It may still be early days in the Telford Snooker League (sponsored by Romeo and Juliets) but after four weeks the various divisional tables are now starting to take shape with Maddocks and Coddon the dominant teams in all three divisions.

Coddon A top the first division table despite losing their unbeaten record at home to Shifnal A last week whilst the Donnington club’s C team take over at the top of the second division at the expense of Maddocks C who also lost for the first time last Wednesday.

There’s better news for Maddocks in the third division though as Maddocks D continued their impressive start to the season with a 4-1 win over Anstice B which sees them as clear leaders ahead of the Bayley’s B and F teams.

Ken Davies has been a stalwart for the Maddocks club for many a year and he continued to lead by example last week when he took the opening frame 73-42 against Danny Weaver to maintain his own unbeaten start to the campaign.

Roy Adams followed suit with a good win over Fiona Adams before a tight third frame also went the way of the home side as Mark Lucas narrowly edged out John Darrock on the final black.

Maddocks’ Fred Spragg, newly recruited from the Bayley, ensured that his new side remained ahead of his former club by seeing off the challenge of Chris Ward to make it 4-0 before visiting captain Stew Wimbush restored some pride for the Anstice with a fine win over Brendan Wincott.

As a result Maddocks extend their lead at the top to three points as second placed Bayley B dropped two points from their visit to Newport British Legion B.

And the Wellington side had to come from behind to record their third win of the season after Alan Davies gave Newport the early advantage with a 37-19 success against Alan Wheatley.

Unfortunately for the Bayley club, their C team folded in the summer but their loss was the B team’s gain as former C sider Chris Haycox made an impressive debut for the B string to level matters with a 53-30 defeat of John Yapp.

But the visitors weren’t having things all their own way and Manjit Gidda restored Newport’s lead before Danny Oliver and Dickie Beddall retrieved the situation by snatching the final two frames from Nigel Simpson and Les Stirling respectively to leave their side three points behind the leaders.

Having narrowly missed out on promotion last term, Bayley F have once again started the season brightly and find themselves four points adrift of Maddocks D following a superb 5-0 win over Little Dawley B.

Eddie Whitehead made no mistake as he took the opening frame from Garry Clements before young Tom Maxfield held his nerve to out-point Rob Barlow 47-35 to make it 2-0.

Chris Shaw followed up with a good win over Mike Rhoades and the visitors knew it wasn’t to be their night when home captain Paul Maxfield made certain of the next frame with two extraordinary slices of good fortune against Tommy Wotherspoon.

With the Little Dawley man requiring a snooker on the brown, Paul found himself having to negotiate a snooker off one cushion. To his delight he not only hit the brown but saw it roll the full length of the table into the corner pocket and he then repeated the feat by doubling the blue the full length of the table to take the frame 52-17 for a four-nil lead.

And with Andy Summers making sure of the final frame too the Wellington side move up to third spot and are well placed to challenge once more for promotion to Division 2.

Bayley D are another side with high hopes of moving up a division and they did their prospects no harm at all with a 3-2 win over league newcomers Hadley A.

Dave Dudley set the ball rolling with a 52-27 success over Rich Goldie only for Steve Dicken to level for the visitors with a fine win over home captain Darren Rhoades.

Dave Williams put the home side ahead once more before Dave Barnett (Junior) lost out to Bayley’s Brian Aberdeen as the home side went 3-1 up.

Former Bayley captain Steve Lane will be ruing his decision not to wear his lucky red socks as Dave Barnett (Senior) claimed the last frame of the evening on the final black to leave Hadley with two very valuable points.

Rob Cook also claimed the final frame for Wellington Billiard Hall F on the black as they travelled to Shifnal D and came away 3-2 winners.

Terry Askew gave the home side the lead with a comfortable 74-38 win over Pete Smith before a 25 break from Sanjay Chauhan doubled the home side’s lead as the Shifnal man got the better of Martin Chapman 68-29.

But the Wellington side are nothing if not fighters and they never gave up hope and were rewarded by taking all three of the remaining frames for only their second win of the campaign.

Captain Steve Weatherall began the fight back with a 68-24 win over Geoff French and Richard Tranter’s 67-33 defeat of Arthur Aston levelled the scores leaving Rob Cook to steal the show with a final frame victory over Ivor Peplow.

DIVISION 1

Shifnal A are one of only two teams in Division 1 who remain undefeated after recording their fourth successive 3-2 win with a stunning display against table-topping Coddon A.

The Donnington side were themselves protecting an unbeaten start to the season as Paul Harper took the opening frame with a 32 break against John Fallows.

But the visitors soon levelled matters as Angus Way, who has started this season impressively, wrapped up the second frame with a 65-32 success over Ian Ferriday.

Performance of the night must surely have been in the next frame though as Roy Martin produced a super display of controlled snooker to put Shifnal in front for the first time.

Needing just one of the two remaining balls, Roy calmly slotted home the pink into a corner pocket to complete a fine 42-34 win over former county champion Zenon Lembicz and the visitors came close to snatching the fourth frame too.

Fortunately for the Coddon Dave Lloyd found his form just in time to pip Andy Easthope by 64 points to 55 to set up a deciding frame between Darren Weston and Linsay Knox.

The frame and match looked to be going the home side’s way early on as Darren opened up an early lead but Shifnal are perhaps the most consistent side in the league and Linsay was in no mood to see them slip to a first defeat of the season.

He duly powered his way back into contention before clinching frame and match on the final pink for a 57-40 victory which leaves his side in fifth spot some four points behind Coddon.

Reigning Champions Anstice A had a shock when they travelled to play a Wellington Billiard Hall A side who narrowly missed the drop last season.

Any thoughts the visitors may have had of coming away with a useful win were soon dispelled as the Billiard Hall produced a super display, rolling back the years to the time when they themselves reigned supreme, to take the match by three frames to two.

Mick Hughes set the scene early on with a superb opening frame success over Neil Price.

Mick’s black ball win was the catalyst to a super display all round by the Billiard Hall and although Graham Darrall narrowly failed to double their lead when Ian Duffy levelled the match by taking another close frame 54-42, the Wellington side soon found themselves back in front.

Andy Kendrick held his nerve to sink the final black against Keith Price as yet another frame went the full distance but there was still some work to do if the Billiard Hall were to claim their first win of the new season.

But claim it they did – and in some style – as new-boy John Rawlins made no mistake with a cool 61-44 defeat of Noel Stones to put the home side into an unassailable 3-1 lead.

Not even Nick Oakley’s final frame victory over Alan Turner could dampen the home side’s celebrations as they move up to half-way in the table with a total of seven points from their four games so far.

With the top two teams slipping up third-placed Maddocks A were handed an opportunity to make up some ground and they duly took it with both hands – taking all five frames from their away trip to Anstice D.

Ian Eldridge lead the way with an opening frame victory over Andy Elliott before a high-scoring second frame went Maddocks’ way too, courtesy of Darren Wincott’s 76-52 win over Phil Reynolds.

Phil Davies then made it 3-0 before Ade Barraclough and Dave France got the better of John Jones and Nigel Wallcroft respectively to leave Maddocks with all five points – boosting their overall total to 14 from four games, just two points behind the leaders.

Bayley E slip one place to fourth after coming from behind to beat newly–promoted Shifnal E 3-2.

Aaron Sparkes gave the home side the lead with an excellent win over Martin Watkins only for Steve Hoof to level for the visitors with a 61-34 win over Chris Petford.

Jeff Sparkes restored Shifnal’s lead with a good win over Andy O’Brien but the Bayley, who edged out their opponents to lift the second division title last season, hit back to take the last two frames through Carl Owen and Ali Jones.

The evening was slowly proving to be a banana skin for one or two fancied teams – and another top team to slip up were last season’s runners-up Broseley who fell to a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Minnesota Fats A.

Jon Wright’s 58-44 win over Carl Walker gave the home side the lead and the visitor’s troubles were soon doubled when Steve Collins recorded a 56-36 success over Graham Long.

Richie Hulme’s 64-36 defeat of Jamie Morris pulled his side back into contention and they drew level when Mick Brezwyn got the better of Paul Devey.

However the visitors were unable to field a fifth player leaving the home side to take the match by the odd frame with Broseley dropping down to mid-table.

DIVISION 2

It’s tight at the top of the second division table with just three points separating the top eight teams.

However Coddon C will be the team most pleased with their start to the new campaign leading the table as they do with 13 points from their first four matches.

They recorded their fourth win on the trot when they returned from a difficult trip to Little Dawley G with a well-earned 3-2 victory.

Barry Naylor’s 59-46 success over Roy Leneveu set the Donnington side on their way and they were soon 2-0 up following Alan Hedgecock’s superb win over Graham Copson which included a 33 break.

However just as things seemed to be going the visitor’s way up popped Roy Vickery to stem the tide with a fine win over Matt Bothwell.

Fraser Mackinnon restored Coddon’s two-frame advantage with a 23 break against Dave Leneveu only for Chris Leneveu to salvage another point for Little Dawley with a 56-30 win over Sef Tusel.

Maddocks C drop one place to second after their run of wins came to a halt as they were beaten 3-2 by visitors Minnesota Fats B.

The visitors opened up with Kirk Stevenson pinching a black ball win from skipper Graham Hoof 59-47 and then doubled their advantage when Mick Egan took yet another black ball game at the expense of Jim Hill.

Joe Oliver hit back for the Ironmen but came close to losing his hundred percent record when he needed a snooker on the last pink to win.

Sadly for Neil Pearson he obliged by going in off and gave Joe the fillip to finish off the frame 60-56 to give the home side a foothold.

'Gritter' Bill Rushton then put in a fine potting performance in his super win over Nick Healey to level the points at 2-2 before Mick Pearson avenged his brother's defeat by sinking the final pink against Colin Smith to earn the Cannongate men three worthy points.

Despite their defeat Maddocks C still have thirteen points from their opening fixtures and are only second by virtue of having lost one more match than Coddon C who are still undefeated.

Maddocks B lie third following a 4-1 win away to Anstice C who actually took the lead through Frank Williams superb opening frame performance against Wally Harper.

However, the home side were unable to follow Frank’s lead as Doug Morrey levelled things up against Michael Musgrave and Les Hicks got the better of Kevin Smith.

Steve Pritchard’s 72-52 success over Jason Mills continued the trend and John Archer’s final frame victory over Dave Harper wrapped things up for Maddocks who are just one point behind the leaders – as are Coddon B after they fell to a 3-2 reverse away to Bayley A.

The home side have made an indifferent start to the season and they fell behind when Andy Jones gave Coddon the lead with a 21 break against Bob Mason.

A 32 break from Steve Fletcher helped him to level matters against Simon Yeats but the visitors went back in front through Steve Down’s fine win over Steve Nicholls.

However the home side replied with new signing Spencer Rowley coming from behind to deny Tony Garmston and the Bayley completed only their second win of the season courtesy of Chris Morgan-Adams final frame win over Phil Szklarzewicz.

Dawley B celebrated their first win of the campaign when they came from behind to beat Little Dawley C by the odd frame.

Mike King took the opening frame for the visitors when he slotted home the final black against Don Pugh but Dawley replied with Kev Jones and Barry Roden getting the better of Graham Wiley and Steve Farrington respectively.

John Bowen’s 64-33 win over Gareth Jones restored parity once more only for Steve Hewitt to snatch a dramatic victory for Dawley with a nerve-wracking black ball finish to deny Collin Gittus 69-66.

Dawley A were also in winning mood as they came away from Wellington Billiard Hall C with a hard-earned 3-2 win.

And they did it the hard way after Aaron O’Donnell put the home side in front with a fine display to deny Nigel Brenthall in a close finish 43-35.

Andrew Edward’s 52-29 win over Dave Hampton made it 2-0 before Mark Jones began Dawley’s revival with a 65-20 success over Mick Turner.

Bill Jones then took the next for Dawley on the black against Craig Davies leaving Rick Bailey to claim the decider for the visitors with a good win over home captain Wayne Weeks.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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