Leaders Minnesota B took on local team Maddocks A and won by the odd frame. Ian Duffy played debutant Steve Elcocks to take the first point. Shaun Harris then doubled the lead with an entertaining game and a fluked brown against Ian Skelton to keep up his fine start to the season. Phil Davies and Leigh France then both won black ball games against Keith Price and Paul Smith respectively. The decider went the way of the leaders when an out of sorts Dave France lost to Simon Yeats to keep them two points clear at the top.

Second placed Broseley A took 4 points from their home match verses struggling Bayley A. Carl Walker never gave Chris Morgan-Adams a chance and went on to win impressively. M Hodson tried to reply for the Wellington side but came up short against Graham Long. Spencer Rowley used his cunning skills to keep Bayley in the match with a fine 37 break against Alan Preece but it was to be the only point for the away side with wins from Simon Thomas and Simon Mcleod against Steve Nicholls and Steve Fletcher.

Another team pushing for top spot had a settle for 2 points at Shifnal B. Matt Davies managed to take the first point against Paul Devey, and a win for Nigel Stallard against S Collins, who knocked in a useful 45 break, took the second frame for the home side in a frame that saw 145 points scored. Aaron Sparkes then took the match for Shifnal with a win over Mick Musgrove. The Anstice fought back well to take the the final two frames with Andy Elliot and Nigel Wallcroft beating Dave Peplow and Rob Wright.

Anstice C took on Bayley F and took their 2nd win of the season in a deciding frame. Chris Woods could not get past good play from Eddie Whitehead but watched the impressive Steve Camp level matters. Frank Williams then put the home side ahead with a win over Chris Shaw. Richie Hulme then continued his 100% record by beating Danny Weaver including a 35 break. The decider was won by the Anstice man John Jones who beat Mike Healey in a close encounter.

Bayley E could not improve on their league position with a loss to Shifnal A. Mick Francis won a close game against Neil Price for the home team only to watch Andy O’Brien lose a close game to John Fallows. Linsay Knox then knocked in a superb break of 53 against D Rowley to put the visitors ahead. John Squire replied for the home side by beating Andy Easthope and set up the final frame decider. In a tit-for-tat game Angus Way managed to overcome Dave France to take the match for Shifnal.

Finally in League One Little Dawley A played out an impressive win against Dawley A. Good wins coming from Lee Elcock, Jesse Lowe, Daz Pountney and Tim Hicks set the home side on the way to their biggest win this season. The whitewash was halted though with a great frame of snooker from Rick Bailey.

Division Two

Maddocks C lost their unbeaten record in the battle of the top two teams in Division Two after a great performance from the Audco A men. Darren Wincott started the match off in an entertaining frame against “Silver Fox” Alan Turner, some great pots and safety was shown by both players and it was Alan who held his nerve to take the first frame for Audco before heading off to a golf course in Spain. Next up was not the best frame of the night when home skipper, Graham Hoof and Newport man Andy Phelan could not find any form and inevitably it went to a black ball where Graham watched his attempt rattle the jaws and left it up over the opposite bag for the visitor to make it two-nil.

Jimmy Hill then tried to keep the Ironmen in the match but came up against an in form Andy Kendricks. After a shaky start by both players “Kenny” took advantage with a fantastic break of 30 leaving no chance for Jimmy to recover. With the match decided, Steve Hassack took on gentleman Graham Darrell and in another entertaining game Steve made a break at the vital time to win on the pink ball and keep his unbeaten record intact. Audco tried to keep their run of 4-1 wins going when Mick Hughes played home man Joe Oliver. Joe played well and looked in control to take the final frame and keep the Ironmen top by just 2 points.

Another two clubs pushing for promotion played at the Bayley where the B team entertained Coddon C. Kevin West had a fine win against Ray Whitehead only for Mark Tusel to level against young Craig Baugh. Dan Oliver lost on the black to Dave Sharples but R Beddall managed to take the game into a decider. This also came down to a black ball finish with Fraser Mackinnon taking the win for the Coddon C side 3-2.

Coddon B also managed a 3-2 win over Little Dawley G with wins from Mark Wall, Andy Jones and Nick Pearce. Tommy Bell and Graham Copson replying for Little Dawley. Craig Davies fell to his first defeat of the season for Minnesota G which proved costly as 2nd Club B took the match 3-2. The Oakengates side went 2-0 up with wins from James Price and Wayne Weeks only to watch Tom Firmstone, Toby Welsh (via a black ball) and Neil Robinson make a comeback and snatch the result.

Second club A also proved too much for their opponents Shifnal F which again was settled by a decider. Ian Ferriday had an entertaining opening game with Dave Pye and put the Trenchmen ahead. Fred Harper squared the contest with a win over John Williams. Lloyd Giles maintained his good form with victory over John Briscoe only to watch Gary Love beat Keith Mears and set up the decider between Graham Arnold and Chris Painter and it was Graham who produced the goods to take a deserved win.

Finally in Division 2 was Bayley D taking on Minnesota A and the Oakengates team headed home with 3 points from Kirk Stevenson, Neil Pearson and Phil Bufton. With replies for the B team from Dave Williams and Mark Beddall.

Division Three

In the 3rd Division, leaders Anstice B extended their grip on the title with a fine 4-1 win away to Hadley. George Hammond used his experience to knock in a 22 break and beat Gareth Hughes. John Darrock then played a controlled game to take the second for the Anstice. The only reply for Hadley came from Kev Whitehead who knocked in a great 29 break to beat Mick Cahill. The final two frames produced wins for Steve Smallwood and Noel Stones, with Noel hitting a 35 break.

Fourth placed Maddocks B took on 3rd placed Little Dawley B and swapped positions with a 3-2 win for the home side. Wally Harper started the game for the Oakengates side against an in form Phil Cottey and it was the visitors who took an early lead. Doug Morrey then squared up the match with a solid display against Pete Clark. Little Dawley then regained the lead with Colin Gittus beating John Archer but it was to be the last win for the away team when Les Hicks used his craftsmanship verses Snowy Darrock and Martin Colley used his height (6’’10’) v Simon Evans to take the match 3-2 for Maddocks.

Dawley B maintained their promotion push with a hard fought 3-2 win over the Comrades. Paul Harper could not contain R Davies but saw Paddy McDowell level. In a high scoring 3rd frame Home man Barry Roden beat C Crook. Kev Jones was unable to make an impression against S Jones and the decider was a close encounter between Dawleys Alex Jones and M Jones. It went all the way and it was Alex who took the match.

In another close finish Bayley Q won a final frame away to Little Dawley C. Steve Wetherall continued his fine form to take the opener against C Kersterton. Chris Durham then made it 2-0 beating G Walls. The fight back started with wins from C Niblett and S Night but it was not to be Little Dawley’s night when unbeaten Chris Bates took the frame against P Randell.

Newport B took a good step away from the bottom of the table with a fine 4-1 win over Maddocks D. The first two games went to Newport with black ball finishes. Allan Davies beating Ken Davies and Keith Gardner beating Roy Lowe. Manjit Gidda won the match for the home side by beating B Tranter. Fred Spragg then found some old form to take a point for the Oakengates side only to watch Richard Goldie produce some good play to beat “Lucky” Tony O’Neill.

Finally Shifnal D took on new club Audco and the home side stormed into a 3-0 lead with wins for T Askew, S Chauhan and P Wharton. Colin Austin and Alex Turnbull managed to pull back to make the match more presentable.

Jimmy Hill

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