Reigning League Champions Anstice A’s New Year’s resolutions no doubt include retaining their title with some style after they made light of a difficult away trip third-placed Minnesota Fats A when the Telford Snooker League (sponsored by Romeo and Juliets) resumed competition after the festive break.

Captain Ian Duffy led his side to their tenth win of the season by compiling a 44 break on the way to claiming the first frame against Jon Wright by 63 points to 30. And although Paul Devey did well for the home side with a fine performance against Neil Price, his 60-52 success was all his side could muster as Anstice reeled off the next three frames for an emphatic 4-1 win.

Keith Price made no mistake against Jamie Morris and further wins for Noel Stones against Keith Blackham and Nick Oakley, who beat Kev West, sealed a good win for the Madeley side who stay top – four points ahead of Maddocks A who lost out by the odd frame away to last season’s runners-up Broseley A.

Carl Walker’s opening frame win over Ian Eldridge was cancelled out when Darren Wincott rattled in a superb break of 58 against Richie Hulme.

Phil Davis’ 72-31 success over Paul Humphries put Maddocks in the driving seat but they soon lost their way as Broseley took the last two frames to seal a 3-2 victory.

Mick Brezwyn forced the decider with a 73-34 win over Leigh France before Simon McLeod took the last with a close 66-40 defeat of visiting captain Dave France.

Despite that defeat, Maddocks still look a good bet for at least runner-up spot as they extended their lead over rivals Minnesota Fats A to five points and Coddon A dropped two points on their travels to play Wellington Billiard Hall A.

Alex Turnbull gave the Wellington side the lead with a crucial black ball win over Lee Szklarzewicz before another close frame this time went Coddon’s way as Ian Ferriday got the better of John Rawlins 52-43.

Two former county champions then came face to face as Coddon’s Zenon Lembicz rolled back the years with a 63-38 win over Graham Darrall to give the visitors the lead only for Alan Turner to level matters for the Billiard Hall with a fine 66-20 win over Coddon captain Dave Lloyd.

However with the home side unable to field a last man the Coddon left for home with a 3-2 win under their belts as they strive to catch both Maddocks A and Minnesota Fats A in the race for second spot.

Shifnal A will not have given up hope of chasing that runners-up spot themselves after taking three points from a keenly contested derby game with their E side.

Angus Way was their hero with a stirring comeback against an unlucky Arron Sparkes who played superbly to open up a 48-point lead. However Angus needed just two half-chances to claw his way back into the frame and cleared the last five colours to give the A side a hard-earned lead.

John Fallows showed no signs of rustiness following the Christmas break as he took the next frame for the A string against Jeff Sparkes with a 43 break before Rob Edmunds replied in similar fashion for the E side, knocking in a delightful 44 break to pull a frame back against Linsay Knox.

Andy Easthope’s fine recovery against Chris Petford saw yet another frame decided on the black with the A team captain coming out the victor by 63 points to 52 only for Dave Peplow to rescue another point for Shifnal E with a fine 76-25 win over Simon Biddulph.

Both Anstice D and Little Dawley A moved five points clear of the relegation zone although they had differing fortunes last week with Little Dawley winning 3-2 at home to Bayley E whilst Anstice D lost out by the same score at home to bottom-of-the-table Shifnal B.

Richie Heighwway gave Little Dawley the early advantage over Bayley E when he took the first frame 61-30 from Karl Owen.

Andy O’Brien hit back for the visitors posting a 60-39 success against Jesse Lowe and the Bayley then took the lead through Steve Hoof’s narrow 43-30 win over Lee Elcock.

However a 34 break from Ade Henry turned the match Little Dawley’s way and his 56-32 win over Ali Jones was followed by Darren Pountney’s solid display against visiting captain David France.

Anstice D will be pleased to have opened up a five-point gap between themselves and second-from-bottom Wellington Billiard Hall A – although they may have hoped for more than two points after John Jones took the opening frame against Nigel Stallard.

However, as it was the Madeley side were to take just one more frame as their opponents put up a determined fight as they strive to retain their first division status.

John Powell’s 60-52 win over Andy Elliot levelled matters for Shifnal and although Nigel Wallcroft claimed the next on the black against A Ali, wins from Ray Evans and M Shadab secured the visitor’s third win of the season.

SECOND DIVISION

Coddon B maintained their promotion challenge from Division 2 when they took four out of five points against Anstice C.

Andy Jones led the way with a 48-25 win over Kevin Smith before a hard fought – and quite lengthy – second frame went the way of Mark Wall who celebrated his birthday with a 70-45 success over Steve Camp to put Coddon two up.

Mike Musgrave’s 26 break wasn’t enough to stop the rot as Simon Yeats took the third frame for Coddon as well with a break of 29 and the trend continued into Frame Four with Steve Downs defeating Colin Westwood 62-31.

Only Dave Harper’s 48-37 final frame win over Phil Szklarzewicz prevented Coddon returning home with a perfect score – nonetheless they are well placed to challenge for promotion – sitting two points behind Dawley A who have a game in hand and three points adrift of Bayley A.

It was nice to see former A team captain Ian Howley making an all too rare appearance at the Bayley, and Ian will have been pleased to see his former side begin 2004 with their ninth win of the season at home to Little Dawley C.

Chris Morgan-Adams gave the home side the lead – a lead which they doubled when Steve Fletcher defeated John Bowen on the black after his opponent had potted a brilliant brown and an even more spectacular pink along the side rail.

Steve Nicholls made it 3-0 before the visitors hit back to claim the last two frames.

First Steve Farrington got the better of Arthur Burrows before a fine comeback from Rob Withington saw him recover from 28 points down to sneak home on the final black against Spencer Rowley.

Maddocks B and Maddocks C are still locked together on the same points after both recorded 3-2 wins in last week’s fixtures.

The B side’s away win over Coddon C was perhaps the more impressive coming, as it did, away from home against another team hoping to feature in the promotion shake up.

Just as the Bayley did though they let a 3-0 lead slip to only a 3-2 win after Wally Harper, Les Hicks and Doug Morrey had given them a commanding lead.

Doug’s 51-32 win over John Whitehouse ensured Maddocks B of their ninth win of the campaign and leaves them ahead of their fellow clubmates Maddocks C who have won two fewer matches.

However any hopes Maddocks had of moving into the promotion frame were soon dashed as Ray Whitehead beat Steve Pritchard and Alan Hedgecock denied John Archer 55-41 to save two vital points for the Donnington side.

Maddocks C’s seventh win of the season was at the expense of lowly Wellington Billiard Hall C who put up a brave fight which belied their position at the foot of the table.

They fell behind though when Graham Hoof ‘s 26 break helped him to a 62-25 win over Chris Woods.

Wayne Weeks soon levelled for the visitors with an excellent 59-24 win over Nev Whitehead and they took the lead when Aaron O’Donnell defeated Joe Oliver 59-29.

However Maddocks had the final say as Colin Smith and Bill Rushton made the final score 3-2 to the home side.

Little Dawley G enjoyed a similar scoreline when they entertained Minnesota Fats B.

Mick Egan’s black ball win over Roy Leneveu gave the visitors the lead but T Hill and Graham Copson turned the match Little Dawley’s way with respective victories over Rob Palin (who was no doubt still celebrating Telford United’s victory over Crewe in the FA Cup) and Mick Pearson.

Dave Leneveu’s 55-34 success over Kirk Stephenson made it 3-1 to the home side before Neil Pearson rescued another point for Minnesota with a 69-45 win over Roy Vickery.

DIVISION 3

Match of the Day in Division 3 saw leaders Maddocks D pitted against promotion hopefuls Bayley D who were once again without their influential former captain Steve Lane.

Steve’s lucky red socks were sorely missed as his team fell to a 4-1 defeat after taking an early lead through Darren Rhoades’ black ball win over Martin Wincott.

Mick Lucas replied for Maddocks with another black ball finish against Dave Williams and the home side went ahead when Ken Davies took the next from Brian Aberdeen on the pink.

Fred Spragg’s 69-31 defeat of Craig Whitehead made it 3-1 to Maddocks and they emphasised their title credentials when Brendan Wincott took the last frame against Dave Dudley to extend their lead at the top of the table to four points.

Bayley F now occupy the runners-up spot – three points ahead of fellow Bayley sides D and B – after taking three points from their home encounter with Bayley B.

Eddie Whitehead set the tone with a superb 37 break in his opening frame win over Kelvin McLeod. Young Tom Maxfield then potted in “hurricane” style to make it 2-0 to the F team by beating Chris Haycox and their good run continued when Chris Shaw took the next frame as well against Alan Wheatley.

However the B team have high hopes of promotion themselves and kept in touch with the other two Bayley sides by crucially securing both of the last two frames.

Dick Oliver’s super win over F team captain Paul Maxfield ensured the B string of at least one point and they duly doubled their tally when son Danny completed a brilliant comeback to deny Andy Summers on the black having been over 40 points behind at one stage.

Minnesota Fats C move up to fifth place on the back of an excellent 4-1 win at home to Little Dawley B.

Mike Thompson and Tom Firmstone got the better of Simon Evans and Phil Cottey respectively before the visitors replied through Tom Wotherspoon’s close 43-41 win over Bob Lane.

A 29 break saw Dave Welsh safely home against Craig Darrock to make it 3-1 to Minnesota which left Neil Robinson to make it 4-1 with a 70-40 success over Rob Barlow.

Newport British Legion B are enjoying their best season for several years – and they too won 4-1 when they entertained Hadley A.

Alan Davies and Alan Munn lead the way and Keith Gardner made it 3-0 by defeating S Dicken Senior 58-34.

Breaks of 21 and 28 ensured that the fourth frame also went Newport’s way in quick-fire fashion as Les Stirling emphasised Newport’s dominance with a fine win over Richard Goldie but fortunately for Hadley Dave Barnett Senior was able to stem the tide with a 51-31final frame win over Mike Doverskog.

Four frames to one seems to have been a popular score in this division this week and so it proved as Wellington Billiard Hall B triumphed over their F side.

Pete Smith gave the F team the lead with a fine 49-28 success over Gareth Hughes but sadly for the “home” side it was to be their only success as Dan Francis drew the B team level with a 48-33 win over Martin Chauhan before his team-mates followed suit to complete a comfortable win.

Kev Whitehead’s 20 break proved to be the difference as he took the next frame 47-27 against Steve Weatherall and further wins for Alan Francis, on the black against Chris Fletcher, and Iain Atkinson who beat Richie Tranter saw the ‘Hall’s B team complete their fifth win of the season in style.

Stew Wimbush’s final frame win for Anstice B prevented another 4-1 scoreline as his Madeley side fell to a 3-2 reverse away to Shifnal D.

Shifnal took the lead through Terry Askew’s 46-38 win over Danny Weaver and they soon found themselves two up thanks to veteran Arthur Aston’s 70-24 success over John Darrock.

Mick Cahill retrieved one frame for the visitors with a 64-37 defeat of Geoff French only for Barrie Easthope to make it 3-1 to Shifnal with a black ball win over George Hammond.

That left Stew Wimbush to rescue another point for Anstice with a 62-37 final frame victory over George Nelson.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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