The Telford Snooker League took a break from their usual league fixtures as the quarter finals of the Team Knockout and Consolation Cup took place.

Shifnal D v Coddon B
With the Coddon team having to pull back 80 on the handicap, Coddon’s Mark Wall got things going in the right direction with a narrow 11 point win over T Askew with both players potting well. Shifnal’s Sanjay Chauhan then produced a good potting display to pull the 11 points back against A Jones. A Garmson then turned the match back in Coddon’s favour with good long pots to achieve a superb win over P Wharton by 69 points to 45, then Coddon’s Steve Downs put in a high class performance to turn the match in Coddon’s favour against G French to put the Coddon side ahead on the handicap for the first time of the night. This left the Shifnal captain Barrie Easthope with the unenviable task of having to win his frame by more than 20 points, and in a match in which he rolled back the years against an unlucky N Pearce, with some great potting and safety, and even the odd double, he secured his frame and the match winning by 72 points to 26, to put the Shifnal D side through to the semi final stages.

Shifnal B v Little Dawley B
Shifnal B entertained Little Dawley B from division 3, having to concede 170 points on the handicap. In the first frame Matt Davies started brightly for Shifnal, with a mixture of good potting and brilliant safety play, to defeat a luckless Colin Gittus by some 87 points. In the next, Phil Cottey went in off from the break, but that was the only bad shot he played in the frame, he potted well in the early exchanges to open up a 30 point lead and his safety was also top notch, Chris needed to put in a gritty display, to stop Phil winning by a greater margin. Phil eventually took the frame 64 to 46, leaving Shifnal 101 points behind. Nigel Stallard then put in a resolute display in for Shifnal against Tom Wotherspoon (congratulations to Tom on reaching this season’s final of the John Bethel) with good safety play, giving him the opportunity to produce a winning margin of 94 points, swinging the match back into the home sides favour. Rob Wright then took on the Little Dawley sides captain Simon Evans; Simon played very well and potted some great long pots, Rob was always behind going into the colours, but rallied back to see the match draw at 66 points each, which still left the home side 7 points behind going into the last. Shifnal’s Dave Peplow was the man to see the home side through, in a match that both players started nervously. Dave settled his nerves the quicker, and good safety play created the chances he needed to take the frame and the match 64 to 34 to put the home side through to the semi-finals.

Anstice A v Anstice D
The last match saw a derby match at the Anstice between the A and D sides, with the D team receiving 30 points on the handicap. Things went the way of the A team with Shaun Harris taking the first with a winning margin of 54 points against Paul Devey, putting the A side ahead, the next 2 frames also went the way of the A team with wins by Richy “Boss-man” Wade, who hasn’t played league snooker for a couple of months now so good to see his return, defeating Steve Collins and Simon Yeats over Darren Wilkie. It put the A team into a very strong position which Nigel Wallcroft tried in vain to overcome for the D team, against a determined Keith Price. It was Keith who took the closest of frames by 63 to 56, leaving Anstice A captain Ian Duffy going into the last some 40 points ahead, and despite a valiant effort from Steve Osborne, Ian saw out the frame with a winning margin of 18, to put his side through to this season’s semi finals.

No card received between the other quarter final match:
Anstice B v Maddocks B

In the consolation cup it was a Newport B from Division Three that make the headlines with a tremendous result against their Division One opponents, Maddocks C, almost beating them without any handicap on the night.

Even though the home side struggled to field a team, the handicap was just too much for Maddocks to claim a spot in the semi-finals. First frame saw Dave Thomas claw back only 7 points of the handicap, Jim Hill then managed to add 26 more to this total but then John Yapp caused the shock of the night, beating his Division One opponent, Graham Hoof, by 28 points, undoing all Maddocks good work to date. Joe Oliver won by 11, but then Bill Rushton went down to Les Stirling by 17 points proving to be a fantastic result for Newport B. In the end the final score was Maddocks 221 and Newport 212, and with the handicap of 130 added, made Newport comfortable winners.

Little Dawley G v Minn Fats A
With the home team having to concede 20 points on the handicap, that didn’t last long with Neil Morris pulling out a great performance in the first to put the Little Dawley team in front, with an 88 points to 12 victory against Harry Jones. Mick Pearson then reduced the deficit back in his sides favour, beating Rob Withington 55 to 47, and with further wins for Graham Copson 70 to 27 over Mick Egan and Graham Wiley’s win 45 to 34 over Graham Corten, it left Minnesota Fats player Neil Pearson with over 100 points to pull back in the last. Little Dawley’s last player Roy Lenevue never gave Neil an opportunity, putting the Little Dawley team through into the semi-finals.

Hadley A v 2nd Club B
Two old foes were brought together this season, both with new clubs this year with Hadley A (previously from WBH) playing 2nd Club B (previously from Pot Black and Minnesota Fats). Hadley had a 45-point start so everyone knew it would be tight at the finish. The first match saw Kevin Whitehead and Tom Firmstone play their 3rd game of the season against each other. Both previous games finished on the black and Kevin had claimed both of them to date. This game was no different and some high quality snooker from both players saw the game go yet again right down to the wire. Kevin cleared yellow to pink but left himself a difficult shot on the black, which Tom potted after a short bout of safety. The game finished 56-53 which although only gaining 3 points back for 2nd Club was important as any loss would have made the deficit start to seem much bigger. Paul Crooks didn't play to his best but some strong potting around the last couple of reds and the colours saw him beat R Francis 69-39 and claw another 30 vital points back. Bob Lane is starting to find some form again and a close game finally ended with a 54-37 win for Bob. That win actually put 2nd Club 5 points up and probably relaxed Toby Welsh a little too much, as 'Tugboat' Benson beat him 51-35 in the 4th frame thanks to some excellent potting on the final few colours. That set up a tense finale between Hadley's Ian Atkinson and 2nd Club captain Neil Robinson and yet again it was the 3rd time these 2 had met this season with Neil taking the spoils on both previous occasions. Hadley had an 11-point lead going into the game and things were pretty even until Neil took control midway through the frame. A controlled break and some good safety saw the gap stretch quite quickly to over 40 points and with just the colours left that was enough to seal a hard fought victory for 2nd Club. This is undoubtedly 2nd Club’s best season for some time, and is in no small part due to the fact that they've found a club that they're settled in, and has given them a base to play relaxed snooker and enjoy Wednesday nights again.

No card received between the other quarter final match:
Little Dawley D v Maddocks A

Another match took place this week when Telford B took on Sedgley & Gornal in the quarter finals of the West Midlands Inter-Town competition. First up for Telford was Matt Davies, and although the frame was tight to start with, Matt soon found his range, and aided by a mid frame 36 break, ran out an easy victor over Simon Hickman, 1-0 to Telford. On the other table, John Fallows found himself 30 down early on as Richard Evans looked to quickly level the scores. However, John is rarely fazed and very difficult to beat on the Shifnal tables in recent years, and two 20+ visits put him firmly in the driving seat. After some tactical exchanges on the yellow, it was John who took the colours he needed to beat a “frustrated” Richard and put Telford 2-0 up and in a commanding position. Professional Mark Allen then stepped up for Sedgley and gave Kevin Uzzell for Telford very little chance, and although not at his best, two 30+ visits gave Mark an easy frame win, bringing the score line back to 2-1. On the other table, Neil Price, who is slowly coming back to form after a long injury lay off, was involved in a tight “scrap” with Sedgley and Gornals Andy Highfield. It appeared Neil was going to be unlucky, as despite looking the more likely winner, and only needing the blue for victory, a long blue to the green pocket jawed and stayed out. Andy duly took the blue, then a superb pink, to leave a regulation black “BUT”, pressure is a funny thing, and Andy inexplicably missed a simple black and after a couple of safety shots, Neil dispatched a superb length of the table black for a deserved victory to put Telford firmly in control at 3-1, and needing only 1 frame from the remaining 3 for victory. Next up for Telford was Angus Way, who was drawn against Lee Page. Lee was in good form early on and forged a 40+ lead with some good scoring, but Angus dug deep, and a 28 break closed up the frame. Some good safety from both players on the colours followed, but it was Angus who got the chance to close out the match and after potting a thin blue to middle, the white kept on running and was unlucky to finish in the jaws of the black pocket, resting on the knuckle. With the pink on its spot however, it was a chance, though be it difficult, but unfortunately it was not to be as the pink touched the front jaw and rolled round the lip of the pocket and stayed out. Lee Page then took a good pink to yellow pocket, followed by a superb cut black along the cushion to keep them in the match and bring the score line back to 3-2. On the other table Mick Brezwyn (Broseley A) was involved in a nip and tuck frame with ladies professional Reanne Evans. It looked like Mick could possibly close out the match for Telford as he gained a useful 15 lead with one red remaining. However, what happened next swung the match as Mick was put in a near impossible snooker, with no natural angle to hit the last red, which was close to the middle pocket. After a brave effort, the referee called a miss and the balls were replaced, as the standard of snooker we are playing in this competition being near professional standard in many cases. This was to prove the undoing for Mick as he went on to lose the frame on the blue, and the match was all square at 3 frames all. Last up for Telford was Steve Fletcher, but Sedgley and Gornal’s anchor man Ryan Evans was in superb form, and an early 40 break was followed with a 50+ break to wrap up the match for a relieved Sedgley and Gornal squad. Telford put a valiant performance up on the night and can count themselves unfortunate, well done lads. All the best to Sedgley & Gornal in the semi-finals.

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