Reigning champions Burton Cons A fell to their first defeat in almost a year as they lost 5-3 at second placed Ivanhoe A. In form Andy Marriott defeated John Shilton with breaks of 68 and 39. Darren Coady then drew the visitor’s level as he beat Ian Rennocks, which included a 72 break. Ant Moore then drew with Matt Milnes. Milnes won the first at a canter with a break of 43 but Moore responded in the second to level things up. It was captain Mick Kirk who proved to be the difference as he overcame Owen Jones, who couldn’t get going on the night. Kirk won a scrappy first frame which could have gone either way and then cleared the table well in the second with a 34 break which clinched the match.

Third placed Belmont A cemented their position as they beat Belmont B in their derby clash. Josh Gebbie potted very well to take both frames off an out of sorts Zahir Hussain. Ian archer took the first off Michael Lomas easily with a 40 break but had to battle hard against a valiant attempt by Michael to take the second. Even with a break of 37 in the first, Wayne Brewin could not stop a good-potting Rich Goldby from taking both frames. Fran McInulty took the first frame off Miffa Smith with a break of 30 and needed a break of 32 in the second against Smith’s 38 break to take the second frame and secured a 6-2 win to the A-team.

Willington A picked up a good 6-2 victory at home to Ivanhoe B. Wayne Pereira shared the frames with Ivan Birkin to begin proceedings. Dean Johnston beat Bren Mattley on the other table to put the Willington side in control. Jan Pawlazych then drew with Jason Pickering, who knocked in breaks of 41 and 38. Alan Davies clinched the match as he won 2-0 against Stu Tagg, aided by a break of 32.

Swadlincote Snooker Centre A also won 6-2 on the night as they hosted Alrewas A. Steve Ayre defeated Roy Sherratt and also knocked in a break of 34. Chris Dewey shared the frames with John Sharpe and John Davis drew with Will Sherratt. Mark Satchwell potted well to beat Alan Wilson to win the match for the home side.

Tutbury A won a tight match at home against Rileys A. Steve Mabbott was the only victor on the night as he defeated Ade Harper. All other matches were drawn. Chris Mabbott knocked in breaks of 46 and 23 in sharing the frames with Mark Stirling and Dave Powell rolled back the years by knocking in a 28 in his drew with Nigel Tomlinson. Dave Mabbott made a 26 break in the final game of the night as he played Tom Elliott.

Burton Cons C kept up their fine start to the season with a solid performance at home to Willington B winning 6-2.  Mike Buckland’s superb season continues as he beat Trevor Heath.  Mike to be fair had a good share of the running and just managed to out pot Trevor who had a number of opportunities but failed to take them all.  For the second week running that wily old fox Jim Jennings was the Cons Man of the Match as he drew with John Hardy in two well fought frames.  Jim potted a superb long black down the rail to win his frame.  The best match of the evening was between Steve Castledine and Steve Gaunt of Willington which ended in a well deserved draw. Steve Gaunt won the first frame with a solid display of potting.  The second frame could have gone either way with Steve Castledine going 30 points in front thanks to a nice 21 break but Steve Gaunt came straight back at him with a nice 25 break of his own thus putting the game in the balance right down to the final black which was missed by Steve Gaunt handing the frame to Steve Castledine.  Ian Shrieve found a little bit of form as he took both frames in a well contested match with Tony Clements. Ian knocked in a fine 24 break to win one of the frames although most of the spectators there would have said that Tony had very little good running.  This win puts them up to second place.

In the battle of the two basement teams Willington D and Rolleston A it was Rolleston who came away from Willington Arena the happier thanks to a very good victory winning 6-2.  Adi Millington played a terrific first frame against Tony Rushton with two superb breaks of 30 and 26 respectively and all of this was before they got to the colours.  Tony for Rolleston tightened up his game and started to get some nice pots leaving him fairly safe on the low colours.  On the balance of play a draw was a fair result.  Dave Budworth was again in his comfort zone in the first frame with a solid display and a fine mixture of good potting and safety play to take the first.  In the second frame Bobby Cliff got himself more into the match to beat Dave on the last few colours thanks to a great pot on the pink.  There was very little to choose between the teams at the turnaround but it was all change in the second half.  Richard O’Dell took both frames against Brian Alford in a couple of scrappy frames with the outcome only being decided on the pink in both frames.  The deciding two frames between Bill Davidson and Rolleston’s Joe Docksey with bouts of good safety play by both players with very little between them it was down to whichever player could make the most of the chances when they arose and it was Joe who managed to take them in both frames for the Rolleston win.

Willington C slipped to third place as they could only draw away to SDSC D.  The snooker club with a little bit of kind running could have won it.  David Wain SDSC’s floating player made a valuable contribution to the game with a very good display as he shared the frames with Taylor Richardson with both players making some fine pots.  Lee Cooke the Willington skipper who is playing some great snooker at the moment carried it through into this match as he beat Brian Bloor fairly comfortably in both frames.  In one of these frames he knocked in a fine break of 39.  Andrew Bloor with a fine attacking display against Steve Lane won both frames which brought the sides level on the night.  It was left to Garton Bloor and Steve Butterworth to battle it out for a positive outcome but neither player could press home the advantage when it arose leaving the match all square.

The match between Woodville S&S A and Alrewas C ended in a draw but the result was in doubt until the final black was potted.  The match started off well for Woodville as Jim Marcer was in superb form in both frames against the unfortunate Colin Wood.  In the first frame Jim missed very little stroking the balls into the pocket like a maestro and making breaks of 34 and 26 ended with Colin conceding on the last red.  The second frame Colin managed to hang on to Jim’s reins for a while but not long enough to stop him winning on the brown.  On the other table Alan Orpwood played an in-form Karl Hancox and in the first frame it was nip and tuck up to the colours before Karl won the frame on the pink.  The second frame Karl was always in control and won it fairly comfortably.  Pat Ryan and Tom Wright had two very close frames in which they went down to the pink and black respectively.  Despite Pat suffering from a hint of the Delhi belly he managed to take the first frame with a mixture of good pots and one or two improvised safety shots.  The second frame was another highly entertaining game with both players having one or two flukes with the frame being decided on the black in favour of Cool Hand Ryan.  This put the Vets 4-2 ahead a lead they could not hold on to as John Richardson took the first frame fairly easily as he beat Tony Coleman.  This frame included a well made 30 break.  The second frame was completely different with Tony going into a 35 point lead but could not hold onto it as John made a 21 break to bring him back into the frame and then clearing the last three colours to steal it on the black.  A good night of snooker.

Newhall A put an end to the Ivanhoe C revival as they beat them 5-3 in cracking game at the Social.  First on was Steady Eddie Glover who played Steve Cockeram and won both frames.  Carl on his own admission was rather lucky to win the first but the second frame he was in the potting groove which included a nice 22 break.  These two frames laid the foundations for their win.  Mark Anslow and Jerry Cook shared the frames with Mark potting well to win his frame.  Jerry did similar in the second. The match of the evening was between Martin Hicks and Gaz Dolman.  In the first frame Martin made the highest break in the division this week of 53 which was of the highest quality and it appeared at times that he had the cue ball on a piece of string such was his control but great credit to Gaz as he came back well to take the second frame with a number of small but telling breaks.  The final two frames were also shared between Callum Gray and Graham Measures.  Graham for the Ivanhoe potted well to take the first frame and must have thought they could get a draw but Callum had other ideas as he played some good pots and solid safety play to earn his side the win.  

The Division 1 league leaders Burton Cons B got back to winning ways in a very tight match between SDSC E with the Cons winning 5-3.

Riley’s B are getting ever closer to a first win in the forever mobility Division two in their first season of league snooker, the ladies have made a welcome addition to the division and won many friends with excellent snooker and great sportswoman ship, all other teams in the division beware they are loving every minute and looking first for a draw and then a win, this week they took on Rolleston B and came close with Kate Stirling, Clare Peaty and Yvonne Spendlove all drawing and birthday girl Gilda Horvath narrowly losing to the ever reliable Steve Atkin for a close 5-3 loss.

Belmont C are turning on the style with another impressive win, Brian Cutting and the ageless Dougie Lees got them off to a perfect start taking the first four frames comfortably, Glen Mathews then took the next frame with some excellent play for the win but John Griffin for Swad Cons C battled back in the second to give his side a frame, Cons captain John Petcher ended the game by blowing away Belmont captain Dave Press and missed nothing in the first, Dave wasn’t finished though and came back to take the second in the same way John had taken the first for a 6-2 win that by the Christmas break  should take them close to the promotion places in an enjoyable friendly contest.

Alrewas D are another side pushing for promotion and recorded yet another good win against Woodville SS B Tony Trueman, Brian Aldridge and Tom Smith winning all there frames with Jim Gardner taking two for the away team to leave a 6-2 scoreline. 

Ashby Ivanhoe D entertained league leaders Stapenhill B in a close contest, for the visitors Greg Britton took the first frame off Tony Tredger with a brilliant display and then lost the second in a long drawn out frame, this was mirrored by the home teams Jack Bale drawing with Stan Piechowicz and Jason Collins drawing with John Sherriff to leave the result on Ashby’s Tim Bale and Stapenhill’s Andy Tomlinson, it was all Andy who showed why his team have been league leaders for most of the season by taking both frames to keep them in top spot. 

Rolleston C lost a little ground in the title chase this week by going down to Burton Cons D who are a much better side than results have shown, Burton’s Paul Brooks, Al Munnien and Ian Protheroe all drew leaving man of the match Nathan Brooks to play and win superbly against Ade Owen for a 5-3 win. 

Tutbury B also slipped to defeat against the unpredictable Swad Cons B, for Swad Jake Mole, Paul Hollis and Vince Draper all drew but it was veteran league player Bob McNulty who took both his frames including a 32 break against Tutbury’s Dave Brady that got the home team the 5-3 win.

Belmont D went away to Swad Cons D and had a great game, Gaz Ward immediately built a 30 point lead against Mark Vaughan but then went off the boil allowing Vaughan to come back and take the frame, the second was an easier affair for the Belmont man winning comfortably, while on the other table floating player Shaun Gebbie drew with Kieran Dadley who played brilliantly to take the second frame, Belmont’s mister consistent Micky Morris shared two close frames with Dave Bodie and a draw would have been a fair result but it was the Belmont man who took both for the win, Swad Cons veteran Bob Birch played well against an improving Tom Holland to win both frames comfortably to leave a 3-5 scoreline which moves Belmont D in the third promotion place.