There was a double blow for two of the Telford Snooker League's top teams last week as both Broseley A and Shifnal E saw their hopes of league and cup success falter as they fell at the semi finals stage of the Consolation Cup.

Shifnal E may have all but secured their promotion from Division 2 but they were unable to recoup the 10 point handicap start they were conceding to Little Dawley A in their semi-final encounter played at the Bayley Club last week.

The Shifnal side had their handicap adjusted as they included former English Amateur Champion amongst their five players - and although Matthew weighed in with a 79 break it wasn't enough to halt Little Dawley's march to the final.

Matt's break ended as he ran out of position on the final pink forcing him to play a safety shot although his opponent Richie Heighway had himself played magnificently to put 43 points of his own on the board to leave the final frame score 92 points to 43.

Rob Wright then took the next frame by three points against Ade Henry to give Shifnal further hope but his side failed to win any of the remaining games as Little Dawley turned the tide with Rick Cousins starting the comeback by beating Jeff Sparkes 51-37.

Having recently broken his ankle playing football Aaron Sparkes resembled Alex Higgins as he hopped around the table with his foot in plaster - however sadly for the Shifnal player the comparison stopped there as Jesse Lowe made the most of his opportunities to give Little Dawley an overall lead of 31 going into the final frame.

In the final Little Dawley will face Bayley A after the Wellington side produced their best performance of the season when it mattered most to outpoint first division high-flyers Broseley A.

The Bayley received a 100 points start and jealously protected their lead as Bob Mason took on Mick Brezwyn in the opening frame.

The Broseley hot shot opened up with an early 24 break but Bob stuck to his task manfully and rounded off a fine performance by sinking the last three colours to leave the frame deficit at just 29 points.

The Bayley's star man however was none other than Chris Morgan-Adams as he took on Richie Hulme in a frame of the highest quality.

The Broseley man has lost only two of his twenty games in the first division this year but soon found himself behind as Chris knocked in an early run of 47 and although Richie took most of the colours it was Chris who ended the frame 33 points up.

Things continued to go the Bayley's way in frame three as Steve Nicholls produced some of his best snooker this year to beat Tim Hicks by 55 points and although Simon Mcleod retrieved some of the deficit with a good win over Arthur Burrows Broseley still found themselves some 96 points down going into the final frame.

That deficit ultimately proved to be too much for Paul Humphries to retrieve against Steve Fletcher as the Bayley captain took a scrappy frame to ease his team through to the final.

In the main cup competition, Coddon A booked their place in the final when they took all five frames against Bayley B and came out on top by 123 points overall.

The Bayley began with 170 points in credit but Coddon could not have had a better start when opener Darren Weston clocked up three breaks of 26 and a 20 to overwhelm Rob Sturmie 117-13.

With the deficit reduced to 66, this was just the fillip the Coddon boys needed and skipper Dave Lloyd reduced the handicap further when breaks of 20 & 24 helped him to a 70 - 47 victory over Dickie Oliver.

With the gap of just 43 points still in favour of the Bayley, it was then up to Lee Szklarzewicz to put the pressure on Dickie Beddall and although the Bayley man potted well in the early stages it was Lee who triumphed 71-36.

A 25 break by Ian Ferriday was enough to put his side into a commanding lead when he beat Danny Oliver 86-12 and with former county champion Zenon Lembicz carrying an 84 lead into the last frame no one would have laid bets against him.

He duly obliged and a 35 break on the way gave him a final score against Kev Mcleod of 82-25 - a good performance by the Coddon boys who finished up with 123 points to spare.

Bayley E kept alive their hopes of a League and Cup double when they too moved into the final with a narrow victory over Maddocks B.

The Wellington side were conceding 90 points start to their opponents and although they took the first two frames the Oakengates side did well to restrict the damage in those opening frames to just 21 points.

Steve Hoof's 69-44 opening frame win over Steve Pritchard was followed by a solid display from Maddock's Doug Morrey as he restricted Andy O'Brien to a black ball win.

However Ali Jones and John Squire were in unstoppable form for the Bayley as they took the next two frames from John Archer and Andy O'Neil respectively to leave Martin Watkins with a 54 point lead going into the last frame.

That gap proved just too much for veteran Les Hick to recoup although he didn't let Martin off lightly. Les took the final frame 72-48 to leave the Bayley's winning margin just 30 points overall.

It was with great sadness that the league learned of the death last week of one of its longest serving players. Bob Dando had played for the Coddon Club in Donnington for many years more recently representing Coddon B in the second division. He will be greatly missed by his Coddon team mates as well as his many friends throughout the league.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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