Week 8 of the Burton and District Snooker League began with disappointing news as Swadlincote Snooker Centre B dropped out of the Premier Division. Belmont B were the unlucky recipients on the night as their opponents did not turn up.

It was derby time at the Royal British Legion with the A and B team slugging it out for the right to be top dogs. Up first was Adam Walton and Will Sherratt who shared the frames after both went to the final black. Sherratt cleared up fabulously in the first and Walton followed suit in the second. Dave Trueman and John Sharpe also shared the frames both netting their highest breaks of the season. Sharpe in the first with a well crafted 31 to land the frame and Trueman with an exquisite 36 in the second to even it up. Carl Poulton took both frames comfortably against Roy Sherrattbut it was Colin Kinsella who stole the show and made sure of the win. Kinsella made breaks of 32 and 33 to take the first against Alan Wilson. In the second frame Kinsella made the division’s second highest break of the season, a brilliant 73, that could easily have been more to wrap up a great night for the B team.

Ivanhoe A picked up a good win against Rileys A. Andy Marriott knocked in a 39 in defeating Ade Harper and Ian Rennocks compiled breaks of 47 and 30 to beat Mark Stirling. Andy Spiers put up some resistance for the visitors as he defeated Ant Moore but Mick Kirk confirmed the victory taking both frames against Tom Elliott.

Belmont A won 5-3 at home to Tutbury A. Steve Hathaway knocked in a break of 30 for the visitors but it was to no avail as Ian Archer responded with a 33 to take both frames. Fran McInulty then compiled breaks of 34 and 30 to win both frames against Steve Mabbott. Mark Press shared the frames with Dave Mabbott and finally Chris Mabbott took both frames against Shaun Gebbie to close out the match.

Stapenhill A suffered a heavy defeat at home to Burton Cons A. John Shilton, Owen Jones, Matt Milnes and Stuart Roberts did just enough in all the frames to clinch an 8-0 victory.

Willington A also lost heavily at home to Swadlincote Snooker Centre A. Steve Ayre, Andy Goldingay and Mark Satchwell took maximum frames against Jan Pawlazych, Wayne Periera and Dean Johnston respectively. Bill Stewart halted the whitewash as he drew with Chris Dewey.

Burton Cons C shared the honours with Swad Cons A in a quality match.Jim Jennings shared the frames with Lee Wood.The first frame was more of a war of attrition with Jim taking the frame on the black after having about twelve attempts to pot it.Lee won the second frame a little more comfortably.Mick Buckland the number one floater was again in terrific form both with his potting and safety play as he easily beat Simon Mansfield who did not have the best of running also he was trying to get to grips with his new cue.For Swad Cons Andy Grainger was in awesome form in the first frame as he blew away his opponent Steve Castledine with some great pots as he made back to back breaks of 34 and 26 respectively to take the first with Steve only getting one point.The second frame was not much different except that Andy did not make any significant breaks.The battle of the captains also ended all square with Ian Shrive winning the first frame fairly easily then Paul Slater earned Swad Cons the draw with a number of fine pots and a draw being a fair result between two well matched sides.

Willington C kept up their winning momentum as they beat their fellow club mates Willington D in a close match 5-3.Lee Cooke got the C team off to a good start in winning both frames against Adi Millington which included a good 26 break.Dave Budworth pulled the home team level with his customary two frames as he beat Steve Williams.Buddie missed very little scoring opportunities in both frames.Bill Davidson and Steve Lane shared the frames in two very safety conscious frames.Brian Alford was understandably a little rusty having only just returned from his fishing holiday in the Shetlands where he caught some lovely fish a bike wheel and a shopping trolley!Steve Butterworth netted a lovely 33 break with some excellent control of the cue ball.The two frames that Steve won gave Willington C the bragging rights.

Rolleston A got their second win of the season in fine style as they beat Alrewas C 7-1.The first frame between Joe Docksey and John Richardson was a very close one which was only decided when John cleared from brown to black to win the frame.In fact it was their only frame of the night.The second frame was won fairly easily by Joe who made a number of small breaks to win – one of them was a 22 break.James Wilkinson had a great first frame making some nice pots which included a twenty break as he beat Tommy Wright.The second frame was a lot closer only be decided on the black.Rolleston’s Tony Rushton played some great snooker especially in the first frame against Karl Hancox as he knocked in a 24 break.Tony won this frame fairly easily as his cause was helped by some superb long pots.Karl played a lot better in the second frame and was unlucky to lose on the black.Richard O’Dell managed to beat Colin Wood in both frames.In the first frame Richard made a nice 23 break to easily win the first.The second frame was a closer game with Richard potting well once again.Alrewas could feel a little bit hard done by as they lost a couple of games on the black.

Newhall B lost a little bit of groundin the promotion chase as they drew with Willington B.Steady Eddie Glover was at it again with a solid performance in the dispatching of Willington’s Dave Mawhinney.Lee Sherratt who is not having one of his best seasons so far was unlucky to lose both frames in a tight match with Andy Jenkins.This made the score 2-2 at the interval.One of the star players so far this season has been Martin Hicks who has produced some sparkling snooker and tonight was no exception as he made breaks of 35 and 32 in winning both frames off Steve Gaunt who could do very little to stop Martin.Trevor Heath probably put in his best display of the season so far as he beat Mark Anslow who was wearing his new glasses to earn his side the draw.Trevor made a 30 break in winning one of his frames.

Ivanhoe C recorded their second win of the season as they beat a determined SDSC E 5-3.Gaz Dolman led from the front with a fine display of potting in beating Ray Stretton who made some valuable contributions to the match.Gaz made a important 30 break which helped to win one of his frames.This helped to get Ivanhoe’s evening off on the right foot.Unfortunately this did not continue as Nick Harcombe with another solid performance got the away team back on level terms in beating Jerry Cook. Graham Measures and Tony Mitchell shared the frames with neither player being on top of their game. Darren Wilson for Ivanhoe ensured that the night ended on a good note as he beat the determined Ray Bancroft with a gritty display for the Ivanhoe victory.

Burton Cons B continued their great start to the season with another fine win at home to SDSC D winning 6-2.The Cons could not have wished for a better start thanks to Simon Smith and Jason Anguish winning all of their frames.Simon Smith played well within himself to take both frames off Brian Bloor with a number of small breaks. Jason Anguish was made to fight for his two frames against John Chambers with both players making valuable contributions to a quality match. This put the home side 4-0 ahead at the turn and it never looked likely to be overturned.Dave Plunkett was as consistent as ever in taking both frames in a long drawn out match with Garton Bloor. Dave Shipton was the only Cons player not to win a frame losing to Andy Bloor who added a little bit of respectability to the score.Both Dave and Andy played some good snooker between them but with Andy finishing the stronger.On this form the Cons are going to take some stopping this season.

Alrewas D continue to put good performances together and this week did so again narrowly beating Ashby Ivanhoe D, who are a team much better than recent performances suggest, Tony Trueman being the difference between the teams winning two frames againstWarner Collins in an otherwise drawn match.

Belmont’s high flying C and D teams locked horns, Mick Morris for the D team and riding high in the division averages got them off to a great start taking both frames against Terry Bosworth also sitting high in the averages while on the other table Glenn Matthews got the better of Mark Vaughan with some excellent potting to level the scores, the D teams Brett Craddock played solidly against Doug Lees winning both, leaving the D team on the verge of victory,The C team’s Brian Cutting had other ideas and comfortably beat Tom Holland to earn the draw and give a fair result and keep the banter to a minimum in a good natured encounter.

League leaders Stapenhill B showed the ladies of Riley’s B no mercy winning 8-0 and yet again still managed to avoid sending a match report.

Swad Cons D travelled to Rolleston to play the C team and were also on the wrong end of an 8-0 result, Lionel Lewis making a 29 break in the two frames he won against Bob Birch.Swad Cons B team fared better against Rolleston B, drawing with them, for Swad Paul Hollis and Colin Cope won 2 frames each as did Rolleston’s Aaron Doyle and Steve Atkin, in a poor night for Swad Cons the C team could only field 3 player with only Pete Fearn taking a frame off Bill Hunt, for Woodville Jack Gallagher, Terry Eley and Jim Gardner won 2 frames each. 

Tutbury B had another good win at home against Burton Cons D Dave Brady, John Peto and Jeff Siddalls winning all there frames. Nathan Brooks taking two off Colin Bell to leave a 6-2 score line.