Knockout takes centre stage at Telford Snooker League

Dawley C took the bragging rights in a thrilling clash with Dawley A.

The C team conceded a 33-point handicap and the first frame saw that cut to 20 as Michael Mancini edged out John Davies. Chris Petford then potted well to beat Rich Summers 83-45 to put the C team in front. The two captains then went head-to-head with Pete Nolan (Dawley A) squeezing past Dan Morris 35-34 to leave the C team 17 points ahead.

In the penultimate frame, the lead changed again as Alan McDonald beat Neil Pearson 59-22 to put the A side in front by 20. The excitement continued as the final frame went to the final black with Tom Maxfield doing just enough to beat Mark Jones 67-41 to seal Dawley C’s place in the quarter-finals next month by just six points overall.

There was another local derby at the Bayley, as the Z team hosted the D side.

And the Z side made the most of their 132 handicap to withstand a fine effort from the D team to progress 457-435.

League leaders Shifnal B overturned a 214-point handicap to beat Bayley B.

Shifnal’s Paul Lloyd knocked in a 60 break on his way to victory. Mike Dorey, Keith Price, Ian Duffy and John Fallows also triumphed as Shifnal won 422-358.

Dawley B, went down to Bayley E, who started with a decent 116-point advantage.

Any thoughts of a tight encounter were quickly put aside as a strong performance from Bayley’s Andy O’Brien in the opener extended the home advantage to 202. They eventually triumphed 421-226.

Allscott Heath could prove a good outside bet. Boosted by a 66-point start they beat visitors Bayley L 503-398.

The biggest winning margin of the round came at Maddocks, where the E side hosted their A team.

With one place in the league table and just 17 points separating the two at the start in the A team’s favour, a very close encounter looked to be on the cards.

But Phil Davis, Greg Kneuss, Ian Skelton, Rich Parker and Dave France all won to see the A side to a comfortable 443-225.

Rungrot Chonirat, Brian McMillan, John Zammit and Chris Morgan-Adams all won as Bayley A secured a 519-374 win against visiting Anstice B .

The final last 16 tie saw Maddocks C host Shifnal G, with Shifnal having a 99-point start.

And the visitors made the most of that advantage to book their place in the next round on the back of a 417-326 success.

Chasing an initial deficit of 132, visiting skipper Ben Godding was keen to set the standard for his side. He got them off to a good start by beating Tony Morgan 63-28 to reduce the arrears to 97. Ryan Dudley got past Phil Davies 58-45, followed by his dad Dave Dudley who edged out Mark Beddall 63-55 to leave the Z team still ahead by 76 with two frames to go. However home captain Paul Rhodes steadied the ship by defeating Ade Smith 48-39 to give anchor man Allen Francis an 85 point advantage going into the final frame. James O’Hara gave it his best but Allen held out, James winning 97-34 but its the Z team who go through 457-435.

The first two frames both went down to the black as Dave Finney beat Gavin Smallwood 58-45, before Chris Durham squeaked past Ross Bowater by the odd point 55-54. With three frames still to play the home side had extended their advantage to 80.

The in form Terry Brentnall increased this further, winning 62-36 over Paul Smallwood to take their lead to 106. The Bayley’s young gun Will Thompson potted well to beat home skipper Jason Allen 60-33 to reduce the deficit to 79. This proved too tough for Paul Hurst as Allscott’s Carl Starling held firm, winning 64-38 and seal their passage 503-398.