The favourites for the third division title, Hadley B, are nearly three matches ahead of their nearest rivals now, and this week they visited the Bayley Q side. Steven Weatherall took the first frame from John Wright, and having a break of 18 whilst winning the opening frame. Ken Booty levelled the score line when he beat Chris Durham, and Ken also had a 25 break during the frame. Dave Smout for Hadley added a second point for his team beating Andrew Fletcher, but then Lee Newton set up a decider between Richard Tranter and Darren Pountney. Darren won the decider for Hadley to gain a 3-2 win.

Newport Legion were the home side in the match between them selves and second placed LDS B. The away side opened with a win when Ritchie Heighway beat Allan Davies. Steve Speake then played Mark Randall and it was Steve who made it level scores. Newport then took the lead in the match with a win from Keith Gardener who got the better of Colin Gittus. Chris Lawson for the Dawley side then beat Richard Goldie, and this set up a decider between Les Stirling and Sam Drake. Les who is playing well recently, had a good frame against Sam, and won the frame and match for the Newport side. LDS B are still in second spot after this defeat.

Lds C could make no headway in the division this week as they visited the Allscott side. Kev Welland put the first point on the board when he beat Chris Gifford, but in the next Luke Edwards for Dawley pulled one back playing Dave Finney, with Luke having a 22 break during the frame. Steve Powell then put Allscott back in front in a high scoring frame with Jamie Mills, 63-55. The match then swung back in Dawley’s favour, this time it was Sean Cross beating Jason Allen to make it 2-2. In the last frame of the evening Callum Starling who won the match for Allscott as he beat Andy Shaw 65-38.

Hadley A entertained the Bayley D side in this weeks fixtures, and although Hadley dropped four places to second from bottom, there are just a few points between Hadley A and six other teams above them! Danny Francis made a rare return to represent Hadley A this week, and although he put up a good performance, Danny just lost out to Brian Aberdeen, 47-37. Tony Morgan for Hadley then came up against Mark Bedall, and this frame also went to the Bayley side. Richard Benting gave his side some hope as he beat Jim Lewis to pull one back for Hadley. Bayley D also took the next two frames with Iain Atkinson losing to Dave Dudley, and Al Francis losing to Dave Williams. Bayley D are still in a good position to return to the second, and I’m sure the new play offs system, will give more incentive for all the teams that could be involved in them?

Coddon B took on the Anstice B team this week at the Coddon club. Brian McMillan for Coddon racked up a 91-42 win in the first when he played Mick Cahill. Graham Nielo then came up against Noel Stones and Graham found Noel too strong, and so the scores were levelled. M. Mehmi looked to have had a cracker with George Hammond, and that score was 53 to M. Mehmi and 45 to George. The next frame decided the match win and it was Mark Ebdon who won this playing John Darrock. In the last frame, Steve Smallwood for the Anstice side made the final score 3-2 when he beat Dean Harris.

Second Club B are firmly rooted to the bottom, and although they had home advantage when they played Shifnal D, things didn’t get much better for them. Chris Coterill lost the opening frame to Terry Askew, and Pete Wharton added the second against Alan Kynaston. The next frame also went to Shifnal, this time it was Arthur Aston who beat Nick Holmes. Next up was Keith mears versus Geoff French, and there was no change here in a low scoring frame which was won by Geoff. Roger Smith showed more resistance, and it was Roger who managed to take the solitary point of the evening for the Trench side when he beat Barrie Easthope, 58-48.

First Division

After this weeks results, and with one card still missing from Maddocks A, Anstice A find themselves at the top of the division. Anstice were at home this week to the Shifnal F side. The first frame was a low scoring affair between Ian Duffy and Rob Wright. This one went to Ian, 49-27. Keith Price of Anstice won his frame with Chris Painter quite comfortably for Anstice to go two up. Simon Yeates suffered a narrow loss in his game with Dave Peplow, with Dave getting a point on the board for the Shifnal side. Adam Moore returned his side to winning ways by beating Spencer Rowley. The last frame was also won by the Anstice side, this time it was Neil Prices’ turn, and he beat Chris Petford. That gave Anstice a 4-1 victory to boost their title hopes.

Shifnal B are on level points with Maddocks A, until that elusive result from Maddocks A appears! Shifnal were at home to the Coddon A side this week and as usual matt Davies got the Shifnal team off to a winning start by defeating Tony Garmson. Aaron Sparkes didn’t fare so well against Steve Downes, and lost 55-42 in a closely contested frame. Angus Way returned to winning form this week, and he won his frame with Andy Jones to put Shifnal 2-1 up. Lindsay Knox had a good tussle with Dave Lloyd, and in a high scoring game Lindsay took this one to win the match for Shifnal. In the last frame, it was John Fallows playing Mark Wall. A very good frame for Mark this one, with a 77-37 win for him.

Maddocks A who are putting in a strong challenge for the title, although not putting in all the cards! were at home to previous champions in the past, Broseley A. Ian Eldridge had breaks of 40 and 28 in his frame, as he demolished Graeme Long. Ian Skelton put in a fine performance to beat Neil Caswell 59-24, and in the next, a very close frame up to the colours between Phil Davies and Simon McLeod, until Phil then took the colours from green to pink to secure the frame and put Maddocks 3-0 up. The next frame was played between Dave France and Mick Brezwyn, neither players being very speedy, and the report sent to me was that this frame took over an hour to play with loads of nip and tuck along the way. However, it was Dave who came out of this match the winner, so Maddocks went four up. The last frame saw Leigh France play John Banks, and Leigh made it a clean sweep for the Maddocks team, who if they keep this impetus going could do really well this season.

Maddocks C are doing well, but this week found themselves on the end of a 3-2 defeat at the Little Dawley club when they played LDS A. Although Steve Hassack had a great win in the opening frame defeating Phil Cottey 69-1, Graham Wiley levelled the scores with a win against Mick Wincott. Jesse Lowe had a good frame with Joe Oliver, and this could have been a black ball finish although not stated on the card, with Jesse winning the frame. Stu Russell was pitched against Darren Willkie in the next frame, and it was Darren who won this one to set up a decider between Lee Elcock and Ian Cleary. Lee took this one to win the match for the LDS A side.

Second Division

Bayley B are top of the table this week, although their counterparts, Bayley F have matches in hand. Bayley B were up against the other strong challengers for promotion, Minnesota Fats A this week. Tom Mulholland had a nice 37 break in his frame with Neil Pearson, but that wasn’t enough as Neil also had a 29 break and went on to win this frame 61-48. Kev West, playing Mick Egan restored the balance with a win, and in the next Dan Oliver got the better of Mick Pearson to put the home side 2-1 in front. Another break in the next frame, this time from Dale Blagborough who had a 25 on his way to victory over Craig Baugh. This left the decider to be played by Dickie Bedall from Bayley, against Aaron O’Donnell. It was Dickie who took the frame and match, illustrating how close these teams are in the fight for promotion!

LDS G did their hopes no harm this week as they were entertained by Maddocks B. Wally Harper opened playing Tommy bell, and this one went to the Dawley side. Doug morrey for Maddocks came up against the useful Stu Ross, and again this frame went to the Dawley man, Stu. John Archer came to the table next, and unfortunately he couldn’t stem the tide as Graham Copson made it 3-0 to Dawley. The fourth frame was very close, but Geoff Tudor pulled one back for Maddocks with a win over Rob Withington. The last frame was even closer with Roy Adams for the Maddocks team losing by one point to Roy Levenue. This result means that Maddocks are now bottom of the table, exchanging positions with Shifnal A.

LDS C meanwhile, had the home advantage in their match with Maddocks D, but couldn’t make full use of that advantage. Joe Rixom for the home side lost the first frame to Graham Arnold, with Pete Randall suffering the same result when he played Cheryl Caswell. Jon Calvert pulled one back for the Dawley side beating Roy Lowe. Carl Kesterton continued the revival by winning his frame with M. Ilyas. The decider was a closely fought match between Gary Wall and Fred Spragg. This looked like a black ball finish and it was Fred who won the frame and match for Maddocks. This result leaves both the Little Dawley sides on equal points with everything to play for.

Coddon C are placed mid table, and this week they played hosts to Dawley B. Mark Tusel had a good win over the useful Grant Heighway to put the home side one in front. Wayne Weeks took the next for the Dawley side to level matters with a 69-35 point victory. Matt Bothwell stepped up for Coddon next, and he played Nigel Brazenall. Matt had a 22 break on his way to winning this frame. Another closely fought match in the next, with Ollie Wall playing Barry Roden. Ollie managed to win this one by a margin of two points, Ollie 44, Barry 42. In the last frame of the evening Daniel Ballard lost out to Liam Goodman making the final score line, 3-2 to Coddon C.

Shifnal A move off the bottom of the table as reported earlier, but giving no favour to the Second Club Trench A side. This match opened with Mark Wordsell gaining a great win over Ian Ferriday to get his team off to a good start. Ian Postains made it 2-0 after beating Paul Crooks. Steve Jones gained the match win for his side with victory over Dave Welsh. It was left to Toby Welsh to stop the rot, and this he did by beating Carl Crook 56-31. Mike Thompson for the Trench side made the overall score respectable when he got the second point of the evening beating Mark Jones.

Alan Turner    

Alan.Turner@telfordsnooker.com