Owen Jones writes for the David Wain Insurance Premier Division

Burton Cons B travelled to Ivanhoe B hoping to come away with a positive result and they did just that. Stu Tagg was first up against Mike Buckland. The Cons man had too much for his opponent on the night despite repeatedly fouling the blue in the first frame and Tagg having no luck with rattled pots in the second frame. John Skellett came back from 37 behind to beat Simon Smith in the first frame but Smith fought back to take the second frame. Jason Pickering won two tight frames against Ryan Gibbs. The second frame included a great safety exchange as five reds remained but could not be potted as the pink and black were covering the nearest pocket. Finally, Dave Plunkett showed a good return to form as he beat Brendon Mattley to close out the match and a 5-3 win for the visitors.

Ivanhoe A were looking to bounce back from the previous week’s defeat as they visited Tutbury A. The damage was done in the first half of the match as Daniel Blunn beat Dave Powell and Ant Moore defeated Steve Hathaway, aided by a nice 38 break. This put the Ashby side in control and only needing one frame for victory. Dave Mabbott stemmed the tide as he beat Steve Butler but Mick Kirk won the all important frame as he shared two close frames with Chris Mabbott.

Spot On A won 5-3 at home against Belmont B. Mark Stirling knocked in a 39 break on the way to beating Zaheer Hussain. Tom Elliott then supplemented that by taking both frames against Graham Bailey. Ade Harper shared two good frames with Martin Smith and finally, Rich Goldby beat Andy Spiers to complete the scoring.

Chimneys A picked up a victory at home against a spirited Stapenhill A side. Wayne Pereira and Bill Stewart did the damage as they won all their frames. Steve Ford beat Daz Lester in reply for the visitors and Andy Gretton could only manage a draw with Dean Johnston which meant the victory went to the hosts by a 5-3 margin.

Alrewas A also won another close match on the night as they played Chimneys B. Ian Hiley won both frames against Steve Lane and Adam Walton defeated Steve Butterworth to put the hosts in control. Tim Hodgkinson won two frames back for the visitors as he beat Dave Trueman. Colin Kinsella took the decisive frame as he drew with Loz Kennerson.

Belmont A won 6-2 at home against Swadlincote Snooker Centre A. Ian Archer beat Steve Ayre with some solid play. Wayne Brewin, aided by a 37 break, won both frames against Andy Goldingay. Shaun Gebbie and Mark Satchwell shared two entertaining frames, as did Josh Gebbie and Chris Dewey to close out the match.

Burton Cons A won 6-2 against Swad Cons A. Owen Jones got the ball rolling as he won both frames against Paul Slater with some decent potting. Mick Simpkins faced Andy Grainger on the other table and it was the Swadlincote man who took the first frame with some good play, which included breaks of 35 and 39. Simpkins came back strongly in the second and won it with two 20 plus breaks. Darren Coady and Simon Orpwood shared two scrappy frames and finally, Graham Stevens, the form player in the league showed why he is living up to that billing by knocking in a lovely 83 break as he won both frames against the unfortunate Simon Mansfield.

Mike Buckland writes for Division 1

Chimneys C went another step closer to promotion back to the Premier Division with a hard fought 5-3 away win at Burton Cons C. Tom Egginton and Trevor Heath shared the first two frames with Tom unlucky to jaw the black and leave it for Trevor to mop up in the second. Lee Louch included a nice 30 in a good match against Tony Clements which also ended in a draw. In the second half, Matt Hucker and Steve Gaunt were also not to be separated so it was up to John Hardy to secure the win which he duly did against the Cons’ captain Ian Shrive. Chimneys need 6 frames from their last two matches to ensure promotion. Cons C will have to console themselves with two tremendous runs to the finals of both the Presidents Cup and The Orme Shield.

Rolleston A kept their challenge together with another hard won 5-3 victory against the fading SDSC C. They won largely due to another win for their talisman Ant Rushton whilst everyone else drew. He won his 26th straight league frame of the season in his win over Rich Hinks who might have had an easier debut match for the Swad side. Bobby Cliff had a cracking 37 in his game against Pete Maguire but had to settle for a share of the spoils.Captain Joe Docksey drew yet again-this time against Henry Tomas-his 15th draw in 23 matches and he is still unbeaten for the season. The game between Rich O’Dell and Ben Davies also ended a draw with Ben notching the division’s high break of the week with an excellent 48.Rolleston play Belmont D and then Chimneys C in their last two games so it will not yet be assured that they will win the 9 frames they need to secure promotion. SDSC look like they are to have another season Div One having led the pack for a long time after winning their first seven matches.

There is now a right tussle going on for 3rd spot and a move into the top division. Ivanhoe C knew they needed to beat Alrewas C if they were to stand any chance of staying in the promotion race and that’s exactly what they did. In a really tight contest witnessed largely by your reporter, Gaz Dolman got the home side off to a great start beating Tom Wright. On the other table John Richardson of Alrewas knocked a lovely 45 in but was only able to draw with Jerry Cook. Karl Hancox, still the only man to knock in a ton this season, was at it again as he produced a good 32 in his win over Darren Wilson- however this took a tremendous effort in the second frame as he recovered from the dead to nick it on the black. Graham Measures saw Ivanhoe draw level with Alrewas in the league table by beating Rob McMeecham who was unable to reproduce his early season form. It is highly likely now that one of these two teams will be promoted and the other consigned to another season in Division One.

After a string of better results Tutbury were beaten 6-2 by Newhall-a result that sees Newhall up to 5th in the table and may see The Tutters back to Division Two.Sam Hicks and Mark Anslow won their matches against Colin Bell and Dave Brady. Martin Hicks and Jeff Siddalls drew as did Carl Glover and Paul Atterbury. It makes it 5 unbeaten for Newhall and they are probably wondering what might have been if they had got off to a decent start back in September. Tutbury have difficult fixtures against Alrewas and Ivanhoe to contend with whilst hoping for a slip from SDSC B.

Stapenhill B and Belmont D fought out a 4-4 draw- a result which leaves them both solidly in the middle of the table. Greg Britton can count himself unlucky to have lost both to Micky Morris who showed his class yet again to get over the line. Jon Swift took his time to defeat Tom Holland who made just too many errors to leave the score at 2-2. Belmont’s stand in, Simon Deakin, who is still learning the game, potted some lovely balls but came up against an in form Bryan Sherratt who had too much in the end and came out the winner. In the last, Mark Vaughan won the first by 50 points against Tim Knopik but Tim rallied well in the second. He was odds on to win the frame after fluking the blue but failed to play the pink safe and Mark mopped up for a win and an overall draw.Barring some kind of miracle, both sides will be playing in Division One next season.

In a battle between two sides currently just above the relegation zone, it was SDSC B who came out on top against Rolleston B 6-2. Ray Stretton played nicely to defeat Lionel Lewis whilst Nick Harcombe kept up his fine seasons’s work in his win over Rob Sanders. John Harvey got Rolleston back in the match with a good 2-0 win over Ray Bancroft but it was Mike Staley who was man of the match for the Swad side as he included a lovely 39 in his win over Kev Norris. Both teams need a few more frames yet to be safe after a little too much inconsistency throughout the season.

Finally, the match between two relegation threatened sides Belmont C and Alrewas B ended 5-3 to the Swadlincote outfit- a result that may condemn both to Division Two next year.John Sharpe got Alrewas off to a good start by defeating Terry Bosworth but Mark Press scored his customary two frames to beat Alan Wilson. Doug Lees and Will Sherratt halved to leave Brian Cutting the hero as he beat Gary Green. With still only 49 points separating top from bottom , this has been a really competitive league and even if relegated the sides from this division will be strong favourites to return back at the first time of asking.

Tony Coleman your on the spot reporter reporting on the final weeks of the season in Division 2

The Baulkline A claimed their home game against Swad Cons D because the Cons were unable to raise a team and not being able to rearrange within the next two weeks which leaves the Baulkline 16 points ahead of second placed Spot On C with only two games left. This means that the Spots need to win both matches 8-0 and that the Baulkline needs to lose both matches by the same score although we have an interesting match this week which sees them play each other at Newhall.

The team of the week has to be Swad Cons C who got their first win of the season at home to the very inconsistent Rolleston C winning 5-3. I am really pleased for the Swad guys who turn up every week to enjoy their snooker night out provided there is a bar. Like most teams in the league they are no trouble at all just a great bunch of guys. Rolleston are so inconsistent a few weeks ago they beat Spot On C when they were going strong but are just as capable of losing to teams below them as the Snookerettes turned them over. The Cons did not get off to the best of starts thanks to Aaron Doyle playing some superb snooker in both frames in beating John Griffin. Paul son of John showed him how getting a win is done in beating Steve Atkin in two tight frames. Paul just shaded the first frame mainly down to some small breaks. The second frame could have gone either way with both players knocking in some nice pots with the frame only being decided on the last two colours. Pete ‘the shorts’ Fearn played his part in this great win by drawing with John Ward. John managed to control the first frame fairly easily but the ‘shorts’ had different ideas as he stepped up his game to a new level rarely seen this season with a number of long pots and cracking safety. Jon Petcher played the captain’s role to a tee in beating Dave Bentley. In the first frame Jon struggled a little at the start but gained in confidence as the balls kept rolling into the pocket and Dave was struggling to contain him. The second frame was a little more tense with Jon knowing that the first win was within their grasp but with Jon’s good safety play and also getting the rewards for dropping one or two snookers which Dave was at times unlucky not to get out of but got the win they deserved. Over the last few weeks their score lines have been improving – bring on next weeks opponents.
Alrewas D had a great win at the A38 Arena beating Spot On C 5-3. The Spots only turned up with three players. Dave Riley got the A38 boys off to a cracking start by taking both frames against Ben Menzies who can be a formidable opponent on his day. Dave is currently playing some great snooker and at times it looks like he is not going to miss. Tonight was one of those nights for Dave winning fairly comfortably although Ben did make some good pots. Tom Smith had an easy night being the unlucky player to miss out on a game. This put Alrewas 4-0 ahead but despite drawing the second half the Spots could not pull back anymore frames. Shaun Tubbert must be the home sides most improved player of the season as he did very well in drawing with Billy Newman in two close frames which could have gone either way if anyone of the players had made the most of their chances. John Chambers making a rare appearance in the division showed that he is a more than capable potter as he took both frames with Brian Eccleston. Because John’s potting form was so good Brian was not allowed too much table time. What damage has this defeat done to the Spots chances of finishing second???

The Chimneys D are certainly on fire at the moment as they beat Ivanhoe D 6-2. It looks like the Chimneys want to end their season in style as they are moving to a new venue next year. Adi Millington is certainly enjoying his snooker very much at the moment as he became one of the few people this season to take both frames off Jason Collins. Jason has been very consistent throughout the season but in this match Adi’s potting prowess was too good for him. Adam Holloway is most certainly taking notice of the advice that his senior colleagues are giving him. Over the last few weeks his potting has improved immensely and in this game he showed further proof of it in beating Keith Bale with some good pots but Keith made him fight for every point with both frames going down to brown and blue. Dave Budworth the Chimneys skipper was made to struggle in his match with Tony Tredger which ended with honours shared. The first frame was rather scrappy with both players struggling to get any rhythm going but ended with Tony winning it on the pink. The second frame saw both players finding the potting range a bit different to the first which saw both players stroking in some nice pots but with Dave winning it on the high colours. Bill Davidson drew with Roy Hickman who in every game he plays in seems to comes away with a draw. Bill was the more attacking player in the first frame making a number of small breaks to take the frame. In the second Roy came back well to take the frame with some fine pots. Will the king of the dance floor ‘Saga Man’ Warner Collins play another game this season after cracking a number of ribs whilst dancing the tango! Len Goodman wishes him a speedily recovery as the dance floor just is not the same without him because it lowers the average age on the dance floor. Get well soon.

Woodville S&S A managed to get back to winning ways after a tight tussle with the Snookerettes aka Spot On B who they beat 5-3. Gentleman Jim Marcer shared the frames with Gilda Horvath with Jim winning the first frame fairly comfortably with some nice running of the balls. In the second frame it was a very close game with Gilda playing the better snooker with a number of good pots to win it on the pink. On the other table Alan Orpwood won a very good match against Marie Bridges. In both frames she made two breaks of 17 which included a couple of difficult pots on the black especially one into the middle bag. Overall Marie probably deserved a frame through her potting but Alan had the edge on the potting when it was required. This put Woodville 3-1 ahead at the interval with the second half ending all square. Tony Coleman drew with Kate Stirling. Tony took the first frame on the low colours but in the second game Kate was the better player as she knocked in some nice small breaks with some good safety play. Pat ‘Bamber’ Ryan also drew with Yvonne Spendlove. In the first frame Pat was in control thanks to his superior potting but in the second frame Vonnie took the incentive and the control was mainly down to some solid potting.

SDSC D kept alive their promotion hopes with a hard fought win over Woodville S&S B who have been in great form of late winning 5-3. Rob Press one of the home clubs floating players was made to fight for his two frames against Billy Hunt who was in fine potting form but just missed out in both frames on the high colours. Brian Bloor drew with Wayne Allen with the first frame being rather scrappy and neither player being at the best of their form with Wayne just taking it. The second frame was won by Brian with both players at last managing to pot the balls with some good pots by both players. SDSC were 3-1 ahead at the turn and things got significantly better for the home side as Andy Bloor won both frames against an in-form Mark Gallagher who can feel rather unlucky not to have taken at least a frame. Denis ‘the menace’ Moore was again in good form in beating Garton Bloor who seemed to miss very few opportunities to get into the balls and make some nice small breaks.