Wellington Billiard Hall A signaled their intention to remain in the top flight of the Telford Snooker League (sponsored by Romeo & Juliets) with a brilliant performance away to Bayley E last week.

The Wellington side have teetered on the brink of the relegation places for most of the season but will be well pleased with their efforts against a Bayley E side who started the day in fourth spot.

They had to come from behind though to record their seventh win of the season with a 4-1 win after Andy O’Brien had given the Bayley the lead against A Khan with the aid of a 31 break.

The turning point came in the second frame when Graham Darrell produced a brilliant comeback against the in-form Martin Watkins.

Graham secured the two snookers he required on the pink before potting a brilliant pink and black to take the frame by 65 points to 60 to set his side on the comeback trail.

Luigi Dambrosio, making a rare appearance for his former team, played like a veteran of olden days as he put the Billiard Hall in front with a good win over Karl Owen.

A super fourth frame saw Bayley’s John Squire open up a 30-plus lead before Andy Kendrick clawed his way back to eventually take the frame 61-53 to make it 3-1 to the Billiard Hall – who then added to their tally when Alan Turner put the seal on a gritty team performance with a 66-24 final frame victory over David France.

With Anstice D’s result against Broseley not yet in the Billiard Hall lie third from bottom – one place and four points ahead of the Madeley side who occupy one of the two relegation slots.

Former Billiard Hall side Shifnal B are the other team in imminent danger of dropping down to Division 2 after a 4-1 reverse at leaders Anstice A sees them firmly rooted to the foot of the table some four points behind Anstice D.

Ian Duffy wasted little time in giving the champions-elect the lead with a comfortable win over A Ali.

Neil Price halted Nigel Stallard’s recent return to winning ways when he got the better of the League’s Competitions Secretary by 64 points to 20 before brother Keith secured the third frame against John Powell.

Ray Evans 50-38 success against Noel Stones provided some respite for the visitors but their fate was sealed when Nick Oakley got the better of M Shadab to complete a 4-1 win for the Anstice which sees them extend their lead over second-placed Maddocks A to 14 points.

The Oakengates side started their match with Coddon A in explosive fashion with Ian Eldridge compiling a delightful 61 break which ended when he missed a red along the bottom rail.

Nonetheless his win over Ian Ferriday set the tone for a solid display from his Maddocks teammates who eventually won a close fought contest by the odd frame.

A brave fight back from Darren Wincott ended when he missed a relatively straight forward red into the corner with his break on 33 giving Zenon Lembicz the chance to close out the second frame for Coddon with a run of 27.

Reigning individual champion Phil Davis restored Maddocks’ lead with a good performance against Adrian Smith and home captain Dave France then overcame his Coddon counterpart Dave Lloyd in frame four to ensure Maddocks of a thirteenth win of the season.

However any hopes the Oakengates side had of keeping in touch with leader’s Anstice A were soon dashed as Lee Szklarzewicz knocked in a 40 break to claim the last frame for Coddon in scintillating style against Lee France to leave Maddocks victorious by the odd frame.

Third-placed Shifnal A failed to close the gap on Maddocks after they too won 3-2 against a Little Dawley A side whose recent form has all but secured their first division survival for another year.

Indeed the points difference between themselves and Shifnal is now just five points and they will have been pleased with a solid performance from Richie Heighway as he took the opening frame with a good 60-30 win over Linsay Knox.

Home captain Andy Easthope’s 58-44 win over the in-form Lee Elcock drew Shifnal level but they fell behind again when veteran Jesse Lowe rolled back the years to turn an early 40 point lead against Angus Way into a 61-32 victory.

John Fallows quickly levelled the match once more, rattling in a 44 break on the way to defeating Ade Henry, to set up a deciding frame between Simon Biddulph and Darren Pountney.

And it was the former County Champion from Shifnal who took the honours with a high-scoring 73-49 win to leave his side still third in the table some ten points off the coveted runner-up spot.

Shifnal’s third team in the top flight, Shifnal E, looked to be on the way to what would have been a fifth win this term only to let a two-frame lead slip away to Minnesota Fats A.

Arron Sparkes’ black ball win over Steve Collins gave the Shifnal boys the perfect start and they built on their lead when Matt Davies took the next against Jon Wright with a 55 break.

Pete Waters’ 64-39 defeat of Jeff Sparkes sparked something of a revival for the home side who drew level when James Morris took the next from Rob Edmunds with a 32 break.

That left the ever-dependable Paul Devey to wrap things up for Minnesota as the completed the comeback to take the match 3-2 with Paul taking the last frame against Dave Peplow.

DIVISION 2

Things couldn’t be closer at the top of the second division with just one point separating new leaders Coddon B and the next two teams.

The Donnington side followed recent 4-1 wins over their closest rivals by taking three points from a tough away trip to Minnesota Fats B.

Andy Jones has been in excellent form recently and he continued in the same vain to give Coddon the lead with a fine opening frame victory over Harry Jones.

Simon Yeats then doubled their lead by fending off a strong challenge from Mick Pearson but their lead was halved when Kirk Stephenson took the next with a 61-50 success against Mark Wall.

The Canongate side soon found themselves level as Neil Pearson completed a 70-44 win over Nick Pearce to set up the all-important deciding frame between Rob Palin and Phil Szklarzewicz.

And it turned out to be not such a good night for Rob as he returned from watching his Telford United side lose out in the FA Cup to lose out himself in the final reckoning as Phil took the frame 46-20 to give Coddon their eleventh win of the campaign.

Telford United’s match had a bearing on the clash of the day in this division as well with Dawley, who started the day in top spot, sportingly allowing Bayley A captain Steve Fletcher to turn up after the match to contest the final frame of their crunch encounter.

Dawley captain Rick Bayley has christened the Bayley captain “Windows 2000” in view of his snooker glasses – but it was the Wellington side who were to excel in what turned out to be a 4-1 win for the Bayley.

They had to come from behind though after Sean Nolan took the opening frame on the brown against Bob Mason. However Chris Morgan-Adams quickly redressed the balance by completing a 54-36 success over Chris Woods and the Bayley then took the lead as Spencer Rowley fought off a determined Mark Jones to take the third frame 80-49.

Steve Nicholls was also in fine form as the visitors extended their lead to 3-1 with Steve defeating Pete Nolan 89-52 before Steve Fletcher returned from the football to put the icing on the cake with some good safety play against Rick Bailey.

As a result, the Bayley move into second spot, level on points with their opponents, with both teams just a point adrift of Coddon B.

Little Dawley G are in fourth place – some seven points behind both Bayley A and Dawley A after recording a 3-2 win at home to Dawley B.

Steve Hewitt gave Dawley the lead though with a fine performance against Darren Leneveu and Dawley went further ahead courtesy of Don Pugh’s 63-40 success over Terry Hill.

A close third frame went Little Dawley’s way when Roy Leneveu defeated Kev Jones 58-45 and further wins for Roy Vickery over Barry Roden and Graham Copson, who beat Alex Jones, completed the turnaround and left Little Dawley triumphant by the odd frame.

Both Maddocks sides now have the same number of points as Little Dawley although they suffered differing fortunes in last week’s matches with the C side winning 3-2 and the B team losing by the same score.

The B team are exactly level with Little Dawley as both teams have won ten of their seventeen matches with Maddocks C having won nine.

Wally Harper gave the B string the lead as they entertained Wellington Billiard Hall C.

His opening frame win over Sean Parks was cancelled out when James Price beat John Archer on the black but the Oakengates side regained their lead when Doug Morrey defeated Craig Davies 52-32.

Wayne Weeks’ 49-20 defeat of veteran Les Hicks meant that Aaron O’Donell had the chance to secure the Billiard Hall’s third win of the season – and he made no mistake, taking the decider 61-24 against Steve Pritchard to complete a good win for his side.

Maddocks C fared slightly better than their B-side when they travelled to Little Dawley C and pocketed three valuable points.

Little Dawley's Graham Wiley put the first frame in the bag with some good potting including a 22 break to overcome Dave Thomas 77-28.

Nev Whitehead squared the match with a 24 break against Colin Gittus 71-29 before John Bowen put together a 28 break to defeat Ironman Bill Rushton 79-39.

Jim Hill then made it 2-2 with an emphatic win over Rob Withington and anchor man for Maddocks Joe Oliver then did his job by defeating Steve Farrington 57-32 to give his team only their ninth win of the season so far.

DIVISION 3

A 4-1 win for Bayley D at Wellington Billiard Hall B would in normal circumstance have seen them make up ground on the two teams above them.

However both leaders Maddocks D and Bayley F were having non of it as they both took maximum points from their games with Bayley B and Hadley A respectively.

Former Bayley D captain Steve Lane was desolate when he heard his Wolves team had lost 4-1 to Leeds – but was cheered somewhat by the news that his team mates had taken four points from a difficult trip to the Billiard Hall.

Darren Rhoades set the scene with a 57-17 win over Gareth Hughes and the visitors doubled their lead when Dave Williams got the better of John Turnbull 56-42.

Kevin Whitehead ensured he maintained his record of having lost just once this term when he beat Craig Whitehead 64-47 to pull a frame back for the Billiard Hall - but it was to be his side’s only success as wins for Brian Aberdeen over Alan Francis and Dave Dudley who beat Iain Atkinson completed a good night’s work for the Bayley side – who now lie third – three points behind Bayley F.

The F team have only been playing for two seasons – and when they started took the name of a previous Bayley side which was captained by Andy Smart and which had folded some year’s previously.

The old Bayley F motto was “more by luck than judgement” – However having finished third in their inaugural season the new team’s judgement cannot be questioned and they will be hoping for better luck this time around as they hope to go at least one place better in order to gain promotion to division 2.

Their cause wasn’t harmed at all by last week’s 5-0 win away to bottom-of-the-table Hadley A which saw Tom Maxfield take the first frame with a 61-22 win over Dave Barnett Junior.

Andy Summers needed a 26 break to see off the challenge of Stuart Dicken as he took the next 56-48 and a run of 20 saw Eddie Whitehead make it three-in-a-row against Shane Dicken.

Paul Maxfield’s black ball finish against Dave Barnett Senior made it four and Chris Shaw completed the whitewash with a 54-34 final frame success against Rich Goldie to leave the Bayley side some three points behind leaders Maddocks D who also took all five points from their game with Bayley B.

Ken Davies led the way with a 62-38 win over Kelvin McLeod and the visitors soon found themselves two up when Mick Wincott got the better of Chris Haycox.

Roy Adams continued the trend – but only just – seeing off Dickie Beddall on the final black and another black ball game went the way of the Oakengates side when Brendan Wincott pipped Dickie Oliver 49-46.

And with Fred Spragg taking the final frame as well for Maddocks, 62-46 against young Danny Oliver, the Oakengates side look to have steadied the ship after losing two of their previous three games.

Anstice B’s 3-2 win over Little Dawley B sees them move up to fourth in the table – but they have a lot of work to do if they are to catch the title hopefuls as they still lie ten points off second spot.

Stew Wimbush has been in fine form recently and he continued his recent good run with a fine opening frame win over Simon Evans to give his Anstice side the lead.

Phil Cottey’s defeat of Steve Smallwood drew Little Dawley level though but the home side were soon back on top following Mick Cahill’s win over Tom Wotherspoon.

George Hammond increased their lead to 3-1 with a close 62-52 victory over Craig Darrock only for Rob Barlow to take the last frame for Little Dawley with a 53-29 success over Billy Watson.

Wellington Billiard Hall F seem to have found some form of late – but it is possibly too late to challenge for league honours this term. Nonetheless their 3-2 win over Minnesota Fats C has lifted them to fifth in the table.

The visitors went ahead through Toby Welsh’s 70-34 success over Rob Cook but the home side reeled off the next three frames in quick succession.

Pete Smith started the ball rolling with a 42-11 win over Tom Firmstone and further wins for Chris Bates and Steve Weatherall over Rob Lane and Dave Welsh respectively made it 3-1 to the Billiard Hall.

And the Wellington side would have extended that lead still further had it not been for Neil Robinson’s last gasp 59-50 victory against Richard Tranter.

Les Stirling was once again on hand to secure victory for Newport British Legion B as he claimed the deciding frame of their match with Shifnal D with an 85-42 success over home captain Barrie Easthope.

Les’s win capped a fine comeback from Newport who had earlier found themselves two frames down after Terry Askew had given Shifnal the lead with a 28 break against John Yapp.

Sanjay Chauhan had to take the last three colours to deny Manjit Gidda as Shifnal moved 3-0 in front but their luck turned in the next as Alan Davies began a Newport revival by sinking a re-spotted black to take the third frame against Arthur Aston.

Darren Edwards then produced a performance to be proud of against George Nelson to leave Les Stirling to steal the show for Newport.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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