Broseley A's hopes of lifting the Telford Snooker League first division title looked to be in some disarray last week as newly promoted Wellington Billiard Hall E took two out of the first three frames of their encounter - but the Broseley lads rallied to take the last two frames of the evening to complete a 3-2 win to keep them on track for what could be their first ever title.

Richie Hulme was in his usual devastating form with a 74-26 opening frame victory over M Shadab but A Ali's 24 break sealed a fine win over Paul Humphries before Phil Whitby put the home side in front with a fine display of potting against Tim Hicks.

Mick Brezwyn's 65-54 success over Ray Evans then levelled the scores leaving Simon McLeod to seal a 3-2 win for Broseley by beating Nigel Stallard 54-36.

Minnesota Fats A also recorded a 3-2 win when they visited Anstice D.

Jon Wright put them in front with a 58-16 defeat of Darren Stevens only for Andy Elliott to reply for the home side with a 24 break against Steve Collins.

Kev West put the Canongate side back in front but the frame score was all square again following Phil Reynolds's victory over Steve Osborn.

However Paul Devey took the decider for the visitors with a 38 break against John Jones.

Little Dawley A did their chances of staying up the world of good with an excellent display against the unlucky Wellington Billiard Hall A.

Ade Henry outpotted Mick Hughes in the first to put Little Dawley 1-0 up before Richy Heighway, probably playing his best game of the season, put the home side 2-0 up beating Mick Gears.

Graham Darrall then started the visitor's revival with a convincing display against Rick Cousins to make it 2-1 before the unlucky Alan Turner miscued on the blue, leaving Jesse Lowe with a free ball and clearance to snatch the frame on the black and put Little Dawley 3-1 up

Another solid display from Darren Pountney ensured four valuable points for the home team in their quest to secure first division snooker next season.

Shifnal F also took a step closer to avoiding relegation when they entertained rivals Dawley A and came out as 3-2 victors.

Wally Harper set the trend for Shifnal as he beat Barry Roden 64-34.

Sub Brian Painter playing his first league game since October went down to Mark Jones 75-19.

Spencer Rowley then restored Shifnal's lead playing some of his best snooker of recent times defeating Pete Nolan 63-25.

Dave Peplow then took on one of the hardest nuts to crack in the league in the shape of Rick Bailey. But it was Dave who had the upper hand when with a break of 30 he came up trumps 83-30.

Dawley's Chris Woods then made the score respectable when with some super long pots won his frame from skipper Nev Whitehead 70-33.

DIVISION 2

In the Second division Bayley E won 4-1 whilst their closest rivals Shifnal E lost 3-2.

Martin Watkins' 36 break gave the division's leaders the upper hand as they entertained Maddocks C.

Steve Hoof and John Squire then piled on the pressure before Billy Rushton replied for the visitors with a 45-16 defeat of Ali Jones.

However it was to be his side's only bright spot as David France sealed an excellent 4-1 win for the Bayley by defeating Colin Smith on the black in the final frame.

Shifnal E suffered a rare defeat hen they entertained Little Dawley C and went down by the odd frame.

Chris Petford, who last week also added to his own silverware with a 4-2 victory over Lee Elcock in the Shifnal Club's Alan Bott Memorial Trophy Final, warmed up with a 64-53 success over Mike King before Byron Mitchell levelled for Little Dawley with a 58-49 win over Jeff Sparkes.

Lee Elcock then put the visitors in front and Lee Drinkwater ensured them of victory with a 55-24 defeat of Rob Edmunds.

Aaron Sparke's final frame win over Steve Farrington saved another point for the Shifnal side who stay second in the table.

Bayley A won 3-2 away to Wellington Billiard Hall C - after Steve Fletcher had given them the lead John Rawlins took full advantage of a "Rawlins Special" to take a 24 break on the way to defeating the unlucky Arthur Burrows.

Steve Nicholls put the Bayley back in front only for Alex Turnbull to level for the home side.

Alex led Bob Mason by 32 points with just two reds remaining - but Bob took the last two reds with colours and eventually forced the game to the final ball only to unluckily go in off the black to give Alex, who had earlier knocked in a 21 break, the frame by 67 points to 55.

Chris Adams also made a 21 break as he took the final frame for the Bayley against Mick Birch.

Coddon B won the derby match with their C team by four frames to one.

Bob Dando's opening frame win over Sef Tusel was followed by Andy Jone's victory over Don Bayliss.

Fraser MacKinnon pulled a frame back for the "home" side but with Steve Downs and Nick Pearce taking the final two frames the B side were left to celebrate taking four very valuable points.

Minnesota Fats B went one better by taking all five points from their game with Anstice B.

Rob Palin and Mick Pearson led the way with opening frame wins over Danny Weaver and Steve Smallwood respectively. Neil Pearson added a third and they completed the whitewash courtesy of Kirk Stevenson and Mick Egan who got the better of Mick Cahill and George Hammond.

Audco A celebrated a 3-2 win from their trip to Little Dawley G after Pete Smith had given them the early advantage - taking the first frame 56-28 from Pat Frost.

Daz Leneveu levelled matters only for Ray Hendy to put the Newport side ahead again.

Neil Hendy then made it 3-1 with a 37-20 success over Chris Leneveu but the home side had the final say with Graham Copson notching a 27 break against Chris Austin.

DIVISION 3

Third division leaders Bayley F suffered a rare defeat as they went down 4-1 at home to Shifnal D.

Eddie Whitehead gave them the lead with a 55-26 win over Mick Guest but it was all down hill from then on as Terry Askew got the better of young Tom Maxfield and S Chauhan beat Chris Shaw.

Further wins from Geoff French on a re-spotted black against Paul Maxfield and Barrie Easthope sealed an excellent win for the Shifnal boys.

Although out of the title race, Bayley C will have a big hand in where the title eventually resides, as they still have to play three teams chasing the Div III silverware.

Bayley travelled to Canongate to take on third placed Minnesota Fats C this week, looking to consolidate their mid-table position, but could not do better than pick up just 2 points.

Toby Welsh opened for the home side, but he had no answer to the 40 point lead which Craig Whitehead soon racked up, and the visitors took the first point with a scoreline of 76-22.

Neil Robinson then took on Jim Lewis, but this was a much tighter affair. In fact there was never more than 10 points between the players and it went down to the final black.

But unlucky for Neil he was forced to play a rest shot, and this coupled with having to stretch across the table, the home player missed the ball, handing the second frame to the visitors.

Tom Firmstone, who is still chasing the Div III averages from his customary No3 slot came up against Ian Johnson, and managed to bring the Fats back into the match 50-34.

Mike Thompson then threw the title chasers another lifeline as he sunk out of sorts Mark Taras 60-37, allowing Dave Welsh to wrap up a good comeback by taking the decider against visiting skipper Mike Healey 71-34.

With table toppers Bayley F only picking up a solitary point from their home tie with Shifnal D, Minnesota must be pleased to close the gap down to just 2 points on their rivals with 4 matches to go.

Bayley D also won 3-2 after taking the lead with a nail-biting victory for Darren Rhoades as he beat Mike Rhodes on a re-spotted black.

Gary Clements drew Little Dawley B level though with a close 43-35 win over Dave Williams and they then took the lead courtesy of Phil Cottey.

Steve Lane drew the Bayley level again by defeating Rob Barlow leaving Dave Dudley to steal the limelight with a 45-28 win over Craig Darrock in the decider.

Darren Wilkie was again on form for Anstice C as they travelled to play Wellington Billiard Hall F and came away 3-2 winners.

Darren's 25 break secured the first frame against Chris Durham and the visitors proceeded to open up a three frame lead with Steve Camp and Dave Harper - the latter by a single point against Spencer Clarke, took the next two frames.

Richard Tranter's 48-27 win over Frank Williams started something of a mini-comeback for the home side who had Chris Fletcher on hand to take the final frame against Colin Westwood.

Les Hicks' 51-32 defeat of Ken Francis gave Maddocks B the lead against Wellington Billiard Hall B - a lead that was soon doubled when Steve Pritchard got the better of Gareth Hughes in the next.

Doug Morrey made it three-in-a-row and John Archer continued the trend with a 50-27 success over Iain Atkinson.

Kev Whitehead's 60-25 final frame win over Ant Loveitt proved to be the Billiard Hall's only consolation as the final score ended 4-1 to the Maddocks team.

TELFORD B CRASH OUT OF INTER-TOWN

Telford B crashed out of this season's Inter-Town competition at the quarter-finals stage when they were well beaten by a strong Sedgley and Gornal side featuring former World number eight Martin Clarke.

Indeed it was the former professional who proved to be the home side's only loser on the night as Broseley's Simon McLeod - the Telford side's hero in the previous round - once again rose to the occasion by taking a good quality frame on the pink.

Sedgley opened up an early two frame lead as Simon Hickman defeated Matt Bailey and Richard Evans beat Ade Henry with a 64 break along the way.

Dave Hall then beat Tim Hicks to make it 3-0 and the home side secured their place in the semis in style as Daniel Ward knocked in a beautiful run of 91against Angus Way.

Daniel looked all set to complete a century only to suffer a kick off the last red. Nonetheless his effort put the home side into an unassailable 4-0 lead.

Elliott Bastable then saw off the challenge of Shifnal's Linsay Knox before Simon McLeod rescued a point for the visitors.

However Sedgley finished off the evening in some style as Ryan Evans rattled in a 40 break to deny Simon Biddulph in the final frame - leaving Sedgley and Gornal comfortable 6-1 winners on the night.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

Return To Top