The two teams promoted to Division 1 of the Telford Snooker League at the end of last season have taken no time at all to settle into their new surroundings as they both recorded excellent results against fancied opposition last week.

Shifnal F showed no nerves at all as they took on Shifnal A in the derby clash at the War Memorial Club, coming away with a super 3-2 win.

The old St Georges Institute produced some fine players in the past - and two of their most illustrious exponents came face to face as the A team's Simon Biddulph took on former Dragons captain Wally Harper in the opening frame. And it was the veteran Wally who opened up a 21 point lead on the brown only for lady luck to conspire against him as he twice went in off the blue and then again on the pink to give Simon a 2 point lead. But Wally kept his cool to slot home the pink and black to take the frame by 72 points to 64.

John Fallows continued his recent good run with a fine 70-29 success over Chris Painter to draw the A side level but they soon found themselves trailing once more when Nev Whitehead took the next for the F side on the blue against Andy Easthope.

Spencer Rowley then made it 3-1 when Roy Martin unluckily went in off the final black but any thoughts the F team had of taking a further point from their fellow club-mates were soon dashed as Linsay Knox made no mistake against the usually solid "Rock" Dave Peplow with a 48-16 final frame score.

Wellington Billiard Hall E's ascendancy to the top flight of the league ladder saw them take on last season's runners-up Coddon A and although they lost out by the odd frame they can be well pleased with their performance against one of this season's title contenders.

Things went to plan for the Donnington side early on as Ian Ferriday gave them just the start they were looking for with a 63-39 win over John Powell. Things continued to go their way in the next frame too as Zenon Lembicz knocked in a 29 break on the way to defeating Ray Evans.

However a superb display from former Billiard Hall A player Phil Whitby stemmed the tide as Phil coolly knocked in the final black for a 51-45 success over Darren Weston - and although Paul Harper increased the home side's lead to 3-2 by defeating Nigel Stallard, M Shadab's 54-41 defeat of Adrian Smith ensured the Wellington side left for home with two well earned points under their belts.

Whilst Coddon were dropping two points at home, fellow title hopefuls Anstice A were claiming all five points against Dawley A.

Shaun Harris gave debutante Simon Vines no chance as he opened the scoring for the Madeley side and Neil Price put them two up with an 87-36 win over Chris Woods.

Keith Price was in devastating form against Mark Jones in the next, rattling in runs of 34 and 40 and Ian Duffy followed suit with a 43 break against Rick Bailey to make it 4-0.

That left Noel Stones to complete the whitewash with a close 69-51 win over Gaz Bradshaw to give the Madeley side their second 5-0 success in three games.

Broseley A followed last week's victory over Anstice A with a 3-2 win at home to the Madeley club's D side.

Richie Hulme led the way with a 77-35 success over Andy Elliott and the home side extended their lead courtesy of Tim Hick's win over Darren Stevens.

The visitors fought back strongly though taking both of the next two frames as Nigel Wallcroft won the next on the black to deny Paul Humphries and Phil Reynolds claimed frame four with a 54 break against Simon McLeod.

However the Anstice couldn't quite maintain the momentum as Mick Brezwyn secured the deciding frame against John Jones with a 34 break to leave the home side's undefeated record intact.

Maddocks A's title aspirations took another jolt as they fell to a second successive defeat at Little Dawley A.

Ade Henry snatched the opening frame on the black from Phil Davis to give the home side the lead and they went further ahead when Richie Heighway got the better of Leigh France by 56 points to 22.

Darren Wincott replied for the visitors by taking the next 60-47 from Jesse Lowe but new boy Darren Pountney made victory certain for Little Dawley with a 62-27 success over Maddocks captain Dave France.

A 42 break from Ian Skelton secured a second point for Maddocks who suffered the same fate as Wellington Billiard Hall A - who also lost 3-2 when they entertained Minnesota Fats A.

Paul Devey gave the visitors the lead with an opening frame win over Steve Minshall only for Alan Turner to restore parity with a 63-17 defeat of Steve Collins.

The Billiard Hall then took the lead through Nigel Fletcher's 48-23 win over Jon Wright but it wasn't to be their night as Kev West and Keith Blackham took the last two frames - against Graham Darrall and Andy Kendrick respectively - to leave the final score 3-2 to the Oakengates team.

DIVISION 2

Shifnal E were in sensational form to deny second division title hopefuls Bailey E with a superb 3-2 win over the side relegated from the first division last season.

The Bailey side's early season form had produced two 4-1 victories as they set about returning to the top flight at the first attempt - but they were halted in their tracks as the Shifnal boys produced the goods with Arron Sparkes giving them the lead with a brilliant 56-40 win over Martin Watkins.

Steve Hoof replied for the visitors, defeating Jeff Sparkes in the next, but the tide turned again when Chris Petford got the better of C Owen to give Shifnal the lead again at two frames to one.

And although John Squire drew the Bayley level again against Rob Wright, Fred Harper's decisive pot on the final black secured the frame 58-51 against Dave France to give the home side a well deserved 3-2 victory.

Bayley A also won by the odd frame when they entertained Coddon B in what was, until a few seasons ago, a first division affair.

Steve Nicholls took time out to iron the Bayley table before the match and it was running beautifully as he claimed the opening frame against Mark Wall. Bob Mason only narrowly failed to double their lead as he was undone by a fraction of an inch when an attempted double on the last black wobbled in the jaws of the middle pocket allowing Steve Downs to level for the Coddon by taking the frame 58-46.

Chris Morgan-Adams then took a commanding lead on the colours only to go in off the yellow allowing Andy Jones to claw his way back into contention. And the Bayley player will consider himself fortunate to eventually close out the frame on the pink to restore the home side's lead.

That lead looked to be heading for 3-1 as Arthur Burrows produced some excellent snooker, including a 22 break, on the way to opening up a 30 point lead against Bob Dando. But the Donnington man fought back valiantly to snatch victory on the final black to set up the decider which went the Bayley's way as Steve Fletcher rattled in a 51 break to deny Nick Pearce.

The derby match at Little Dawley went the C team's way as they defeated another team promoted from Division 3 last season, Little Dawley G by four frames to one.

Mike King and Lee Drinkwater set the scene as they took the first two frames from Dave and Chris Leneveu respectively.

Byron Mitchell put them three up against Pete Frost and things continued to go their way when Lee Elcock got the better of Ray Leneveu 64-37 to make it 4-0.

The G side then had captain Graham Copson to thank as they claimed a solitary point courtesy of Graham's 59-23 final frame win over Rob Withington.

Ian Eldridge gave Wellington Billiard Hall C the lead at home to Anstice B as he took the first frame from George Hammond by 47 points to 37.

John Rawlins doubled their advantage with a 59-26 success over Danny Weaver and the home side went further ahead when Alex Turnbull gave John Darrock no chance in the next frame.

However the Anstice are nothing but resilient and they battled back strongly to take the final two frames through Mick Cahill's win over Aaron O'Donnell and Steve Smallwood's 43-26 triumph over Wayne Weeks.

Audco A were also 3-2 winners at Minnesota Fats B but they had to come from behind as Neil Pearson gave the home side the lead with a 22 break against N Honay and Mick Pearson put them two up against Chris Austin.

The Newport side never gave up though and were rewarded when Richard Handy pulled a frame back with a fine win over Harry Jones.

Mark Matthews continued the fightback with a 50-34 defeat of Mick Egan to make it all square after four frames - leaving Pete Smith with the task of completing a fine comeback with a nail-biting 47-34 deciding frame victory over Kirk Stephenson.

Coddon C also recorded a 3-2 win when they made the trip to play Maddocks C in a game that could easily have gone either way.

Don Bayliss's 45-25 win over Dave Thomas gave the Donnington side the early advantage only for Graham Hoof to draw Maddocks level with a black ball finish against Fraser MacKinnon.

Sef Tusel and Matt Bothwell both had closely fought contests against Jim Hill and Pete Davidson but both Coddon men came out on top to put their side 3-1 ahead only for Joe Oliver to win another close frame 68-55 against Ray Whitehead to double Maddock's points tally.

DIVISION 3

The third division title race looks as though it might be a closely run thing this year - that's if last weeks' results are anything to go by as all but one of the matches played were settled by the odd frame.

The exception were Bayley B who came out 4-1 winners at home to a Little Dawley B side who took the lead courtesy of Rob Barlow's black ball win over young Danny Oliver.

Danny's dad Dickie drew his side level though with a fine 51-33 win over Steve Ward and Kelvin McLeod followed up with a 69-25 success over Craig Darrock to put the Bayley in front.

And it was a lead they never looked like surrendering as Dickie Beddall took the next from Ray Clemence and Robin Sturmey potted them off the lampshades to deny Phil Cottey as the Bayley completed a 4-1 win.

Two of the other Bayley sides in this division came face to face in a local derby match - and the D side will want to forget their encounter with Bayley C and indeed hope that their luck changes before next week after the D team fell to defeat by the odd frame.

The match kicked off with former C team skipper Craig Whitehead taking on the D team's ex-captain Steve Lane. As expected, a tight frame ensued with some excellent safety play from both players.

However, with Craig 23 points up on the brown, Steve miscalculated the score and when he returned to the table proceeded to sink brown, blue, and then to cap it all, 'fluked' the pink into the opposite corner pocket to the one he was aiming for - leaving him 8 points behind with only the black left on the table.

Chris Haycox then stepped up to try and increase the C teams lead against D team skipper Darren Rhoades.

Again it was the home side who enjoyed whatever luck was going, and a miss on the colours from Darren shored up the frame for Chris, as he eventually ran out 65-18 winner.

Jim Lewis then potted well to secure the C teams first win of the season, but had to overcome a stubborn Dave Williams in the process.

But that was going to be the last point the home side collected on the night, as the D team rallied to take the last two points deservedly, with Bill 'Iceman' France keeping the host's skipper Mike Healey at bay for a 53-21 victory, before Dave Dudley showed why he won't be losing many frames this season with a 57-29 win over anchorman Ian Johnson.

Newcomers Bayley F fell behind at Anstice C as Darren Wilkie took the first frame with a 27 break against Paul Maxfield. Bright young star Tom Maxfield soon leveled for the visitors with an excellent 44-14 win over Dave Harper and they then went ahead through Chris Shaw's close 44-35 defeat of Steve Camp.

Another close finish went the Bayley's way as Eddie Whitehead claimed the next against Jason Mills but the visitors had to settle for a 3-2 win as Frank Williams took the final frame of the evening against Andy Summers.

Wellington Billiard Hall B also won 3-2 but they did it the hard way coming from two frames down to defeat Shifnal D.

Mick Guest's 55-41 success over Kevin Whitehead was swiftly followed by Terry Askew's defeat of Gareth Hughes as Shifnal started brightly.

But Alan Francis replied for the home side with a good 60-31 win over Arthur Aston and further wins for Iain Atkinson over Geoff French and Roy Francis against Barrie Easthope completed a fine comeback.

Billiard Hall F had Chris Durham to thank as they took the lead away to Minnesota Fats C but they were unable to maintain their early promise as Dave Welsh and Tom Firmstone got the better of Richard Tranter and Chris Fletcher respectively to give the Oakengates side a 2-1 lead.

Toby Welsh made it 3-1 by beating Steve Weatherall 41-32 and although Rob Cook took the last frame for the Billiard Hall it was the home team who left with three points safely in the bag.

Newport British Legion B are enjoying something of a resurgence after securing their second win of the campaign with a 3-2 victory over Maddocks B.

John Yapp won a tight opener, denying Doug Morrey on the black 48-43 and the Newport side went further ahead when Manjit Gidda came out on top against Ant Loveitt.

Darren Edwards claimed another black ball frame for the visitors when he beat Les Hicks 38-30 but the home side rallied to take the last two frames through John Archer and Tony O'Neil.

STEVE FLETCHER

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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