Belmont A looked to take a firm grip on second place as they hosted Chimneys A. Josh Gebbie was in fine fettle, knocking in a 30 break in taking both frames against Dean Johnston. On the other table, Fran McInulty potted well on the night as he won both against Bill Stewart to put the hosts in control. Jan Pawlazych halted the charge as he won both frames against Shaun Gebbie. Wayne Brewin completed the victory for the Swadlincote side as he won the final two frames against Wayne Pereira to seal a 6-2 victory.

Burton Cons B were hoping to build on the previous week’s great win away at Ivanhoe A as they hosted Swad Cons A. Simon Smith was first up against Andy Grainger. The Swadlincote player potted well and duly won both frames against an out of sorts Smith. Ryan Gibbs compiled a good 30 break to take the first frame against Simon Orpwood but his opponent responded well to win the second. Dave Plunkett and Paul Slater clashed swords and came away with a frame each. Finally, Dave Shipton played out a hard fought draw with Simon Mansfield to complete a 5-3 scoreline in the visitors favour.

Chimneys B welcomed Stapenhill A to Willington. Tim Hodgkinson and Lee Cooke both shared the frames with Chris Sheldrake and Carl Jeffcoate to leave the scores level at half time. Steve Lane and Andy Gretton also won a frame each so the deciding factor proved to be Loz Kennerson, who constructed a nice 35 break in beating Steve Ford to claim the victory and a 5-3 win for his side.

The Ivanhoe derby saw the A team defeat the B team… but only just. Ant Moore drew with Stu Tagg who took the first frame from a seemingly unassailable position. Mick Kirk then potted well at key times to beat Brendon Mattley, taking the first on the pink and the second with a 32 break. Ian Rennocks and Jason Pickering won a frame each and finally, Daniel Blunn secured the win as he won one of the frames against John Skellett, helped by a tidy 30 break.

Swadlincote Snooker Centre A and Belmont B played out a well contested draw. Chris Dewey made breaks of 40 and 32 but could only take one of the frames against Zaheer Hussain. John Davis played well to take the first frame against Graham Bailey but his opponent responded in the second by knocking in a 32 break to take it. Andy Goldingay proved to be too strong for Arron Vaughan on the night as he took both frames. Rich Goldby earned the draw for the visitors by putting on a strong performance to beat Mark Satchwell.

Tutbury A and Spot On A also played out a draw on the night. Steve Hathaway and Tom Elliott made a draw, as did Dave Mabbott and Mark Stirling. Ade Harper took both frames against Steve Mabbott and finally, Chris Mabbott made a lovely 52 break as he earned a draw for the hosts by beating Andy Speirs.

In Division One,the week began with Alrewas C holding a handy 6 point cushion at the top of the tree. By the end though, they were only one point clear and there are now four sides within four points at the top. Burton Cons C had already this season beaten Alrewas twice in the Orme Shield and then just the previous week in the final of the Divisional Presidents Cup. Both of those results were decided by the extra time doubles. On this occasion though,Alrewas were handed a 7-1 thumping. Only John Richardson managed to win a frame for the leaders as he drew with Cons’ captain Ian Shrive. Lee Louch proved what a good player he is by beating the Alrewas captain Karl Hancox, his first league defeat of the season. With Tom Egginton showing a return to form as well, it provided The Cons with only their 4th league win of the season out of 18 games.

Over at Belmont, the home D team were only able to muster a draw against strugglers Alrewas B.The away side could only take 3 players handing a walkover for Belmont’s stand-in Glyn Holland.Mark Vaughan took on Alan Wilson and the first frame was all potting. Mark taking it after a brilliant long pink to land perfectly on the black.Alan played well in the second to earn a deserved draw. At one point Mark had gone into the pack to leave himself an impossible snooker after touching two balls with no possible escape. Mark was able to resolve the situation thanks largely to having taken a referee’s exam which had told him what to do, which meant him giving a 6 point foul. For reference, you would need to nominate the best possible option of ball to hit and then strike the white with sufficient force in order that you would have hit the ball if the other balls were not in the way. This means it is a foul but is deemed not a deliberate one as it is the best you could have done. Micky Morris and Will Sherratt also played out a draw leaving John Sharpe to beat a slightly below par Tom Holland for the overall draw.

For the 14th time out of 18 games, Tutbury B were able to win at least 3 frames but again they fell just short in being able to win overall-something they have managed just once all season. This time it was Chimneys C who were the beneficiaries who scraped overthe line 5-3. John Hardy, Trevor Heath and Steve Gaunt all took draws against Paul Atterbury, Dave Brady and Colin Bell respectively. Tony Clements was to make the difference on the night by defeating Jeff Siddalls, his seventh straight win.

A well contested draw was fought out at Ashby between Ivanhoe C and SDSC B.Nick Harcombe won his customary two frames for the away side -this time against the unlucky Gaz Dolman. Daz Wilson was able to square up the match with a comfortable 2-0 win over Andy Collins. The second half was a tight affair with Steve Cockeram drawing with Ray Bancroft and then Jerry Cook sharing the frames with Ray Stretton-Jerry including a lovely 32 along the way. Te draw though still leaves the Swad side perilously close to the relegation zone and has lest Ivanhoe in fifth, 9 points off the top.

Rolleston A kept up their push for promotion by beating Belmont C 5-3. Mark Press won for Belmont against James Wilkinson. Rich O’Dell drew with Brian Cutting to leave the Swad side 3-1 up. The second half was a different story though with Joe Docksey and Bobby Cliff both victorious in their matches against Doug Less and Dave Press.This now makes in 11 matches unbeaten for The Rollers and with Tony Rushton to come back they are looking good for promotion. For Belmont it is the opposite story-they have now gone 10 matches without a win and are two points away from safety.

SDSC C failed to take advantage of the defeat for Alrewas C as they themselves lost 5-3 at home to Rolleston B. Simon Shilton, Henry Tomas and Ben Davies all scored one in their games against Lionel Lewis, Rob Sanders and Kev Norris. It was Rolleston’s John Harvey who made the difference on the night by beating Carl Hyde.After winning their first seven matches, SDSC C went eight before they won againand have now slipped out of the top three-they are only 4 points off the top though so could still make a late charge for the title.A second consecutive win for Rolleston may have been enough to take the fear of relegation away.

Stapenhill B cemented their position in the middle of the table with a good 6-2 victory over Newhall A. Jon Swift won again to leave him third in the averages table. He was joined as a winner on the evening by Greg Britton. John Sherriff and Martin Hurdman drew as did Bryan Sherratt with Martin Hicks.

The Baulkline A are currently on fire at the moment as they beat Chimneys D 7-1 at the Sapperton Circle.Simon Seabridge not one of the regular players but what a terrific stand-in. Simon was in superb form as he beat Steve Williams fairly easily in both frames which included a well constructed 37 break to win one of his frames.Tom Lucas had a fairly easy night according to Jon Sully as he beat Adi Millington rather easily with Adi scoring only seven points in the first frame and scoring only eight in the second.Tom also made a quick fire 27 break to take the second frame.This put the Baulkline 4-0 ahead at the interval and Wayne Smith still to play!!!Jon Sully and Bill Davidson shared their frames in two very tactical games with both players showing off their safety skills.Bill’s frame prevented the dreaded whitewash for the Chimneys.Wayne Smith took his two customary frames against Dave Budworth who is a most talented player but he had no answer to the Baulkline potting machine who knocked in 75 points in just four visits to the table in the first frame.Wayne also took the second fairly comfortably as well.This win sees them overtake Spot On C and lead the Division by one point but there is still a distance to go yet.

Spot On C seem to be stuttering a little at the moment as they drew with Ivanhoe D their opponents in the forthcoming Divisional final on Monday night.Ben Menzies and Keith Bale drew in a high quality match with both players knocking in a number of good pots.Sean Bates played some lovely snooker as he took both frames off old swively hips Warner Collins in an entertaining match but with Sean making the most of his chances when they arose.Warner is gutted as his dancing troupe are away again this week in Scarborough at a Saga reunion meaning he is unavailable for the Divisional final.I must apologise to the great man about not putting in a comment about his previous weeks 37 break but unfortunately it was written down wrong on the card!A rare occurrence happened in the match between Jared Cronje and Jason Collins.Jared lost both frames to Jason who played out of his skin.Both players had their potting heads on with neither player missing an opportunity to go for the pot.Jason’s long potting was spot on.Billy Newman and Jack Bale had a right battle on their hands with neither wanting to lose the match for their team so there was a good mixture of potting and safety playwith the match result of a draw being a fair reflection of the game.

Third placed Swad Cons B took on fourth placed SDSC D and ran out worthy winners 6-2 to increase the gap between third and fourth to 12 points.The evergreen Bob McNulty took on and beat Brian Bloor.The first frame was a rather tactical battle which suited Bob’s style of play but the second frame was more open with the reds spread all over the table.Bob managed to edge in front early on and just managed to survive Brian’s onslaught.Paul Hollis with the help of a solid 26 break managed a share the frames with David Wain who played a number of good shots.The Cons were 3-1 ahead at the turn and they also won the second half by the same score.Gerald White played very well to take a frame against Andrew Bloor.Andy knocked in a very good 40 break which included one or two difficult pots to keep his break going.Ross Hollis has been playing some solid of snooker of late and against Garton Bloor this continued in both frames which included one or two small but significant breaks as he took both frames off Garton.

Woodville S&S A were certainly made to struggle as they took on basement team Swad Cons C winning 6-2.Gentleman Jim Marcer had a battle on his hands especially in the first frame against John Griffin who managed to come back well after being a few points behind and did well to get a number of nice snookers not necessarily played for but the balls were in a good position to get snookers but Jim managed to pot the pink for the frame.The second frame was a little easier for Jim as he was able to control the frame from the front.Alan Orpwood took both frames against Pete ‘no shorts’ Fearn this was a shock but probably it was just too cold for his knees!!Alan was in superb form in the first frame missing very little with Pete conceding on the yellow.In the second frame Pete did well to get in front thanks to a number of smart pots but gradually Alan whittled away his lead to be safe on the blue.This put the Warriors 4-0 ahead at the turn.Pat Ryan played very well at times as he took both games against Jon Petcher.In the first half of the first frame Pat had built up a nice lead and was in control then Jon started to find his potting which put Pat under some pressure but to no avail as Pat took the frame on the pink.The second frame was tight early on but Pat manged to pot a number of good pots to win on the low colours.Paul Griffin was the Cons star as he took both frames against Tony Coleman who was a little out of sorts but full credit to Paul who got a number of cracking reds with colours – a trick he has learnt from his father.Paul has got a great cuing action which should put him in good stead for the future.

The Divisions draw specialists Swad Cons D really surprised us this week with a whitewash against Rolleston D winning 8-0.When they have Gaz Ward in the team they are a different class.Gaz took both frames in some style against Dave Bentley.In the first frame Gaz missed very little but the second was a lot closer being decided on the high colours.Bob Birch won both frames in an entertaining match with John Ward.Both players made a number of small breaks with Bob just shading both frames. Kieron Dadley played and won two cracking frames of snooker against Aaron Doyle with both players going for their pots but with Kieron just potting a few more balls than his opponent.Dave ‘the Bodie man’ playing in his normal attire showing off his sun tanned knees was in awesome form against Neil Cheadle who had no answer to the Cons potting machine as Dave took control of both frames at an early stage.This win sees them move up three places in the division.

Alrewas D seem to have gone off the boil of late this time they lost at the A38 Arena to the slightly inconsistent Burton Cons D who won 5-3.The ‘wily old fox’ Jim Jennings again showed off his talents in both the potting and safety department in a highly entertaining match (when is it not entertaining when Jim’s around?!) as he beat Brian Eccleston in both frames.Brian made some valuable contributions to the match and with a bit more good fortune could have got a draw.Tony Trueman and Ian Protheroe shared their frames with Tony playing some great safety shots and Ian making a number of important pots to ensure the draw.Brian Aldridge despite playing two good frames of snooker against Nathan Brooks always seemed to have just the edge on the potting.Shaun Tubbert who appears to be getting his confidence back as he turned in a fine display of solid snooker to take both frames with Paul Brooks who got one or two smart pots.Shaun’s win makes the score more reflective of the match.

Woodville S&S B got back to winning ways in an entertaining game with the lovely Snookerettes aka Spot On B where they won 6-2.Possibly the match score was not a true reflection of the match.Claire Peaty despite making a difficult sixteen break lost both frames to Mark Gallagher who knocked in a nice 30 break with some difficult pots to keep his break going. Marie Bridges did her best to take a frame of the rejuvenated Denis Moore who played some of his best snooker for a while with a number of good pots.Kate Stirling yet again played very solidly as she drew with Jack Gallagher who was playing for the first time this season.Jack was a little rusty at times but he also knocked in some good pots.The Snookerettes star player on the night was Yvonne Spendlove who did well to earn a draw against Wayne Allen. Vonnie made a lovely clearance to win her frame with one or two difficult pots to keep the break going.