There seems to be no stopping Broseley A as they surge towards the top of the Telford Snooker League Division 1 table with some dazzling displays - a fact emphasised by last week's 4-1 home win over Little Dawley A which saw Richie Hulme maintain his 100 per cent start to the season with his ninth win on the trot.

A 41 break gave Richie the opening frame against Richie Heighway and the table-toppers extended their lead when Tim Hicks, himself no stranger to winning league titles, wrapped up the second frame with a black ball victory over Rick Cousins.

Jesse Lowe pulled a frame back for Little Dawley by taking the next 69-58 from Paul Humphries but further wins for Simon McLeod over Darren Pountney and Mick Brezwyn, with a 28 break against Graham Wiley, completed an excellent 4-1 win for the home side.

With no result received from Anstice A's game, the men from Broseley now head the table by four points ahead of their Madeley rivals with Shifnal A in third spot following a superb 5-0 triumph away at Wellington Billiard Hall A.

Angus Way was again in top form to deny Steve Minshall as the visitors took the lead. Shifnal then welcomed back John Fallows after 3 weeks away in Australia, and he carried on from where he left off with a 55-27 success over Alan Turner to keep his own unbeaten start to the season intact.

Simon Biddulph then pipped Graham Darrall on the black and although Mick Hughes also came close for the Billiard Hall, Andy Easthope's 63-46 win made it 4-0 to the visitors.

And with Linsay Knox claiming the fifth frame, also on the black against Andy Kendrick, Shifnal were left with a maximum five points from their travels which puts them to within five points of leaders Broseley.

Minnesota Fats A are just two points further back following their 3-2 win at home to newly promoted Wellington Billiard Hall E.

Jon Wright's 61-25 win over Nigel Stallard put them in front and they doubled their lead when Steve Collins got the better of Ray Evans by 66 points to 23.

Phil Whitby replied for the visitors with a cool 56-36 victory over Keith Blackham only for Kevin West to take the next for the home side with a 36 break against M Shadab.

However with A Ali taking the final frame for the Wellington side against Paul Devey, Minnesota had to settle for just a 3-2 win which keeps them in touch with the early pacesetters.

Shifnal F on the other hand dropped to second from bottom after losing all but one of their frames at home to Anstice D.

Andy Elliot gave the Madeley side the perfect start with a beautifully taken 30 break on the way to defeating Wally Harper 64-45.

John Jones' victory over Chris Painter made it 2-0 before breaks of 24 and 46 secured the third frame for Phil Reynolds against Spencer Rowley.

The "Rock" Dave Peplow came to Shifnal's rescue as he took the next for the home side, 65-43 against Nigel Wallcroft but the visitors had the final say with Darren Steven's securing the last frame of the evening with a 65-38 win over Nev Whitehead.

Bayley E still head the Division 2 table by three points now - ahead of their A team after the former Hadley side won 3-2 at Coddon B.

Andy O'Brien set the scene with a run of 37 on the way to an opening frame victory over Bob Dando and the visitors continued to shine with Steve Hoof making it 2-0 with a 64-28 success over Mark Wall.

Coddon replied through Andy Jones' black ball finale against Chris Owen only for Ali Jones to secure the Bayley's seventh win in nine with a 56-22 defeat of Steve Downs.

However the Donnington side snatched another frame from the boys at the top courtesy of Phil Szklarzewicz's 61-47 final frame win over John Squire to leave the Bayley sitting pretty at the top of the pile - some three points ahead of Bayley A who won 4-1 at home to Little Dawley C.

Bob Mason led the way with a superb 63-43 success over Mike King but the visitors looked as though they might level matters soon after as Byron Mitchell led Steve Nicholls by some 28 points with just the last red remaining. But a super red to black clearance of 34 saw Steve snatch victory from the jaws of defeat to put the home side two up.

And they won the next frame too as Chris Morgan-Adams made no mistake against Lee Drinkwater and although Lee Elcock potted superbly to deny Arthur Burrows in the next, the home side completed a 4-1 victory when Steve Fletcher defeated opposing captain Steve Farrington in the last.

That win sees the Bayley's A team leapfrog over Shifnal E who drop down one place to third following a 3-2 reverse away at Minnesota Fats B.

Things started brightly for the visitors when Aaron Sparkes opened their account with a 49-22 success over Neil Pearson. Mick Pearson made it all square again by taking the next from Jeff Sparkes only for the visitors to impose themselves on the match once more with Robbie Wright's 48-39 defeat of Mick Egan.

However it wasn't to be Shifnal's night as the Canongate side took the final two frames through Rob Palin and Kirk Stephenson to complete only their second win of the new season.

Wellington Billiard Hall E kept in touch with the leaders when they also won 3-2 at home to Maddocks C.

They took the lead through Wayne Weeks' excellent performance against Jim Hill but then had to sit back and watch as Graham Hoof posted a personal best break of 46 in some style to defeat visiting captain John Rawlins by 67 points to 34 to level the frame scores at one apiece.

Alex Turnbull restored the Billiard Hall's lead with a black ball win over Dave Thomas and although Billy Rushton drew Maddocks level again with a 68-36 win over Aaron O'Donnell the Wellington boys had the final say with Laki Badhan taking the final frame 52-29 against Joe Oliver.

Anstice B also won 3-2 and at the same time celebrated their second win of the season as they visited bottom-of-the-table Audco A.

Danny Weaver and Billy Watson put gave them an early 2-0 lead with victories over Andy Heathcote and Neil Hendy respectively and they made certain of victory when George Hammond won the third frame as well against Pete Smith 52-43.

But any thoughts the visitors had of extending their winning margin were soon dashed as the home side rallied to take the last two frames courtesy of Chris Austin and Ray Hendy - who took the last frame 45-29 against Steve Smallwood.

That win still leaves the Madeley side precariously placed just one spot off the bottom - and they actually lost ground on the team immediately above them as Little Dawley G ran out 4-1 winners at home to Coddon C.

The visitors took an early lead through Don Bayliss' 59-45 victory over Pat Frost only for Graham Copson to draw the home side level with a 66-28 win over Mick Stokes.

Dave Leneveu then made it 2-1 to Little Dawley before Roy Leneveu's black ball finish against Sef Tusel piled on even more pressure.

However Chris Leneveu kept his nerve to take the final frame from Fraser MacKinnon and put the seal on a fine performance from the team promoted as runners-up in Division 3 last term.

And second place in Division Three is a position currently occupied by league newcomers Bayley F - but they had a disappointing game last week - falling to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of derby rivals Bayley D.

It is perhaps no coincidence that the D team's performances have improved of late with the return of their lucky mascot Aubrey Massey waving them on from the sidelines and they duly took the lead when Darren Rhoades won a high-scoring first frame 74-68 against Chris Shaw.

Dave Williams then weighed in with a 35 break to deny young Tom Maxfield before Brian Aberdeen made it 3-0 with a pink ball victory over Tom's dad Paul.

Eddie Whitehead retrieved a point for the F team with a strong performance to deny Bill France 68-42 but with Dave Dudley claiming the final frame for the D team against Andy Summers, the F side were left with just a single point as they strive for promotion to division two at the first attempt.

As a result they drop just a point behind fellow promotion hopefuls Anstice C who also suffered only their third defeat of the season when they lost out by the odd frame at home to Maddocks B.

Darren Wilkie started brightly against Doug Morrey with an early 26 break but Doug stood his ground and eventually took the frame 71-37 to give Maddocks the lead.

Les Hicks soon doubled their advantage with a 50-28 success over Kev Smith and the visitors stormed into a three frames lead with Steve Pritchard's 56-31 win over John Smith.

Colin Westwood stemmed the tide though when he took the next frame for the Anstice by 50 points to 35 against Ant Loveitt and Frank Williams made the final score all the more respectable with a 67-30 win over John Archer in the last.

It was proving to be a difficult night for the top teams in this division - and third-placed Bayley B also felt the strain as they also fell to defeat as they entertained Minnesota Fats C.

It all looked so good for the home side early on as young Danny Oliver took the first frame with a 66-20 win over Neil Robinson.

But the home side were unable to take any more frames as the visitors hit back strongly with Mike Thompson leveling the score with a close 50-38 defeat of Dickie Oliver.

The next frame was on a knife-edge as it went to a re-spotted black - and try as he might Dickie Beddall was unable to prevent the frame slipping away as Tom Firmstone sank the final ball for a 45-38 victory and a 2-1 lead to the visitors.

Another close finish saw Dave Welsh come out on top 46-37 against Robin Sturmey and a brilliant snooker on the pink then gave Toby Welsh the opportunity he needed to wrap up the match by four frames to one with a 61-46 victory over home captain Bob Tracy.

Wellington Billiard Hall F's miserable season continued when they went down 4-1 at Shifnal D.

Mick Guest gave the home side the lead only for Richard Tranter to reply for the Billiard Hall with a 65-44 win over Terry Askew.

Sanjay Chohan's 65-46 success over Rob Cook put Shifnal back in front and they never looked back as Geoff French won the next against Chris Fletcher before Barrie Easthope finished the match in style with a black ball win over Steve Williams in the last.

Wellington Billiard Hall B fared only slightly better than their F side as they went down by three frame to two at home to Bayley C.

Craig Whitehead's opening frame win over Paul Gubats was cancelled out by Kevin Whitehead's victory over Mark Taras.

Ian Johnson put the visitors in front again and they went further ahead when Jim Lewis got the better of Ian Atkinson 54-23.

Craig Johnson came oh-so-close to making it 4-1 to the Bayley when he potted a brilliant long green only to unluckily miss the brown enabling Roy Francis to snatch the fifth frame on the black to leave the final score 3-2 to the Bayley side.

Little Dawley B move up to mid-table following a super 5-0 whitewash at home to Newport British Legion B.

Gary Clements made two breaks of 16 on the way to taking the first frame against Darren Edwards before Paul Cottey ran out the winner by 67 points to 30 against John Yapp.

Mike Rhoades, playing in his first game this season, made it 3-0 against Manjit Gidda and any hopes the visitors had disappeared when Keith Gardner lost the next on the black to Steve Ward 43-39.

Ray Clements' 59-37 final frame defeat of Alan Davies completed a resounding win for the Little Dawley side who look to be forging their way up the table.

STEVE FLETCHER    

Steve.Fletcher@telfordsnooker.com

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