Little Dawley’s Lee Elcock claimed the Telford Snooker League (sponsored by Romeo & Juliets) Chairman’s Individual Handicap Cup when he beat Anstice’s Keith Price in a dramatic final at Maddocks last week.

By all accounts this was a cracking match with both players in superb form throughout the contest which Lee eventually won with a 56 clearance in the deciding frame.

The Madeley man was conceding 21 points handicap and that proved too much for him to pull back as Lee took the opening frame with some excellent potting.

Keith replied with two 30-plus breaks to take the second frame and he went in front as several smaller breaks saw him safely home in frame three.

Lee hit back immediately to level the frame scores at two-apiece as he clinched the next on the blue and the Little Dawley man looked to be heading for a 3-2 lead as he opened up a 40-point margin early on in frame five.

However Keith had other ideas and a timely run of 52 ensured that the frame went his way to leave him needing just one of the last two frames for victory.

Undeterred, Lee hit back once more to level at 3-3 to set up what proved to be a dramatic decider.

Keith opened up an 18-point lead with five reds left but when his attempted snooker behind the blue fell short, Lee put him back in to play. Keith duly escaped from the snooker but in doing so nicked a red out from the cluster and that proved all Lee needed as he wrapped up the match with a brilliant 56 clearance to ensure his name would be the second to go on the league’s newest trophy.

The following evening Keith was involved in yet another final when he and brother Neil added the Telford Snooker League 3-a-side crown to the doubles title they claimed the previous week.

The Madeley duo teamed up with Anstice A teammate Nick Oakley at the Sir John Bayley Club to contest the final against the Shifnal trio of Chris Petford, Rob Wright and Aaron Sparkes.

Having already claimed the first division title Anstice started the match as favourites and they duly lived up to that tag with a convincing performance which gave the Shifnal boys little chance.

Neil Price was quickly off the blocks as a couple of breaks around the 30-mark ensured that he ran away with the first frame against Chris Petford who was unlucky to come up against an opponent in such scintillating form.

Next up was Neil’s brother Keith and he duly wrapped up the match with an equally impressive display, knocking in a 34 break against Telford’s number one referee Rob Wright.

Rob even had time to add a comical note to the proceedings as he purposely asked referee Steve Fletcher to clean the cue ball when only the black remained – just to give Steve the practice – Thanks Rob!

The game, which was decided on the aggregate points from all three frames, was now beyond Shifnal but they saved their best to last. Young Aaron Sparkes knocked in a lovely 40 break which only ended when he missed a straight forward brown just as he looked to be on the way to what would have been a 62 clearance.

Another young player from Telford has been making his mark further afield in the under-16 competitions held regularly at Potters Snooker Club in Leicester.

Eleven-year-old Tom Maxfield helped Bayley F to promotion from Division 3 this season and having won the plate competition the first time he entered the Leicester event in February, Tom has featured prominently in the main competition there, finishing as runner-up in the main competition in both March and April.

Tom then won his group at the Pontins “Star of the Future” competition in Prestatyn where he lost out to England Under 13 finalist Jack Trump in the quarter-finals.

The first frame was settled on the black after both players had missed chances to clinch the frame and he lost the second on the blue. Nonetheless Tom can be very proud of his performance against one of the country’s brightest young players.

Former world championship referee John Williams presented Tom with his prize of £25 cash and a £25 Pontins holiday voucher – and Tom now has his sights set on the 8-11 years title next February.

Finally, as this is the last snooker report of the season, I would like to pass on my thanks to those players who have provided me with information on various matches throughout the season. Special thanks go to Nev Whitehead for sending me a weekly e-mail enclosing a match report on his team’s performance as well as providing a report on those matches he has been good enough to referee.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

Return To Top