Hotshots seize the initiative with win against title rivals

The side went into the clash level on points, but the night ended with Hotshots holding a two-point advantage following a 3-2 success.

Callum Downing, with a break of 85, Mark Sutton, with 41, and Bal Sembi won for Hotshots, with Ash Sidaway and Rob Clark replying for the visitors.

Third-placed Baggeridge Social A moved to within three points of the top thanks to a 4-1 win on the tables of Brandhall Labour.

Justin Donoghue, Wes Humphreys, Eliott Bastable, who had a break of 54, and Lee Payne, making his first league appearance since Riley’s SC competed 18 years ago, struck for Baggeridge.

The highlight of the match, however, was Jon Bate’s fine clearance of 75 for Brandhall’s consolation frame.

Norton Social A avenged their opening day defeat by Hotshots B with a 4-1 success in which Rob Pitt cleared with a 54 break.

Both Simon Thomas and Dan Hartley had 40-plus breaks in their high-quality frame, Hartley stepping in with the last two balls after an unlucky in-off pink cost Thomas victory.

Townsend Social followed the previous week’s 5-0 win against the league leaders with a 4-1 successs at bottom club Kingswinford Cons C.

Norton Social B’s seven successive wins had forged a six-point lead at the top of the First Division, but they crashed 5-0 away to Kinver Constitutional A, who joined them at the top of the league.

Paul Churchman, Jim Woodhouse, Rob Jeffries, Graham Tranter and Keith Rollinson secured the whitewash.

Bahia’s SC A beat Moor Pool & Snooker 4-1, with Reece Bahia extending his record to 11 wins from 12 frames, while Pockets SC B beat Amblecote Institute C by the same score, with Jamie Shuck winning his 11th frame in a row.

Kinver’s C team returned to form with a 3-2 win on the tables of Dudley Ex-Servicemen. Gregg Reece, with a 32 break, secured the deciding frame.

Three recent defeats had caused Baggeridge Social B to lose impetus but their fortune changed for the better with a 4-1 win away to Amblecote Institute B.

This result enabled Kingswinford Cons A to put a little daylight between themselves and the bottom three, by virtue of a 3-2 home win against Amblecote Institute D. John Cowan, John Byng and Thomas Male all won with Adrian Butcher and Mark Robson replying.

Old Edwardians B moved into second spot in Division Two with a 4-1 win away to Stourbridge Institute D, thanks to Steve Ball, Jat Chager, Brett Ball and a black ball success for Sam Ball.

Amblecote RBL A lost a tight match against their B team, 3-2, with Mark Lees, Richard Conway and Steve Bull just doing enough.

Wombourne edged past Bahia’s B 3-2. John Wooldridge, Jon Perry and Dave Flavell, with about 150 years’ combined experience behind them, saw their side home.

Kinver’s D team set aside the disappointment of the previous week’s 5-0 defeat to beat Stourbridge Institute B 3-2. Ash Stanley, Dan Barker and his father, Chris, all won for the newly-formed team.