Owen Jones writes for the David Wain Insurance Premier Division.

Ivanhoe A kept up the chase at the top of the David Wain Insurance Premier Division as they won 6-2 at home against Chimney’s A. Daniel Blunn drew with Daz Lester with both players potting well. Ian Rennocks then lost a scrappy first frame to Bill Stewart. Rennocks responded in the second frame to take it with a break of 32. Mick Kirk then played well to beat Gaz Barker and put the Ashby side in command. Ant Moore played steady snooker in the final match as he defeated Wayne Pereira to clinch the victory for the hosts.

Belmont B and Alrewas A played out a draw. Colin Kinsella returned for the visitors and put them in front by winning both frames against Zaheer Hussain. Arron Vaughan and Adam Walton shared their frames, as did Michael Lomas and Dave Trueman. Graham Bailey pulled the result out of the fire for the home side as he won both frames against Ian Hiley to force the draw.

Burton Cons A picked a 6-2 home victory against a good Tutbury A side. Stuart Roberts was first up against Steve Mabbott and it was the Cons player who knocked in some great balls to win the first frame. The second was closer, with Roberts clinching it with a great pink down the rail. On the other table, Owen Jones played Steve Hathaway. Jones found the going tough again as he missed chances which let in Hathaway and, on current, form that was not going to pay dividends. Hathaway potted nicely to take the first frame. The second seemed to be going the same way but Jones took it on the final pink after Hathaway missed a great chance to win the second. Graham Stevens and Dave Mabbott both potted well to take a frame each. Finally, Matt Milnes played Chris Mabbott. Milnes took the first frame on the colours. The second frame was one of the best of the season so far as Milnes got in first to develop the balls and make a 46 break. After missing a tricky red, Mabbott made a 48 to get back into the frame. Milnes then made a 29 to take the frame and clinch the match.

Chimney’s B hosted Burton Cons B and it was the visitors who left with the win. Mike Buckland overturned a 20 point deficit in the first frame against Steve Lane to tak it. The second was very tight but again Buckland prevailed on the final black. Tim Hodgkinson then played Dave Shipton, who had no luck on the night. The first frame saw chances missed by Shipton and Hodgkinson pounced to take the frame. The second frame saw the Chimney’s player knock in a 35 break to clinch the 2-0 win. Steve Butterworth had a bit of run against Simon Smith but it was Smith who had just enough in both frames to win. Dave Plunkett need a snnoker against Loz Kennerson in the first frame, which he got with a lovely shot. Plunkett then potted the remaining balls required to win the frame. Some steady play in the second saw the Cons player win it and confirm a 6-2 victory.

Ivanhoe B won away at Swadlincote Snooker Centre A. The visitors got off to a good start as Jason Pickering won both frames against Steve Ayre on the final pink and black. Mark Stachwell was too good for Stu Tagg on the other table, which leveled the scores. John Skellet won the first frame against John Davis. However, his opponent potted well in the second to grab a draw. With the match at 3-3, Brendon Mattley played his best match of the season as he won two close frames against Andy Goldingay to earn a 5-3 win.

Belmont A got a thumping 8-0 victory away at Stapenhill A. Fran McInulty continued his good form as he won both frames against Andy Tomlinson, aided by breaks of 31 and a 41 clearance. Ian Archer followed suit as he knocked in a 42 in winning both frames against Mark Waldron. Steve Ford found Wayne Brewin too good and finally, Josh Gebbie knocked in a 38 as he defeated Carl Jeffcoate to complete the victory.

Swad Cons A drew with Spon On A. Paul Slater and Nigel Tomlinson won a frame each, as did Lee Wood and Tom Elliott. Simon Orpwood potted well to win against Ade Harper and finally Mark Stirling had a great result beating Andy Grainger, aided by a 31 break.

Mike Buckland writes for Division 1

The week’s high break in the Division was an excellent 41 by Tony Rushton for Rolleston A away at Alrewas B. His opponent was another good player in Alan Wilson who managed to get well in front in the second frame for Tony to require a snooker with just pink and black on. He duly did this and forced a respotted black which Tony took to steal the second as well.There were close frames between James Wilkinson and Will Sherratt with a draw a fair result and another draw between Rolleston’s Bobby Cliff and John Sharpe. Joe Docksey enjoyed a fair amount of run against Roy Sherratt and despite Roy’s excellent safety play, Joe hung on for the win. This leaves Rolleston in mid table after a poor start and Alrewas staring at what might be a long season at the bottom.

The other Alrewas side in the division, the C team, are fairing rather better. They are now in joint second place in the league after securing their fourth straight win – this time against Belmont C. At half time though it was very tight at 2-2 with captain Karl Hancox unusually dropping a frame but to be fair, this was to Mark Press – these two players being amongst the best in the division and who both should be playing in the Premier. Rob McMeecham and Brian Cutting had also ground out a draw. In the second half though the strength in depth of Alrewas counted with John Richardson comfortably beating Terry Bosworth and then Colin Wood scoring his second straight win in defeating Doug Lees. Belmont for their part will be looking to the next two fixtures to halt their slide down the division against Tutbury B and Alrewas B both in the bottom 3.

At The Belmont Services Club in Swad the D team fought out a creditable draw with second placed Chimneys C. A great night was had by all – Micky Morris showed what a good player he is by missing hardly anything against Tony Clements. On the other table, birthday boy Tom Holland played well to take both frames to the colours but it wasn’t quite enough to beat John Hardy.Brett Craddock then edged Belmont in front taking the first off of Trevor Heath and on the other table Mark Vaughan put the home side in an unassailable position winning the first against Steve Gaunt. The Chimneys lads though showed their mettle and fought back to secure the draw by winning both of the second frames. In the end, a draw seemed just about right.

Newhall are another side that a struggling at this stage of the season. This time they suffered a home defeat to Ivanhoe C who got their promotion push back on track with a 5-3 win. Newhall’s Carl Glover, Martin Hicks and Martin Hurdman all drew with Gaz Dolman, Graham Measures and Darren Wilson respectively. It was Steve Cockeram who made the difference on the night with a fine win over the put of sorts Sam Hicks.

At Rolleston the B team really did have a game of two halves against Stapenhill B. The home side flew out of the blocks with wins for Lionel Lewis over John Sherriff and Bob Tubey over Tim Knopik. Stapenhill weren’t done though as Greg Britton scored an impressive win over John Harvey and Jonathon Swift comfortably beat Kev Norris. The draw will not have helped either side’s promotion chances but both are handily placed at this stage just behind the leading group.

In a week of very close matches, another draw was had between Tutbury B and Swad Snooker Centre B. Tutters captain John Peto was undone by the talented Nick Harcombe before two draws between Tutbury’s Dave Brady and Paul Atterbury and SDSC’s two Rays,Stretton and Bancroft. Jeff Siddalls then repaired the earlier damage for Tutbury with a nice win over Phil Maddocks. Unfortunately for both teams this leaves them both in the bottom 3 and facing a potential dance off…

To end with, it wasn’t just a match draw at SDSC C, the division leaders against Burton Cons C – all 4 games were draws as well! There was a battle of the veterans in the shape of Henry Tomas and Tom Egginton .A battle of the youngsters in the shape of Simon Shilton and Lee Louch ( a fiver each for that boys please). Then other draws between Carl Hyde and Cons’ captain Ian Shrive and finally Swad captain Pete Maguire and the Cons’ reluctant stand in Steve Castledine. Despite the draw SDSC are 7 points clear at the top after 9 games and looking set for promotion whilst Cons can also push with a good second half to the season.

Tony Coleman your on the spot reporter writing on the weekly events in Division 2

Spot On C are a real force to be reckoned with as they beat a full strength Swad Cons D away 6-2 with a number of their players making some nice breaks. Gaz Ward back in the side played very well to draw with the talented Jared Cronje. Both players were in a potting mood with Gaz knocking in a classy 34 break which included a number of power pots the length of the table to keep the break going and to take his frame. In the other frame Jared also made a fine 28 break to draw his match. Keiron Dadley had a difficult task on his hands as he played Sean Bates who is currently second in the divisions averages. Keiron did his best with a number of good pots but on the night Sean was just to hot for him. Sean made a fine 27 break to take one of his frames and a number smaller breaks to take the second. This put the Spots 3-1 ahead at the turn and nothing changed in the second half. Bob Birch and Ben Menzies shared their match with both players deserving to get something from it as both players made some lovely pots in what was a cracking game to watch. Andy Boam had his hands full as he played Brad Williams and had no answer to Brad’s superb potting on the night as he missed very little giving Andy not too many opportunities to shine. Brad knocked in a well made 29 break. It will take something special at the moment to stop the Spots from running away with the division as their current lead over joint second placed teams Swad Cons B and SDSC D is 14 points.

Burton Cons D had a great night beating Swad Cons C 8-0 at home. I cannot remember the last time the current D team has done this. Nathan Brooks who is playing some very good snooker at the moment took both frames against Paul Griffin who despite losing both frames made Nathan battle for the frames. Ian Protheroe then got in on the act with a solid display of potting and safety in beating Jon Petcher who made some valuable contributions to an entertaining match. This put the Cons in a lovely position 4-0 ahead at the turn and things just got better and better. Al Munnion played his part as he took both frames against a slightly snooker rusty Errol Faulkner but as normal when you are struggling a little the balls are never running for you although Al played a number of fine pots. Paul Brooks did not let the side down as he completed the whitewash against Rocket Ron Kendrick by winning two very close frames with Ron probably deserving a share of the spoils. Will the wily ‘old fox’ aka James Jennings get back in the team after this cracking win?

Baulkine A are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with another fine win away against Woodville S&S B who were in joint fourth place before this match took place. Dennis Moore who was fourth in the averages played the divisions top player Wayne Smith who has not dropped a frame all season. This was a very close match with both players missing chances to win a frame but in the end Wayne just scrapped home in both frames and a 23 break helped his cause in one of them. Both players made a number of good pots. Billy Hunt did his best to get Woodville back on level terms but found a determined Tom Lucas difficult to get the best off. Some of Billy’s safety was very good at times but Tom just had the edge in the potting department. The Baulkline were now 4-0 at the turn but Woodville for the second week running put in a great second half recovery but just failed on the final frame. Mark Gallagher and Jon Sully shared a well deserved draw with both players making a number of small but important breaks that enabled them to win their frame. Wayne Allen was in fine form as he took both frames with a number of stunning pots to beat Mick Taylor. This win keeps the Baulkline in fourth position one point behind Swad Cons B.

The Chimneys had a very good win at the expense of high flying Swad Cons B winning 5-3. The Chimneys are most certainly a more formidable team when their captain Dave Budworth is available which is sometimes very difficult with his other commitments. I am sure Bob McNulty would agree with that sentiment as he lost both frames to Dave in two very tactical games with very little to split the players it was that Dave was more clinical on the final colours. Ross Hollis got the Cons first frame of the night in a rather difficult match with neither player playing to their full potential. Paul Hollis got the Cons back on level terms as he ground out two close frames against one of the divisions master tacticians Bill Davidson. Paul at the moment is playing really well and a force to be reckoned with but unfortunately his battle was in vein as Steve Williams put in one of his best displays of the season to beat Lee Harrison to earn the Chimney’s their second consecutive win of the season – they are certainly smokin’!!! With good wins like this and with a settled side you can see them moving up the table rather quickly.

Woodville S&S A had a good win away at Rolleston C winning 6-2. Neil Cheadle and Tony Coleman shared their two frames which was just about right. In the first Neil was in terrific potting form in or around the black spot and punished Tony rather severely with a couple of nice 16 and 15 breaks respectively. The second frame was the opposite to the first with Tony taking it but not convincingly although Neil did concede on the brown. David Bentley could not prevent Pat Ryan from taking both frames fairly comfortably as Pat was potting confidently throughout. The match of the night was between Birthday Boy Aaron Doyle and Alan Orpwood which deservedly ended in an honourable draw. The first frame Aaron played very well missing very little and making a number of good pots and it looked like the second frame was going to go the same way until Alan knocked in a lovely 29 break which included four pinks. One particular pot on the pink involved a deep screw to get on the next red for a pot into the middle bag was a delight to see. This gave Alan the inspiration to win the frame. Both players agreed that was a fair result. In the other room Steve Atkins took on Jim Marcer who showed on the night that he is getting back to playing some of his best snooker the season especially when he stroked in a nice long black into the green pocket from a difficult angle showing what a lovely cue action he has got. Steve despite losing both frames made a number of good pots on the reds but not always able to pot a colour but to be fair he did not always have the best of running.

Alrewas D have got themselves into a handy position in the top six with an excellent away win against Spot On B ladies winning 7-1. Gilda Horvath deservedly drew her match with Brian Aldridge in what was a fairly open game with both players going for the pots. Unfortunately that was as good as it got for the ladies on the night. Marie Bridges was not at her best as she came up against an in-form Tom Smith who gave very little away in both frames and also made a solid break of 29 which won him one of his frames. Kate Stirling on a rare failure to win a frame as she lost to an Alrewas star player Dave Riley who is currently playing some of his best snooker of the season. Shaun Tubbert a man on a mission over the last few weeks was again playing high quality snooker as he took both frames against Yvonne Spendlove who made some valuable contributions in two entertaining frames. Currently this Alrewas side can do nothing wrong at the moment as they consolidate their position in the top six.

The most surprising result of the week was that Ivanhoe D beat second in the table SDSC D 5-3. Surprisingly because over the last few weeks Ivanhoe have not been having the best of results – hopefully this could be the start of their revival. SDSC’s most consistent player Andy Bloor got them off to a good start as he took both frames against Tony Tredger with a fine mixture of potting and solid safety play. Jack Bale pulled the home team level at the turn round with a solid display in beating David Wain which saw both players making a number of good shots but with Jack just shading the two frames. Keith Bale and Brian Bloor battled it out for an honourable draw with neither player being steady enough to take both frames. King of the Dance aka Warner Collins was in very good form as he waltzed round the table looking as if he meant business after a bit of a lean spell on the green baize. Unfortunately it was Garton Bloor who felt the fall out for this. The first frame Warner missed very little and when he did it went safe. The second frame was only decided on the high colours again in Warner’s favour with this providing the home team with a welcome win. This Division is becoming rather congested from second place down to sixth with only four points separating them.