Burton Cons B won at home against Swadlincote Snooker Centre A. First up, Dave Shipton played John Davis. In the first frame, Davis built up a 40 point lead. Despite Shipton’s best efforts to get a snooker, Davis hung on to take it. The second frame was similar but this time Shipton managed to get the snooker on the final pink and then pot both balls to claim a draw. Mike Buckland then played Steve Ayre and the Cons’ man knocked in a 29 to take the first frame. The second frame saw Ayre go 30 points up but back came Buckland to put pressure on his opponent. Ayre had chances on the colours, but missed at key points to let Buckland in for the win. Andy Goldingay knocked in a 38 break to win the first against Simon Smith but his opponent out potted him in the second frame to earn a draw. The final match proved to be one to forget, as both Dave Plunkett and Mark Satchwell could not get going. Eventually Plunkett won both frames as ten o’clock rapidly approached. This left the final score at 6-2 to the hosts.

Remembrance day was still being respected at the Royal British Legion at Alrewas when it’s A side took on Stapenhill A in an early season “six-pointer”. Adam Walton opened up well for Alrewas taking two scrappy frames off Carl Jeffcoate who probably deserved a draw on the night. Ian Hiley made it three to Alrewas in a close affair but Andy Gretton fought back well in the second to take a draw. Colin Kinsella and Chris Sheldrake also fought out a tough draw that saw Sheldrake take his first frame of the season. Steve Ford of Stapenhill rescued a draw, though, beating Carl Poulton on two final blues, the first with a nice clearance and the second after flukes on the yellow and green.

Ivanhoe A picked up a 6-2 victory away at Spot On A. Steve Brimley was first up against Ian Rennocks. Despite knocking in a 27 break, Brimley found the going tough and Rennocks won both frames. On the other table, Mick Kirk beat Nigel Tomlinson with some good potting to put the visitors 4-0 up at the break. Ant Moore clinched the victory by taking both frames against Ady Harper, despite his opponent knocking in a nice 30 break in the first frame. In-form Mark Stirling stopped the rot as he won both frames against Daniel Blunn.

Tutbury A welcomed Chimney’s B to the Institute and put on a fine display to win the match 6-2. Steve Hathaway knocked some good pots in to take both frames against Lee Cooke. Steve Butterworth then won a frame back for the visitors as he drew with Steve Mabbott. Chris Mabbott knocked in a 31 break but could only take one frame from Steve Lane. Finally, Dave Mabbott won both frames against Loz Kennerson, which included a 38 break.

Belmont A hosted Swad Cons A in what turned out to be a close match. Ian Archer went up against Andy Grainger with both players playing well to take a frame each. Wayne Brewin then added to the Belmont tally by winning both frames against Paul Slater. The final two games were tied to leave the final score at 6-2 to the hosts.

Ivanhoe B went down 5-3 at home against Belmont B. All games were tied as Jason Pickering, Brendon Mattley and Ivan Birkin drew with Rich Goldby, Arron Vaughan and Graham Bailey respectively. Making a return to the snooker table, Mark Sherratt won the final match of the night against Stuart Tagg to clinch the victory for the visitors.

Burton Cons A continued on their run of form as they won 8-0 away at Chimney’s A. Dean Johnston was first up against Mick Simpkins. The Burton Cons man was in good form as he potted well throughout and had enough to see out both frames. Daz Lester played Matt Milnes on the other table. The first frame was close, with Lester having a chance to take it but missed a tricky pink to leave it over the bag for Milnes to knock in. The second frame was more clear cut for Milnes, as he continued his good form, knocking in a 35 in the process. Bill Stewart then played Owen Jones. The first frame saw Jones win it on the colours. In the second frame, Stewart had a couple of chances to take it but had no luck when attempting to develop balls. After potting the final brown, the white went into the middle pocket. This left a long blue for Jones, which he dispatched and tidied up the remaining balls to win the frame. Finally, Alan Davies played Graham Stevens in an entertaining game as both players potted well. Stevens just about edged both frames to close out the match.

The big clash of the week came at Willington where The Chimneys C team, in second spot, took on leaders SDSC C. Even at this early stage, the title race was kept alive as it was The Chimneys who came away with the win to narrow the gap to 7 points.At the start henry Tomas kept up his fine form for the Swad side by beating Andy Jenkins and then Trevor Heath dropped a frame for only the second time this season against Ben Davies.Steve Gaunt then produced a lovely 32 in his win over Pete Maguire and Tony Clements rolled back the years with the season’s high break for the Division with a lovely 43 in his win over Carl Hyde.

Terry Bosworth and Brian Cutting got Belmont C off to the perfect start against Newhall A versus Sam Hicks and Mark Anslow.Terry played fluent snooker to win fairly comfortably but Brian’s game was much closer.Doug Lees got the all important 5th frame with some solid snooker versus Carl Glover-he went on to win the second as well.Martin Hicks then produced some magnificent safety play in particular to beat Dave Press but the win was most welcome for the Belmont pensioners.

Burton Cons C lost for the second week running-again 5-3-this time against Rolleston B. Leech Louch struggled from the start against John Harvey, who went away with the win. Ian Shrive then shared his frames with the consistent Lionel Lewis. In the second half Rob Sanders was able to inflict a rare defeat on the home side’s Tom Egginton before Matt Hucker for the Cons restored some respectability by beating Kev Norris.

Ivanhoe C had a return to winning ways with a good 5-3 win against Belmont D.The game was won in the first half as Gaz Dolman and Darren Wilson blew away the Hollands, Tom and Glyn. The winning frame was snatched by Graham Measure in a good encounter with Micky Morris which ended a draw. Mark Vaughan then threw some real quality at the preceedings with a strong win over Jerry Cook.

The A team at Rolleston made it a good week for the club with a 7-1 dismantling of Tutbury B which has left them winless and in the bottom 3.James Wilkinson drew with Dave Brady in the opener whilst Rich O’Dell included a nice 20 in his win over Gary Hall. It was all Rolleston in the second half as Tony Rushton comfortably beat Paul Atterbury. The starman of the night was Bobby Cliff as he showed what he can do including a lovely 31 in his defeat of Jeff Siddalls.

Alrewas C maintained their promotion push with an emphatic 6-2 win away at SDSC B. The legionnaires strong men of Karl Hancox and John Richardson saw off Andy Jeffries and Ray Stretton before Phil Maddocks stepped up to the plate for the Swad side by beating an out of sorts Rob McMeecham. Colin Wood though saw home the win for Alrewas by beating Roy Lunn to leave them in third spot.

At Stapenhill, John Swift maintained his impressive form with a 2-0 win over Will Sherratt of Alrewas B whilst another 2 Johns, Sherriff and Sharpe shared the spoils to leave Stapenhill 3-1 up at the break.Tim Knopik was then undone by Roy Sherratt before Stan Piechowicz dusted off his cue to roll back the years for a great win over Alan Wilson.

Many thanks to my fellow columnists for helping me out while my computer went AWOL.  While I was on holiday I read a great book by that well known author Jeff Stelling star of Soccer Saturday which was called ‘Jelleyman’s Thrown a Wobbly’ which was a superb read.

Anyway back to the snooker.  Spot On C maintained their terrific start to the season with a whitewash of their stablemates Spot On B winning 8-0.  From the C teams comments the score flattered them a little as there was a number of close frames.  Sean Bates certainly enjoyed himself on the night with a superb display of potting in both frames to beat Gilda Horvath.  In one of the frames he knocked in a well constructed 40 break which could possibly have been more as he missed a potable red.  Brad Williams continued on the good work as he beat Marie Bridges in two highly competitive frames to put the C team 4-0 ahead at the turn.  Brad knocked in a nice 25 break to take one of his games.  Billy Newman again played some assured snooker in a close first frame against Kate Stirling.  The second frame Billy won it a little bit easier as he knocked in a well made 26 break.  Jared Cronje ended a good night for the C team with a solid performance against Yvonne Spendlove who managed a number of good pots by winning both frames and not to be left out in the breaks Jared knocked in a little cameo break of 21.  This game was played in great spirit.  In this form the C team are going to take some beating this season.

Alrewas D who at times appear to run a bit hot or cold were the former this week as they beat fourth placed Woodville S&S B 5-3 at home.  Tom Smith played some great snooker in both frames to beat Mark Gallagher who has had a fine start to the season.  Mark played well but was no match for Tom on the night.  Shaun Tubbert is really starting to get to grips with this game of snooker with a solid performance to beat Wayne Allen who missed one or two vital pots.  Alrewas were in seventh heaven leading 4-0 at the turn.  Woodville tried their hardest to get themselves back into the match by being well lead by Denis Moore who won both frames against Brian Eccleston in two close frames with both players making a number of fine pots.  The pressure was on in the last match between Dave Riley and Terry Eyley for different reasons one for the win and the other for the draw.  It was Dave Riley who ended with the smiles as he drew his match with Terry Eyley to give Alrewas the win.  Both frames were of a very tactical nature with some great safety play by both players.  This win moves the A38 boys nicely into the top six.  This defeat for Woodville B drops them out of the top three places for the first time in a while.

Chimneys D had their best result of the season with a comprehensive 7-1 win away to Swad Cons C.  Adi Millington got Chimneys of to the best start possible with a steady display of potting as he beat John Griffin who played his part in an entertaining game.  On the other table Dave Budworth showed his class with an excellent display of potting in both frames which could only be admired by his opponent Paul Griffin who saw Dave knock in a lovely 42 break which rather surprisingly was not the highest of the week.  The break was a fine mix of good long pots and getting the cue ball in the right position to continue the break.  Pete ‘the shorts’ Fearn lost two close frames to Steve Williams who just about deserved the win.  Jon Petcher got the Cons only frame of the evening as he drew with Andy Holloway in a close match with neither player deserving to lose.

Newcomers to the league Baulkline A are certainly getting the hang of this division with a fine win at home to Rolleston C winning 6-2.  This win puts them in joint fourth position with Woodville B.  Wayne Smith one of the divisions top players was again in fine form winning both frames against David Bentley and also making breaks of 27 and 26 respectively in the win.  Wayne seemed to miss very little potting opportunities in both frames.  So far this season Wayne has not dropped a frame which is very good as we have now played eight games.  Mick Taylor and Neil Cheadle deservedly shared their frames with both players playing more tactical snooker than going for the pots.  This put Baulkline 3-1 ahead at the break and things never improved in the second half for Rolleston.  Tom Lucas and Aaron Doyle shared an honourable draw with neither player not always making the most of their chances when they arose.  Probably the match of the night was between Jon Sully and John Ward with both players looking in fine form and making the most of their chances which saw Jon knock in a fine 25 break to clinch the first frame.  The second frame was just as close with it only being decided on the high colours.

SDSC D are gradually coming to terms with this division after a fine 5-3 win at home to the inconsistent Burton Cons D.  David Wain the Division’s Sponsor shared two quality frames with Ian Protheroe with both players playing a fine mixture of safety and potting.  Andy Bloor despite knocking in a well made 38 break which included some very good long pots could only draw with Nathan Brooks who played some very aggressive snooker to take his frame.  Brian Bloor was the main difference between the two teams as he was the only person to take both frames on the night beating a rather lack lustre Jim Jennings who was a little off the pace.  Garton Bloor got the single frame the home team needed to secure the win in a drawn match with Paul Brooks.  Paul put in a battling performance to get the draw but failed on the colours.

A fine win at home for Woodville S&S A beating Ivanhoe D 7-1 but this was not a 7-1 win with a number of the games going down to the pink or black.  Jim Marcer got the home team off to a fine start by taking both frames against Tony Tredger.  In the first frame Jim was in superb form missing very little so much so that Tony conceded with two reds still left on the table.  The second frame started off in the same vein as the first until Jim missed a pot letting Tony back into the match with two nice little breaks of 17 and 15 respectively which put him in the driving seat but he slipped up on the brown leaving Jim to take brown, blue and pink for the frame.  On the other table we had two quality frames but very different.  Alan Orpwood and Keith Bale’s first frame was a very nip and tuck affair first with Keith going into the lead then coming back at Alan but the frame hinged on a well laid snooker by Alan on the yellow which Keith failed to get out of and hitting the pink to make things worse.  Alan then potted a couple more colours up to the pink to take the first frame.  What a contrast the second frame was with Alan gradually getting used to his Dennis Taylor style glasses as he was unplayable when knocking in a superb 43 break which with a little more good running he could easily have made more.  During the break Alan had the cue ball under control through out making a number of good pots.  Alan’s break was the best in the division this week.  This helped to put Woodville in a good place which was 4-0 ahead at the turn.  The good work continued with Tony Coleman taking both frames against the ‘King of the Dance’ Warner Collins.  The first frame was very close with Warner coming back well after being a little behind and just needing the pink but Tony had an almighty fluke in attempting to play safe the pink hit the cue ball knocking it into the middle bag and for once Warner was stumped for words then Tony potted the black.  The second frame was not so tight.  Jason Collins took the first frame of his match with Pat Ryan with a lovely long diagonal pot to prevent the whitewash in what was a very close game with both players being in good form throughout.  The second frame Pat was more in control as he made a number of small breaks to keep him in front and to draw his match.

In the local inter club derby between Swad Cons B and the D team it was the B team who have the bragging rights after a convincing 6-2 win.  The B team have surprised a lot teams this season with their positive attitude towards their games and are sitting rather nicely in joint second place with SDSC D.  Paul Hollis who is having a cracking season so far losing only a few frames continued his rich vein of form as he beat Dave Bodie with something to spare in both frames which included breaks of 22 and 20. Ross Hollis unfortunately could not emulate his brothers achieve but played well to share the frames with Kieron Dadley with both players making a number of good pots. Vince Draper took on the experienced Bob Birch but on the night his experience meant very little when Vince was in such good potting form which included a very nice 24 clearance to take one of his frames.  Bob despite getting some fine pots and making some valuable contributions to the match could not prevent Vince from taking both frames.  Jake Mole and Andy Boam shared a couple of contrasting frames with each player being the strongest to win their frame.