Minnesota Fats B, with just two games left this season, look to have all but won the first division title now, after a 4-1 victory at home to Anstice D. Keith Price couldn’t have asked for a better start to his game with a whitewash over S. Collins, and compiling a 43 break during the frame. Shaun Harris was equally impressive beating Nigel Wallcroft to make it 2-0. Ian Duffy played next for the home side, but met with Mick Musgrave who pulled a frame back with a win on a re-spotted black. Simon Yeates also won on the black playing Keith Blackham before Darren Weston made it 4-1 with another convincing win over Andy Elliot.

Broseley A suffered a rare home defeat when they met up with Shifnal B, and lost this match, and their chance of retaining the title by losing 3-2. Aaron Sparkes struck the first blow for Shifnal beating Carl Walker before Simon Thomas with a 45 break levelled the scores beating Rob Wright. Graeme Long then did battle with Matt Davies, and just lost out 49-64 to Matt. Mick Brezwyyn then set up a decider after beating (The Rock) Dave Peplow 78-10, and making a 47 break. Simon McLeod was then beaten by Mr. Mcgoo, Nigel Stallard to give the Shifnal side the match win.

Shifnal A, well off the pace, gained a 3-2 win at home to the Sir John Bayley Club. Angus Way got the Shifnal side off to a good start producing a 37 break whilst beating Steve Fletcher, and in a very close frame Chris Morgan-Adams just got the better of Lindsay Knox. Andy Easthope restored the lead to Shifnal after playing Bob Mason, with John Fallows securing the match win, beating Martin Hodson 82-32. Spencer Rowley took the second point for the Bayley club with a victory over sub Roy Martin.

LDS A gave Bayley E a setback in their bid to avoid the relegation fight, after visiting the Bayley club and gaining a 4-1 win. Steve Hoof got the home side off to a good start by beating Ade Henry in the first frame, and although the second frame between Ali Jones and Byron Mitchell was close, that frame saw the beginning of the 4-1 defeat. Jesse Lowe took the next frame from Dave France followed by Stu Russel adding the third when he took on John Squire. Lee Elcock who played so well in the recent cup match narrowly beat Mick Francis 39-27.

Anstice C will avoid the relegation struggle now after beating Dawley A at Madeley. Sean Nolan for the visitors took the first frame off Darren Wilkie with a comprehensive score line of 60-6. John Jones for Anstice, then played Rick Bailey, who has possibly had his worst season ever, and duly beat Rick 80-27. There was a footnote on the card by Ricks’ name, which stated p----d, whatever that meant! Steve Camp took the next point for Anstice beating Pete Nolan, followed by Grant Heighways defeat from Chris Woods. Mark Jones got the second point of the evening for Dawley beating Frank Williams. This makes life very difficult for the Dawley side, and although I cannot be certain, this may be the first time they have left the top flight? Having said this, should it happen that Bayley have to shed two teams, pending proposals for alterations to the Bayley club, the league may have to change its current format. We shall see!

Second Division

Maddocks C became the first team to be promoted as Champions with a whitewash at home to Minnesota G. The Ironmen have led Division Two from the first week and have deservedly taken the honours with some great performances. Skipper Graham Hoof started the night off for the home team with one of his best performances of the season. Nick Turner missed too many colours and Graham took advantage to win the opener. Next up was “Most wins” leader Steve Hassack against Wayne “Should have gone to Specsavers” Weeks. The Minny Fats Skipper potted well and even stayed down on a great red for the cameras! Giving him a healthy lead with only one remaining red, but Steve replied and put in a great clearance of 27, leaving the black as the job was already done. (he also refrained from shouting “Get in”!)

Joint leader of the most wins table, Jimmy Hill, had an entertaining frame with Craig Davies. With great safety and potting from both players, Craig had a chance on the blue but it rattled and ended up in the jaws for The Ironman to clear up and win the match. Darren Wincott showed what the first division are up against with a great win against Tony Marsh. Daz, who was in control and looking to get the high break prize from team mate Steve, hardly gave Tony a sniff to take the forth frame. The whitewash looked to be off as Joe Oliver came up against Aaron O’Donnell. The visitor performed well and all went to the black ball. Joe took the long pot to record the Maddocks forth 5-0 result of the season and win the league for the first time in their history.

Report courtesy of Jimmy Hill.

My thanks to Jim for all his support for the league and his reports which help me considerably, and may I wish you all the best Jim in your new job. I’m sure everyone will be sorry to see you leave our snooker league, as a friend and fellow snooker player.

Audco A have regained second spot in this division this week, in spite of having to field two reserves. Audco were away to Min Fats A, and in the first frame Anthony Heathcote played a good solid game to beat Mick Pearson. The steadfast Graham Darral made it two by beating Kirk Stevenson, before Mick Hughes took on Mick Egan. The “Mole” came back well on the colours taking blue and pink, but with a difficult black for game, Mick jawed the black, and under pressure, Mick Egan downed it to get Min Fats only point of the evening. Neil Pearson then took on Alan Turner, with Alan winning that one. Finally, Richard Jags, playing only his fourth game of the season, totally out potted young Anthony Stevenson to make it 4-1 for Audco.

Coddon B, also chasing promotion, found the Second Club B side too strong, and although having home advantage went down 3-2 to neighbours, Trench B. Mark wall opened for Coddon, but it was the Trench man, Bob Lane who got the first point in the bag. Andy Jones was up next, and he found Paul Crooks in good form with Paul winning that frame 65-29. Dave Holmes for the home side started the comeback with a win over Toby Welsh 61-43, before Dave Lloyd levelled the match by beating Dave Welsh. Steve Downes played the decider with Neil Robinson, with Neil giving the Trench side the match win. An exciting finish for Coddon B and Audco A now, with both teams having difficult matches to finish the season!

The Second Club A side meanwhile, were entertaining the Coddon C side, but the Trench A side didn’t fare as well as their counterparts, losing 3-2. Daniel Ballard took the first frame of the evening against Graham Arnold 55-12 with Lloyd Giles levelling against Josh Wall. Ian Ferriday then got the lead back for the Trench side beating Matt Bothwell 66-41. Ray Whitehead produced a good performance to beat Keith Mears, and that set up the decider between Karl Owen and Fraser McKinnon. Fraser, who has won the last six out of seven games, won this in a tight frame with that score line, 51-36 to Fraser.

As in most local derby matches, there is quite often only one point between sides, and this occasion was no different for the Bayley sides, Bayley D and Bayley B. Bayley D, classed as the home side, lost the first two frames with Brian Aberdeen losing to Chris Baugh and Darren Rhodes losing to Kev West, who has had a good season so far. However, things turned around for Bayley D when Mark Bedall beat Dan Oliver in a close frame, 51-41, and then Dave Williams beating Richard Bedall. Changing his usual first position, Dave Dudley went on last to beat Dickie Oliver to get the match win.

In the clash at the bottom of this division, Shifnal F at home to LDS G, lost the match 3-2. Chris Painter, up first won the opening game for Shifnal when he beat Tommy Bell. Dave Chapman then lost to Graham Wiley to make it 1-1. In a closely fought match Fred Harper then lost 58-50 to R. Levenue with Graham Copson taking the third point, and the match win when he defeated Simon Dyal. The last frame went Shifnals way with John Briscoe getting the better of Rob Withington 64-40.

Third Division

Dawley B, still seven points in front of second placed Anstice B, maintained their grip on the impending title with a fine 4-1 home win when they played Maddocks D. Paul Harper started the ball rolling with a comfortable win over Ian Courtney and then giving the away side hope of a close match, Roy Lowe pulled one back for Maddocks beating Ian Ward. The revival was short-lived when Barry Roden beat Ken Davies, with Alex Jones adding another point by beating Fred Spragg. The last game saw Kev Jones make it 4-1 with a victory over Mick Wainwright senior.

Anstice B, at home, may not catch the leaders, but will have to maintain their form to stay ahead of Maddocks B who are having a great run in. Anstice B were at home to Bayley Q and this match started with Darren Shaw for Anstice putting the first point on the card defeating Chris Durham. John Darrock made it 2-0 in spite of Chris Bates having a 21 break during the frame. The next frame had its moments as Noel Stones took on Rob Cook. Noel had breaks of 32 and 22 and Rob produced a 28, with Noel coming out the winner. In a high scoring frame, Chris Fletcher pulled one back for the Bayley lads beating Mick Cahill 63-54. The final frame between George Hammond and Richard Tranter went to George with a 56-23 score line.

Maddocks B who have won five out of their last six matches added another one to that tally with a 4-1 win over Audco B. Experience counts a lot these days and that showed in the four wins gained by Maddocks. First the evergreen Wally Harper beat Gary Grocott 57-14 with campaigner, Les Hicks adding the second beating Pete Smith. Not to be outdone, Doug Morrey then came to the table adding a third with a fine win over Andy Yates, my former teammate in days gone by. Alex Turnbull for Audco took the solitary point for his side when he beat Martin Colley 67-41. In the last frame, more experience again shone through, with John Archer making it 4-1 with a comfortable win over Leigh Grocott. Depending on next weeks result, a mouth-watering contest could be ahead with Anstice B meeting Maddocks B in the last game of the season, to maybe decide the promotion issue.

LDS B move into fourth place in this division after beating the Comrades side 4-1 at the Little Dawley venue. As in a couple of matches reported earlier. The home side started with a win, in this case Phil Cottey beating C. Crook, and then the away side hitting back with M. Wordsell levelling against Pete Clarke. The home side then went on to win the next three frames; Colin Gittus with a narrow victory over Chris Bristow, followed by Tom Wotherspoon getting the better of M. Jones, and in the last, Simon Evans beating S. Jones.

LDS C were also at home, and will be well pleased with their 5-0 drubbing of Newport British Legion, who were playing so well earlier in the season. John Richards gained the first point for LDS C beating Allan Davies, and oddly enough the next four players all won with the same score. G. Walls 52, Keith Gardener 39. A. Garbett 52, Nigel Simpson 25. S. Hamilton then came to the table and scored 52 points to Richard Goldie’s’ 18, and in the last frame Mick Rhodes also came in with a 52-23 win over John Yapp.

Fresh from their recent cup exploits, Hadley A won only their 4th game of the season, against a tired looking Shifnal D team, Kev Whitehead began with a 63-52 win against Terry Askew in a closely fought game, this was followed by another tight game, in which the returning potting machine Roy Francis eventually got the better of Ivor Peplow 60-51 in a game which could have gone the other way, had Ivor not gone in off the final black.

Tugboat played next against Geoff French in another closely contested frame, with Geoff taking the final pink & black to secure a 51-49 win for the Shifnal boys. It was all a bit too exciting for the old war horse Arthur Aston, who had to be woke up before he took on Al Francis in another enthralling game (!), which he won 62-30, to bring the tie level. Iain Atkinson then took on his old foe Barry Easthope & shaded the game 49-38 to complete a well earned & much needed victory for the Hadley lads, who, even at this late stage still hope to mount a serious challenge for the 3rd division wooden spoon.

Alan Turner    

Alan.Turner@telfordsnooker.com

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