Winning snooker matches is, it seems, a bit like waiting for a bus. At least that’s how it must look to League newcomers Hadley A as after waiting six weeks for their first ever league win along came another as the Telford Snooker League (sponsored by Romeo & Juliets) third division side defeated Wellington Billiard Hall B by the odd frame.

Things didn’t look good early on for the home side though as Kevin Whitehead opened the Billiard Hall’s account with a fine win over Dave Barnett Junior.

No doubt buoyed by their first ever win the previous week, Hadley then turned the game on its head as first Alan Barnett and then S Dicken won close frames against Kevan Murr and Danny Francis to put Hadley in reach of only their second ever victory.

And they didn’t have to wait long as Rich Goldie’s 56-22 defeat of Allen Francis saw them safely over the winning line and although Iain Atkinson took the final frame for the visitors on the black to deny Dave Barnett Senior nothing was going to dampen Hadley’s spirits as they tasted success for a second successive week.

That result leaves Hadley just one point behind Shifnal D at the foot of the third division table after the Memorial club side fell to a 3-2 reverse away to table-topping Maddocks D.

Maddocks maintained their unbeaten start to the season as they recorded an eighth successive victory thanks to Brendan Wincott’s deciding frame win over Barrie Easthope.

Despite taking the opening frame through Martin Wincott’s 56-43 defeat of Terry Askew the home side were unable to dominate the match and soon found themselves trailing after Sanjay Chauhan got the better of Ken Davies 53-21 and Geoff French took the next from M Lucas on the black.

However a heroic performance from Fred Spragg levelled the match at two frames apiece – Fred’s fine win over veteran Arthur Aston set up the decider for Brendan Wincott to take the match for Maddocks.

Maddocks’ win sees them increase their lead at the top to three points ahead of Bayley sides B and F.

The F team lost ground slightly when they were beaten 3-2 at home by Anstice B whilst Bayley B did their promotion hopes no harm at all by taking all five points away to Little Dawley B.

Chris Haycox set the ball rolling with a 40-22 success over T Wotherspoon as Bayley B went ahead at Little Dawley.

Danny Oliver and Alan Wheatley followed suit and the visitors continued to dominate proceedings when Dickie Beddall staved off a brave challenge from Craig Darrock to make it 4-0.

And with Dick Oliver claiming the final frame 61-38 against Rob Barlow the visitors left with all five points safely in the bag – and their promotion hopes well and truly revived.

Bayley F will have been disappointed to have let a two frame lead slip as they lost ground on the leaders with a 3-2 reverse at the hands of Anstice B.

Eddie Whitehead gave the home side the lead, beating Danny Weaver 65-28 and they doubled their advantage when Paul Maxfield weathered an early 23 break from Mick Cahill to pot his way to a 60-32 victory.

Things looked as though they might continue to go the home side’s way in the next as young Tom Maxfield knocked in an early run of 22 only to be outgunned by John Darrock who eventually took a close frame 59-47 to start an Anstice revival.

Steve Smallwood’s 61-33 win over Chris Small levelled the frame score at two each leaving former League Secretary George Hammond to take the applause from his team mates with a fine 66-24 deciding frame win over Ian Johnson.

The Bayley club now have three sides in the top four in this division after Bayley D joined in the hunt for promotion by taking all five frames on offer at home to Wellington Billiard Hall F.

Craig Whitehead led the way with a high-scoring 81-50 opening frame success over Pete Smith.

Darren Rhoades then went into overdrive as he saw off the challenge of Chris Bates in quick-fire fashion and although Rob Cook put up a brave fight against Dave Williams in the next there was nothing he could do to prevent Dave taking the frame by 26 points as the Bayley secured their fifth win of the season.

With former captain Steve Lane unavailable due to work commitments the visitors faced the daunting prospect of facing Brian Aberdeen and Dave Dudley in the last two frames and ultimately Richard Tranter and Chris Fletcher were unable to stop the Bayley rollercoaster as Brian got the better of Richard by 49 points to 20 before Dave was in sparkling form to record a total of 95 points in the final frame.

Newport British Legion notched their third win of the season when they returned from their trip to Minnesota Fats C with a 3-2 win under their belts.

Nigel Simpson won a close first frame 44-31 against Toby Welsh as Newport took an early lead but wins from Tom Firmstone over Darren Edwards and Mike Thompson, who beat Manjit Gidda, saw Fats take a 2-1 lead.

Mike Doverskog squared things up again with a black ball finish against Dave Welsh and the visitors completed a fine win thanks to a sterling display from their final player.

Les Stirling cashed in on his opponent Neil Robinson’s mistakes to take the frame by 64 points to 37 for a 3-2 win to Newport.

DIVISION 1

Wellington Billiard Hall A’s fortunes will need to improve somewhat if they are to retain their first division status for another season.

The Wellington club were title contenders for may years but now find themselves at the opposite end of the table following a 4-1 reverse at home to Minnesota Fats A.

Keith Blackham’s 45-24 win over Luigi Dambrosio was followed by Steve Collins’ victory over Az Khan as the visitors opened up an early two-frame cushion.

John Morris’ close 59-45 defeat of John Rawlins didn’t help the Billiard Hall’s cause and although they rallied through Andy Kendrick’s 69-29 defeat of Kev West they were unable to make further progress as Paul Devey claimed the final frame with a 67-36 win over Alan Turner.

Coddon A faced a tough challenge as they entertained last seasons runners-up Broseley but they took the lead when Paul Harper got the better of Richie Hulme 67-38 in a high quality opening frame.

Paul, a former County Champion was one of three players in the opening frames to have featured in the country final with Richie himself having been a former finalist.

Another former champion Zenon Lembicz put Coddon two up, accounting for Graham Long but Broseley hit back through Mick Brezwyn’s 45-35 win over Ian Ferriday.

Dave Lloyd restored Coddon’s two frame lead with a good win over Carl Walker but the visitors had the final say when Simon McLeod defeated Terry Brenthall to leave the final score 3-2 to Coddon.

Anstice D also secured a 3-2 home win when they entertained Shifnal E.

Arron Sparkes gave Shifnal the lead only for Andy Elliot to reply for the Anstice with a 63-25 win over Rob Edmunds.

The visitors were clearly missing their inspirational director of snooker, Rob Wright, who was away on holiday and they fell behind when Phil Reynolds beat Jeff Sparkes.

Dave Peplow restored parity once more with a black ball win over John Jones but it wasn’t to be Shifnal’s night as Nigel Wallcroft took the deciding frame against Chris Petford to leave the home side victorious by three frames to two.

Bayley E enjoyed a similar result from their away trip to Shifnal B even though they fell behind when Ray Evans took the first frame on the black against Andy O’Brien.

Steve Hoof levelled matters only for John Powell to give Shifnal a 2-1 lead by bating David France 64-43.

However any hopes the Shifnal boys had of pulling off a surprise victory were soon dashed as Ali Jones and John Squire got the better of Nigel Stallard and M Shadab to give Bayley E a well-earned three points.

DIVISION 2

Wellington Billiard Hall C rocked promotion chasing Coddon C by taking all five points to record their first win of the season in dramatic style.

Nick Turner’s 57-38 defeat of Alan Hedgecock was followed by captain Wayne Weeks who won a nail-biting encounter with Fraser MacKinnon.

The Coddon man knocked in a 22 break only for Wayne to reply with a run of 39 as he took a close frame 76-67 to put his side two frames up.

Another tense finish went the home side’s way as James Price beat Sef Tusel 70-67 on the final black.

Graham Corten’s 51-37 defeat of Matt Bothwell made it 4-0 and a 22 break by Aaron O’Donnell put the icing on the cake for the Billiard Hall as they notched their first win of the season in emphatic style.

Despite that super result, the Wellington side still find themselves a point adrift at the bottom of the second division table after their closest contenders for the drop, Anstice C, gained two points from their home tie with Dawley B.

Dawley took an early lead through Steve Hewitt’s 68-39 win over Dave Harper but Steve Camp and Mike Musgrave, the latter on the black against Don Pugh turned things round in favour of the home side.

However the visitors had the last laugh with Kev Jones getting the better of Jason Mills and Barry Roden claiming the decider with a 59-24 success over Colin Westwood.

At the other end of the table, Maddocks B continue to lead the way in the promotion race to the top flight following a 3-2 away win at Dawley A.

Dawley are themselves hoping for a quick return to Division 1 having been relegated last term, but they soon found themselves trailing after Doug Morrey took the opening frame for Maddocks on the black against Sean Nolan.

Another close finish this time went the home side’s way as Chris Woods edged out Les Hicks 60-52 and Dawley then took the lead courtesy of Mark Jones’ 64-25 win over John Archer.

However the visitors never gave up and were rewarded when Wally Harper and Steve Pritchard claimed the final two frames to secure their seventh win in eight outings.

Bayley A are hot on their heals though after claiming their sixth win with a 3-2 success at home to Minnesota Fats B.

Telford United fan Rob Palin suggested that Shrewsbury Town’s manager Jimmy Quinn was in better form than him – and although Mr Quinn’s prowess at snooker is unknown, few could disagree with Rob after he fell to a 60-29 opening frame defeat.

In fairness to Rob his opponent Arthur Burrows played well as indeed did Mick Pearson who levelled things up with a good solid display against Steve Nicholls – the Minnesota man taking the frame on the brown.

Spencer Rowley restored the Bayley’s lead with a good win over Kirk Stephenson and although Steve Fletcher put the home side 3-1 up a good quality final frame went the visitor’s way as Neil Pearson defeated Chris Morgan-dams on the pink.

As a result the Bayley side lie just a point behind Maddocks B in second place in the table – a point ahead of both Dawley A and Maddocks C, who suffered a rare defeat at home to Little Dawley G.

Home skipper Graham Hoof put the Foundrymen one up by beating Graham Copson 56-35.

Darren Leneveu made it one all by overcoming Dave Thomas 51-19 only to see Joe Oliver once again in fine form as Maddocks regained the lead.

Back came Little Dawley again through Roy Leneveu - his 72-36 win over Colin Smith gave R Vickers the encouragement he needed to beat Bill Rushton 79-27 to make it a good win for the Little Dawley men.

Little Dawley C fared somewhat less well when they travelled to Coddon B and were beaten 4-1.

Andy Jones and Simon Yeats were in sparkling form for the home side early one and they went three frames up when Steve downs accounted for visiting captain Steve Farrington by 53 points to 38.

Colin Gittus did manage to salvage a point for Little Dawley with a fine win over Mick Pearce but Phil Szklarzewicz’s 65-28 final frame win over John Bowen put the seal on a superb Coddon display.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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