Rowley and young Danny Oliver then played a hero's game when taking on league president Nev Whitehead - showing no nerves as he came up trumps 57-48.

That left Shifnal a 79 point deficit to pull back on the last frame and it was Dave Peplow who came very close to achieving his task. Dave just needed one snooker on the last pink against Rob Sturmie to make Shifnal's night, but after some brave tries, Rob finally potted the pink to collect a score of 28-85 and finally take the match by some 20 points overall.

Through this column, Shifnal skipper Nev Whitehed would like to congratulate the Bayley lads on a fine display as they are joined in the last four by fellow club-mates Bayey E

The E team are having an excellent season this term and they kept their hopes of a second division title and cup double alive with an outstanding display against Wellington Billiard Hall C.

The Billiard Hall are difficult to beat on their home patch so they must have felt they had more than an outside chance of causing an upset as they set about protecting their 20 point handicap - and their hopes were raised further when Ian Eldridge took the first frame against Martin Watkins by 19 points.

Steve Hoof's 54-34 success over Laki Badhan left the Bayley just 19 points adrift after the first two frames and they whittled that down to just eleven points after Andy O'Brien's black ball finish denied John Rawlins.

John Squire then turned the match the visitor's way with a superb 78-33 triumph over Alex Turnbull and with Ali Jones taking the final frame too for the Bayley against Wayne Weeks the visitors left happy at having maintained their hopes of a league and cup double.

Having lost out at the semi-final stage last season, Coddon A once again booked their place in the last four with a comfortable home win over Minnesota Fats A.

This all first division encounter saw the visitors taking a 70 point handicap with them as they travelled to Donnington, and things looked promising for them early on after Jon Wright took the opening frame 51-48 against Darren Weston.

Lee Szklarzewicz pulled the home side back into contention by taking the next by 86 points to 43 against Keith Blackham and they took the aggregate lead when captain Dave Lloyd notched a 49 break on the way to defeating Steve Osborn.

Ian Ferriday's 65-29 defeat of Kev West added to Minnesota's woes and with Zenon Lembicz claiming a tight final frame 39-28 Coddon ran out deserved winners by a margin of 93 points overall.

Minnesota Fats C suffered a similar fate as they entertained Maddocks B who received a 10 point handicap start.

Les Hicks proved to be Maddock's hero on the night as he showed he's lost none of his old potting skills by tasking the opening frame by 74 points.

Steve Pritchard's 60-41 defeat of Dave Welsh increased Maddocks lead still further and although Tom Firmstone brought the home side back into contention with a superb 98-46 win over John Archer the contest was all but over after Ant Loveitt took the next from Neil Robinson by 66 points.

Maddocks then secured their place in the last four courtesy of Doug Morrey's black ball win over Toby Welsh.

CONSOLATION CUP

There was a dramatic finish at Shifnal War Memorial Club as second division promotion-chasing Shifnal E took on Maddocks A of the first division in the last eight of the Consolation Cup.

The home side set off protecting their 70 point start when Aaron Sparkes took on Darren Wincott.

This promised to be a hotly contested frame between two of the league's best young players and so it proved with Darren just edging out his opponent by 20 points with a scoreline of 74-54.

However disaster then struck the visitors as their second player wasn't able to turn up and the frame had to be forfeited by 72 points to nil putting Shifnal well and truly in the driving seat.

Maddock's despair was then compounded when Matt Davies gave Leigh France no chance as the former English Amateur Champion was in irresistible form scoring over 100 points.

The visitors never gave up although Phil Davies' 97-38 success over Chris Petford did look as though it would merely be a consolation as it left Ian Skelton with a massive 136 point deficit going into the final frame against Rob Edmunds.

The in-form Maddocks man gradually took a few reds with blacks at the start of the frame before knocking in a run of 40 to give himself a glimmer of hope.

And a super display saw him gradually chip away at the deficit to leave himself requiring just one snooker with pink and black remaining. But the task proved just too much in the end as Ian accidentally doubled the pink into the corner pocket whilst attempting to dislodge the black off the cushion to ensure Shifnal's passage into the last four.

They are joined there by another second division side Bayley A after they accounted for Maddocks C in another game that went all the way to the wire.

Bob Mason has been in fine form in practice lately, notching a recent 51 break against practice partner Arthur Burrows - and he took that form into his opening frame against Joe Oliver. Bob's 69-48 victory gave the Bayley an aggregate lead of one point having conceded 20 points start to their second division opponents.

Graham Hoof's 55-41 win over Arthur Burrows put the visitors back in front only for Steve Fletcher to turn the tide again with a somewhat fortunate 78-38 defeat of Billy Rushton.

Steve Nicholls looked to have been in control in the next frame as he opened up a 30 point lead over Jim Hill with just the six colours remaining - but the Maddocks man cleared from yellow to pink and later sank the black too to leave the frame deficit just three points.

That meant that the difference going into the final frame was 30 points in favour of the Bayley with Chris Morgan-Adams taking on Colin Smith.

And it was Colin who almost stole the show. Needing all of the last five colours the Maddocks man potted a super long green only to crucially miss the brown giving Chris the opportunity he needed to eventually sink a delightful long blue to book the home side's place in the semis.

Little Dawley A were in unstoppable form as they moved into the semi-finals of the GM Services consolation cup with a home win over Minnesota Fats B.

The first division side conceded 50 points start to their second division opponents and this was soon clawed back after an excellent performance from Ade Henry saw him take the first frame 79-22 against Rob Palin.

Darren Pountney then put Little Dawley 40 points up in frame two with an unstoppable display against the in form Kirk Stevenson.

Although Mick Egan tried hard to revive the visitors hopes in the next his brave 51-74 defeat at the hands of Richie Heighway left the home side in the driving seat - and there they stayed with both Rick Cousins and Jesse Lowe winning their frames comfortably to see them safely through to the last four.

Although no match card has been received it is believed that First Division leaders Broseley A also won against Anstice D to keep their double hopes intact.

There was some sad news last week when one of Telford's keenest snooker fans lost his battle against cancer. In the past John Weatherall had represented the Coddon Club in the Telford League and more recently had played a few times for his son Steven's team, Wellington Billiard Hall F. John could always be seen at the local snooker tournaments and will be much missed by all who knew him.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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