Shifnal turn up heat on Bridgnorth Snooker League leaders

A 4-1 win over basement team Alveley C nudged Shifnal one point closer to leaders Chelmarsh B.

Carl Walker, Chris Petford and Mick Mancini were all on fire as they eased to victories against Alveley’s Reg Burton, Chris Jepson and Steve Coldecott respectively. Mancini, in particular, was on top form, knocking in excellent breaks of 40 and 47 while Walker rolled in a 36.

Terry Askew also had a good game for Shifnal convincingly beating Norman Jones. However, the surprise of the night was Ian Postan’s unexpected undoing at the hands of Alveley’s Brian Arnold.

Chelmarsh B clung on to their one-hundred percent record by beating Broseley B 3-2.

In fact, Broseley B must be fed up with hearing the name Chelmarsh, having lost to them by the odd frame for the third time this season.

After the first two frames of this latest encounter, Broseley may have dreamt of breaking the hoodoo. Owen Hughes had given them the lead by beating Paul Manning and Mick Brezwyn had put Mike Rogers to the sword, knocking in a 51-break in the process, to make it 2-0.

But the league leaders came storming back thanks to Gary Smith, Simon Thomas and Chris Lewis, who respectively beat Eddie Mullard, Nock Carson, and Pete Thompson to make it 10 wins from 10 matches for Chelmarsh. Their next match is an eagerly anticipated clash with Shifnal B.

Similarly, St John’s B must be fed up to the teeth with Broseley A, having lost to them by the odd frame for the third time in a month.

It was another ‘tit for tat’ type of match which could have gone either way. It started with two black ball finishes. The first was won by St John’s Dave Haywood, who beat Brian Edwards.

That was followed by Gary Watson’s reply for Broseley as he saw off Mike Crawley.

Jason Brown then beat Andy Garbett to again give St John’s the lead, only for Neil Caswell to respond for Broseley by beating Pete Williams.

And so, once again, it came down to another final frame decider between the teams. And that saw Matt Smout overcome Mark Jones on the final colours to earn Broseley A their victory.

The victory moved Broseley level on points with Alveley B at the top of the Second Division after Alveley’s home match against St John’s A was called off due to an electrical fault at the club that resulted in light failure.

Match Results

Alveley B v St John’s A: Postponed. Broseley B 2, Chelmarsh B 3: O. Hughes 64, P. Manning 12; M. Brezwyn 83, M. Rogers 5; E, Mullard 22, G. Smith 68; N. Carson 32, S. Thomas 64; P. Thompson 42, C. Lewis 60. Shifnal B 4, Alveley C 1: C. Walker 95, R. Burton 17; C. Petford 101, S. Coldecott 24; I. Postans 44, B. Arnold 53; M. Mancini 92, C. Jepson 8; T. Askew 63, N. Jones 13. St John’s B 2, Broseley A 3: D. Haywood 43, B. Edwards 36; M. Crawley 54, G. Watson 61; J. Brown 63, A. Garbett 21; P. Williams 40, N. Caswell 60; M. Jones 49, M. Smout 63.