Minnesota B returned to their old club this week, when they had to play Anstice D. Anstice D were no match for the Minnesota side, and it was the fourth frame before they got their one and only point of the evening, when Nigel Wallcroft beat the ever solid Ian Duffy. Darren Weston had a nice forty break as he beat Andy Elliot 81-36. This now puts the Minnesota team six points clear at the top, and with Broseley unable to field their strongest team each week, Minnesota will take some pegging back!

In the first frame young Aaron Sparkes, fresh from his Chris Ward victory took on Graeme Long, and he carried on his winning ways. Both players started nervously, but as the frame wore on, it was Aaron who took the remaining colours to put Shifnal one up. In frame two Matt Davies took on John Banks, Matty flew out of the blocks with a quick fire 51, which put him in an unassailable lead to put the home side two up. That proved to the last frame they won, as Broseley fought back superbly with Carl "asda" walker, rolling back the years, knocking in a brilliant 70 break, being unlucky not to finish better on the last two reds to make an even higher break.

That was the inspiration the away team needed, as Simon Thomas stepped up for the away team, to put in a solid effort of potting and safety against a luckless Rob Wright, to level the match. In the final frame Mick, "wheres my pint" Brezwyn, took on Nigel Stallard, who has remained unbeaten in the last few matches, but it was Mick who played the better of the two to seal a great win for the Broseley lads.

Thanks to Nigel Stallard for this report.

Bayley A continue to struggle and they played the Shifnal A side at the Bayley club this week. Lindsay Knox made a 43 break in his frame and the only winner for the Bayley side, Steve Fletcher also had a 38 break during his game against Andy Easthope. Shifnal A are in joint third spot now, with Little Dawley A.

Little Dawley A produced a fine 5-0 win over the Bayley E side, who are also at the bottom of the Division with their A side. Closest game of the evening was between Stu Russell and John Squire with Stu winning on the black ball.

Maddocks A were at home to the Bayley F side who are doing far better in their first campaign in this division then their counterparts. Ian Skelton started the first frame and got himself 30 points in front before he dropped off to sleep, and Eddie Whitehead with some good potting went on to win this frame 91-54. Phil Davis missed a reasonable pink twice in his frame with Azer Khan, and then watched Azer pot a long pink to get good position on the black. Perhaps the pressure was too much for Azer as he jawed the black and Phil went on to win the frame.

Les Stirling and Richie Hulme played a good safety game and although Les went in front, Richie came back to win on the colours. Dave France against Paul Maxfield was a scrappy game but Paul ended up wanting a snooker on the brown which saw Dave France to victory. The game between Leigh France and Tom Maxfield was a close affair and on two occasions Tom screwed back two far and lost position which gave Leigh a chance, and in the end Tom went in off the black to lose 58-50.

My thanks to the phantom writer from Maddocks who squeezes all of their report over the scorecard!

Dawley A put another point between themselves and the three struggling teams below them, when they were at home to Anstice C. This match see sawed backwards and forwards until the last game, which saw Rick Bailey playing the deciding frame against John Jones. Rick came out the winner of this giving the Dawley side a much-needed 3-2 win.

Second Division

Leaders Maddocks C had to settle for a 3-2 win away to a struggling Minnesota Fats G team who deserved a good result. Steve Hassack had to contend with a spirited home man, Tony Marsh, in the first frame and just crept over the line to keep his unbeaten record intact 39-54. Next up for the Minnymen was Nick Turner who managed to keep an out of form Joe Oliver at bay and pinched the frame by Joe missing the Black ball and levelled the match 55-45. Aaron O’Donnell, off to Australia for the Ashes soon, came up next against away Skipper Graham Hoof. The home man must have wished he had left earlier for the sun when Graham played his best game this season including a 24 break to put the Ironmen in front 33-61.

Next up was Craig Davies against Jimmy Hill. Both men had only lost one game this season and something had to give. It was Jim who took the advantage with a 30 break, but Craig fought back well and just missed a tough blue to give the away team the win 37-58. Finally Wayne Weeks, with his Dennis Taylor glasses, played Darren Wincott and after some good play by both players, the black ball decided the frame. Darren missed his chance and Wayne stopped all tables in Minnie Fats (and Oakengates) by shouting “Come On”! when the black went in 64-52.

A fair result that both teams should be happy with.

Report courtesy of Jim Hill.

Still second placed, Audco A were at home to Minnesota Fats A and managed to win this match 3-2. Alan Turner played Mick Pearson who played very well and won this game after taking a good pink and getting good position on the black. The other loser for Audco was Andy Phelan who has struggled with his form a little, and Mick's son Nick took the other point for the Min Fats side.

Second Club A took three good points from the Coddon C side at the Coddon club. Ian Ferriday got Second Club off to a good start beating Mark Tusel with G. Arnold adding the second frame just beating Matt Bothwell. Josh Wall then pulled one back for Coddon beating J. Williams 53-17. Ray Whitehead set up the decider after winning his frame with K. Mears and in the last game K. Owen for the Trench side defeated Fraser McKinnon 75-43.

Meanwhile the other Trench side Second Club B, were playing the other Coddon side, Coddon B, but even with home advantage the Trench side couldn’t take a point from Coddon B who returned home with an emphatic 5-0 win. This win puts Coddon just one point behind the Second Cub A side who are in third place!

Bayley B and Bayley D met in a local derby match which was very closely contested, and this match went to a deciding frame. In that frame Dave Dudley for the “D” side came up trumps against Dick Oliver to gain a 3-2 win for the “D” side. These teams are now just one point apart with the Bayley B side having the one point advantage.

The bottom two sides, Little Dawley G and Shifnal F met at the Little Dawley club where the result didn’t really help either of them! Little Dawley G won the match 3-2 which left their placings the same but closing the gap from two points to one. Still with the Second Club B dropping all five points neither of the bottom two teams are too far adrift to be in real trouble yet!

Third Division

Anstice B continue their march towards the second division after gaining a 3-2 win at the expense of the Bayley Q team. Nice to see Spencer Clarke, who is the son of one of my best friends, making his debut in the snooker league and beating John Darrock in a close game, 59-45. Mick Cahill replied for Anstice beating Chris Fletcher 61-24, compiling a 30 break on the way. Noel Stones, a formidable player in this division, was a comfortable winner over Rob Cook, but the next match between Chris Bates and George Hammond made way for a decider, when George lost on the black. It was left to Billy Watson to take the spoils and maintain the good run that the Anstice are now enjoying.

Newport B were at home to Little Dawley C and they lost the match 3-2. This match also went to a decider when Richard Goldie played A. Garbett. Richard, who has been playing quite well this season didn’t let his side down and won the frame 58-27.

There are only three points separating the eight teams below Anstice B, and one of those teams is Shifnal D who entertained Hadley C. Another up and down game with Terry Askew taking the first frame against John Thornhill, followed by S, Chauhan beating G. Bowen to make it 2-0. Kevin Whitehead then restored the balance with an easy win over G. Nelson, with Roy Francis then levelling the match when he beat A. Aston. The final frame saw the match go to the Shifnal club when B. Easthope beat Alan Francis 77-30.

Comrades played Little Dawley B at Bridgnorth and managed to win that match 3-2. M. Jones had a 24 break to level the match at 2-2 before Mark Wordsell beat Simon Evans to clinch the match for comrades.

Audco B with a couple of games in hand came up against a very experienced side in Maddocks B and went down 4-1. The first game saw Wally Harper at his best wining 69-22 against C. Hughes. Next up for Maddocks was the evergreen Les Hicks, and he too had a good win beating P. Smith 63-23. In the next frame Steve Pritchard recorded a 30 break and ran out a very comfortable winner playing G. Grocott.

Another campaigner from my era, Doug Morrey, then stepped up to the table and with a faultless performance beat my ex teammate Andy Yates 56-7. The last frame was a tight affair and Alex Turnbull pulled out all the stops to avoid the whitewash, and this he did, only just beating John Archer 59-49. Alex made a 27 break during this game, so, 4-1 to Maddocks B.

Alan Turner    

Alan.Turner@telfordsnooker.com

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