Tight at the top as leaders edged out by victorious Amblecote

Ashley Sidaway, who has come so close to a century in league play so often, finally hit the mark with 102 against Dave Hall, before Rob Clark and Dave Oakes secured the win. Justin Donoghue and Eliott Bastable countered.

Hotshots SC A eased their way into a share of the lead with a 4-1 win at home to fourth-placed Norton Social A. Neil Beckley, Callum Downing, Mark Sutton and Jamie Brown (58 break) all won, although Bal Sembi was outpointed by Rob Pitt.

Pockets SC A edged a point above Norton with a hard-fought 3-2 result at home to Brandhall Labour. Gary Smith and Tom Pepperall put them 2-0 ahead, but Paul Caldeira and Stuart Perry levelled before Andy Smith won the decider against Andy Round.

Similarly, Bearwood Cons went 2-0 up at home to Kingswinford Cons C, only for the visitors to make it 2-2. Paul Gibson secured the win for Bearwood in the decider against John Cartwright.

West Midlands Police duly completed the pattern of home wins with a 4-1 success against Hotshots B, thereby exacting a little revenge for their team knock-out defeat by the same team two weeks ago. Dawid Konior took the opener for the visitors before Gavin Sloan, Mark Sheehan, Pete Gibbons and Kev Franklin combined to great effect for the Police.

There was little change at the top of the First Division, with the top four teams all winning. Luke Grosvenor, Paul Bowen and Carl Webb struck for a winning lead for Norton Social B against Moor Pool & Snooker, for whom Simon Dingley and Ian Priest won narrowly to restrict the score to 3-2.

Kinver Constitutional C remained two points behind with a 3-2 win away to Amblecote Institute B. Gregg Reece, enjoying his best-ever season with his 16th win out of 17, won comfortably but Tom Postings was taken to the black by Sam Harrison, and Steve Nicholls’ pink in the decider against Mark Colbourne clinched the win for the visitors.

It was a similar story for Kinver’s A team, who edged past Amblecote Inst C 3-2 thanks to Graham Tranter, Jim Woodhouse and Keith Rollinson in the deciding frame against Roger McManus, to remain two points further away in 3rd place, but this was a much more encouraging result for the visitors, beaten 5-0 the week before, taking two frames through Mitch Skidmore and Ray Vanes.

A 4-1 win for Pockets SC B on the tables of Kingswinford Cons A enabled them to draw level with Kinver A in third place, but with two black ball frames and one decided on the pink, there was really very little between the teams. Jamie Shuck extended his winning sequence to a remarkable 16 frames in only his third season.

Dudley Ex-Servicemen, in their first season, climbed into fifth, only 10 points off the top, with a 3-2 win on the tables of Kinver’s B team, thanks to Colin Foster, Rob Thompson and Matt Short, taking the place of Bahia’s SC A, who lost 4-1 away to Baggeridge Social B. Luke Whale, with a break of 37, his brother, Matt and black ball wins for Mart Collingridge & Alistair Baker established a 4-0 lead in their local “derby”, before Reece Bahia cleared the colours to rescue a point for his team.

Amblecote Institute D maintained their revival in form to defeat Old Edwardians A 4-1 at home. Carl Butcher did well to beat Chris Cowley on the black, and there were also narrow wins for Jordan Taylor, Adam Kensett and Mark Robson before Dave Woodall struck back for the visitors.

Kingswinford Snooker Centre’s form had dipped, and three defeats in four matches had seen their lead at the top of the Second Division dwindle to a single point – but Matt Surmacz and Paul Curry helped the still-unbeaten Steve Ballinger to produce a timely 3-2 win against one of their promotion rivals, Amblecote RBL A.

Their two closest rivals – Amblecote RBL B and Old Edwardians B – both slipped up at home and continue to share second place, but now three points

adrift.

Stourbridge Institute B upset Amblecote RBL B 3-2, with Harry Jones, Lee Ward and Carl Green just coming out best in five very even frames, while Old Edwardians B came unstuck against Bahia’s SC B, also 3-2. Neil Harrison, on his debut for the team, Pete Jukes and Mark Reece won for Bahia’s with Brett and Sam Ball replying for Old Eds, whose run of 6 wins in their previous 7 matches had taken them to within a point of the leaders.

Four successive wins had given Stourbridge Institute D a promotion chance but Wombourne produced one of their better displays to win 4-1 away from home to edge above them in the league table. Dino Bacciocchi gave the Institute a good start but John Wooldridge, Bob Mason, Paul Tristram and Dave Flavell, who beat Chris Crumpton in the last frame, helped to reignite Wombourne’s own bid for honours, and they sit 10 points off the top.

Finally there was another very close match between Amblecote Inst E and Kinver D. Dan Barker, his father, Chris and Marcus Hines all won for Kinver, but with very little to spare, while Lee Edwards and Shawn Marsh, who was able to celebrate his first league success, gave the home side two consolation points.