Newly promoted Wellington Billiard Hall E will have been looking forward to joining their club's A side in Division 1 of the Telford Snooker League when they won promotion to the top flight last season - and so will have been doubly delighted when they came from a frame down to defeat their illustrious opponents by four frames to one in the derby clash of the day.

Nigel Fletcher gave the home side the lead with a close 69-56 win over Ray Evans but the E team replied immediately through former A team player Phil Whitby's 80-52 defeat of Morton Hughes.

Nigel Stallard's 61-34 win over Alan Turner put the E team ahead for the first time and they made certain of victory when Chris Morris took the next frame on the black against Graham Darrell.

And with John Powell taking the last frame too over Andy Kendrick the E team were left celebrating a famous victory.

Anstice A consolidated their position at the top of the table with a thumping 5-0 win at home to Shifnal F.

Shaun Harris set the scene by beating Wally Harper 86-25 - breaks of 38 & 22 gave Shaun a 36 lead on the colours which was alas too much for Wally to come back from.

A 28 break from Neil Price against Chris Painter was enough to secure the second point at 62-34 before brother Keith Price produced breaks of 28 & 23 to end Nev Whitehead's run of 4 consecutive wins as he took the next frame by 80 points to 22.

Spencer Rowley then gave the Islanders a chance of a point when he took an early 30 lead, but then a fluke on a brown spurned a 46 break for Ian Duffy who then went on to win a black ball game 55-43.

And even the 'Rock', Dave Peplow couldn't salvage anything from the last frame as he was beaten by Noel Stones 56-23.

Coddon A swap places with Shifnal A after a 4-1 win leaves them in joint second place behind Anstice A and level with Broseley who won 3-2.

The Donnington side had Zenon Lembicz in brilliant form as he opened the scoring with a 73 clearance to take the first frame from Rick Cousins.

Ian Ferriday soon made it 2-0 as he defeated Richie Heighway and things went from bad to worse for the visitors as Lee Szklarzewicz claimed the third frame for Coddon as well with a narrow 49-37 win over Jesse Lowe.

Darren Pountney rescued a point for Little Dawley with a fine 72-35 win over home captain Dave Lloyd but with Paul Harper taking the final frame of the evening against Ade Henry the Donnington side were able to move into second spot with 17 points from five games.

Broseley A also have 17 points after they won their match with Minnesota Fats A by the odd frame.

Richie Hulme gave them the lead against Steve Collins only for Jon Wright to reply for the visitors with a 29 break against Tim Hicks.

Paul Devey then put the Oakengates side in front with a fine 52-35 win over the in-form Paul Humphries only for Simon McLeod and Mick Brezwyn to take the final two frames for the home side to leave them a point ahead of Shifnal A who surrendered joint second place when they lost 3-2 at home to Maddocks A.

Angus Way did give them the lead however with a high-scoring 75 - 63 win over Phil Davis who narrowly lost out despite posting a run of 33.

Mark Finucane levelled for Maddocks with a 60-48 success over Shifnal captain Andy Easthope and although Maddocks fell behind again when John Fallows won his fifth successive frame with a 30 break against Leigh France, the Oakengates side rallied to take the final two frames for a 3-2 win.

Darren Wincott's potting display proved too much for Roy Martin before Ian Skelton completed Maddock's second win of the season with a black ball finish against Linsay Knox.

DIVISION 2

Coddon C maintained their one hundred percent record when they came away from Audco with a 4-1 victory which leaves them in top spot all on their own after joint leaders Bayley E fell to defeat against Bayley A.

The Coddon side had to come from behind though as Neil Hendy gave Audco the lead with a super 70-28 success over Don Bayliss but the visitors soon levelled courtesy of John Whitehouse's 50-29 defeat of Pete Smith.

Sef Tusel and Ray Whitehead then put the Coddon in control with wins over Ray Hendy and Mark Matthews respectively, leaving Fraser MacKinnon to wrap up a neat 4-1 victory with a 48-30 final frame win over Chris Austin.

Bayley A got off to a flying start in their derby match with their E side as Arthur Burrows came from behind to defeat Martin Watkins on the final black.

Steve Hoof levelled for the E team with some solid potting on the way to a 77-27 victory over Bob Mason but Steve Nicholls maintained his own hundred percent start to the season to put the A team 2-1 up with a 70-28 defeat of Andy O'Brien.

Steve Fletcher then raced into a 45 point lead with the aid of a 33 break against John Squire only to be pegged back as John notched a run of 30 himself to take the lead on the colours. Both players then missed good chances to wrap up the frame before Steve eventually took blue and pink to put the Bayley 3-1 in front.

And with Chris Morgan-Adams taking the final frame for the A team as well with a 57-35 success over Ali Jones the A side were able to move to within two points of the leaders into third place.

Little Dawley C move into second spot courtesy of a 4-1 home win over Anstice B.

Breaks of 22 and 23 saw Lee Elcock safely home against Bill Watson before Mike King got the better of John Darrock to put the home side two up.

Lee Drinkwater followed suit to make it 3-0 with a 34-11 triumph over Steve Smallwood only for George Hammond to come to Anstice's rescue with a 33 break against Steve Farrington - as he rescued a point for the visitors who sadly lost out in the final frame of the night when Byron Mitchell triumphed over Stewart Wimbush to complete a 4-1 win for last season's third division champions.

Coddon B completed their second win of the campaign as they returned from Maddocks C with a 3-2 win safely in the bag.

Steve Downes was Donnington's hero as he took the deciding frame 57-32 against Billy Rushton after the first four frames had been shared.

Bob Dando gave Coddon the lead with a 59-33 success over Dave Thomas only for Jim Hill to level matters by taking the next 74-25 from Mark Wall.

Andy Jones then restored Coddon's lead only to see it quashed once more as Graham Hoof took frame four on the black against Nick Pearce.

Shifnal E's promotion charge suffered a slight blip as they went down 3-2 at home to Wellington Billiard Hall C.

Ian Eldridge gave the visitors the lead by the narrowest of margins, just edging out Arron Sparkes by a single point as he took the opening frame on the black 48-47.

Jeff Sparkes squared things up though with another black ball finish to deny John Rawlins and Shifnal went ahead when Chris Petford defeated Alex Turnbull 75-29.

Rob Wright could only sit and watch as Aaron O'Donnell drew the Billiard Hall level again as he got the better of the Shifnal referee by 61 points to 12 and the Billiard Hall snatched overall victory thanks to Wayne Weeks' 62-31 win over Fred Harper in the last.

Graham Copson was Little Dawley G's only winner as they fell to a 4-1 defeat away at Minnesota Fats B.

Mick Pearson gave the home side the lead with a 67-36 win over Pete Frost. Graham Copson's 59-47 defeat of Mick Egan gave his side some hope - but that hope soon evaporated as Rob Palin put Minnesota in front again with a 49-29 victory over Chris Leneveu.

Further wins from Kirk Stevenson and Neil Pearson completed a 4-1 win for the Oakengates side as they completed their first win of the new season.

DIVISION 3

League newcomers Bayley F rocketed themselves to the top of division 3 last week when they took all five points from their trip to Little Dawley B.

Paul Ward led the way with a 62-28 success over Rob Barlow before the league's youngest player, Tom Maxfield claimed his third win in five games with a 66-39 success over Gary Clemence.

Eddie Whitehead made it 3-0 by taking a close third frame from Ray Clemence and the writing was on the wall when Chris Shaw made it four in a row by taking frame four against Craig Darrock.

Andy Summer's 53-42 defeat of Phil Cottey completed the whitewash to leave the Bayley side top of the table, a point ahead of Anstice C who won 4-1 at home to Shifnal D.

These two sides started the day in joint first spot with 12 points, along with Bayley F - so it was a real top-of-the-table encounter which certainly lived up to its billing.

Dave Wilkie posted the division's highest break to date with a brilliant run of 45 to take the opening frame against Mick Guest.

Steve Camp made it 2-0 by taking the next 48-27 against John Askew and although S Chauhan replied for the visitors with a 61-31 triumph over Kevin Smith further wins from John Mills and Dave Harper completed a fine 4-1 win for the Madeley side.

Wellington Billiard Hall F move into third place on the back of the 3-2 "away" win against the Billiard Hall's B team.

Chris Durham led by example with a 27 break to deny Ken Francis in the opening frame and the F team extended that lead through Chris Fletcher's defeat of Gareth Hughes.

Alan Francis won a close third frame for the B team 39-29 against Rob Cook only to see Steve Weatherall come out on top for the F side with a 53-34 win over Iain Atkinson in the next.

Steve Williams looked to be on the way to making it 4-1 only for Roy Francis to take the last four colours for a 57-45 victory which left the final score at 3 frame to two in favour of the F team.

That score proved to be a popular one throughout the division - and so it proved in the derby game at the Bayley where Bayley B took on Bayley D.

However it was the B team who came out on top - despite Brian Aberdeen's heroics as he took the last four balls for a 22 break to pip Kelvin McLeod on the black in the first frame of the evening.

Dickie Beddall proved as strong as ever to deny Bill France in the next before Dickie Oliver put the B team in front with a narrow 39-30 win against Dave Williams.

2-1 soon became 3-1 as Danny Oliver made no mistake against Darren Rhoades and only a final frame win for Dave Dudley over Robin Sturmey salvaged another point for Bayley D as they struggle to find the form that almost saw them clinch promotion last term.

Newport B's fortunes have improved of late and this was amply demonstrated by their third win in five games - a 3-2 success away from home at Bayley C.

The steady potting of Alan Munn got Newport off to a good start as he took a hard fought opening frame against Ian Johnson 51-33.

However, Craig Whitehead soon levelled for the home side, playing some solid all round snooker on his way to defeating John Yapp 70-27.

Eddie Edwards then potted well to put Newport ahead again, although he was aided by his opponent Chris Haycox missing a few pots at vital times during the frame.

Mark Taras showed yet again what a super signing he will prove for the Bayley outfit this season by taking frame four for the hosts. Mark whose wife owns a hairdressers in Wellington, is out to prove that he in no longer a fringe player - and he was certainly a cut above the rest as he knocked in a confident 28 break on his way to a resounding 64-21 win over Manjit Gidda.

Old pals Mick Healey and Alan Davies then collided in the decider, and it was Alan who managed to hold onto an early lead to take the frame on the pink, and continue Newport's good start to the season with their third win in five.

Maddocks B also came out on top with a 3-2 away win at Minnesota Fats C.

Doug Morrey took the first frame with the palendromic scoreline of 42-24 as the visitors went ahead - but they were soon pegged back as Andy Leach took Frame two from Ant Loveitt by 62 points to 37.

Les Hicks put Maddocks ahead once more with a tidy 73-35 success over Neil Robinson but their lead didn't last long as Tom Firmstone forced the decider with a 48-32 win over John Archer.

However, Steve Pritchard ensured that Maddocks left for home with a victory under their belts as he took the deciding frame from Dave Welsh 54-23 to leave Maddocks victorious by three frames to two.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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