Shropshire Star

Usual suspects are setting the early title pace in Bridgnorth Snooker League

The Bridgnorth Snooker League has already taken a familiar pattern to last season after only two weeks with Chelmarsh B the front runners, Shifnal B close behind followed by St. John’s A and Broseley B.

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Chelmarsh B again had another comfortable win beating Alveley C 4-1. The champions, however, did not have it all their own way, with Paul Manning coming unstuck on the final black against Chris Jepson who earned Alveley their consolation, and good fortune going in Mike Rogers’ favour on the final colours when playing against Reg Burton. There could be no doubts about the wins for Simon Thomas, Chris Lewis and Gary Smith although two of the frames did take a while to conclude.

Shifnal B found it hard going when mustering their 3-2 win over Broseley B, despite taking a 3-0 lead. Chris Petford scraped home from a hard fought first frame played against Andy Carson. This was followed by convincing wins for Carl Walker and Ian Postans; Ian knocking in breaks of 31 and 23 in the process. Nick Carson and Eddie Mullard made the scoreline look a bit more respectable for Broseley by taking two close run final frames. It is not often that someone loses having notched a 30-break but that happened to Terry Askew playing against Eddie Mullard who came back with a 24-break.

St John’s A will again be there or thereabouts when it comes to the end of the season. They beat Chelmarsh D 4-1. However, the match did not start well for the home side with Josh Summers having a nightmare of a first frame, losing to an upbeat Richard Lewis who potted some good balls and deserved his win. From that frame onwards there were to be no further surprises. Tim Steele dominated in the second frame, played against Alec Mullard, knocking in 25 and 19-breaks in the process. Dave Summers and Martin Lippitt both won convincingly as did James Allington in the final frame, despite a few flukes going in favour of his opponent, Dave Davies.

Having won their opening match 5-0 Highley WMC were brought back to earth by St. John’s B who had themselves lost their opener by the same score. St. John’s beat Highley 4-1 with Mark Worsdell sending the away team on its way. This was followed by a closely contested win for Mark Jones who just managed to beat a resilient Dan Harris. Brian Jones then made it 3-0. Jason Brown pulled one back for Highley, which was enough to keep them on top of the Second Division pack but a good win for Pete Williams completed a good night’s work for St John’s.

Alveley B, playing against Maddocks, got their season underway but fell short after two excellent opening frames won by son and father; Martin Coffey’s Junior and Senior. MC Junior started the balls rolling with a scintillating performance played against Mike Wainwright, knocking in breaks of 32 and 28 in the process. MC Senior then made it 2-0 to Alveley. However, the wheels fell off the bus for the home team in the final three frames. Ben Godding (25-break), Tom Hampson and Chris Adams (33-break) convincingly turn the match around and into a deserving 3-2 win for Maddocks.