Report submitted by Stourbridge and District Snooker League

HOTSHOTS SC A’s lead at the top of the Premier Division was trimmed to four points as they had to settle for a 3-2 win at home to Pockets SC B, while their closest rivals, West Midlands Police won their match at Amblecote Institute A 4-1.

Callum Downing, with a break of 54, and Roy Stokes gave Hotshots a good start but they were pegged back when Jamie Shuck played well to beat Dave Green and Tony Kidd inflicted only the second defeat on Bal Sembi. Alan Turner’s crucial blue jawed and Milan Krstanovic was able to step in to take the decider for the leaders.

Although Dave Oakes gave Amblecote Institute A, who had won 23 of their 25 frames at home, the opener against the Police, Mark Sheehan, Eliott Bastable, Gavin Sloan & Kev Franklin, with a break of 41, turned the match around for the visitors, seeking to recover from last week’s defeat at Hotshots.

Third-placed Townsend Social also came through a difficult away tie thanks to Darrell Payne’s decider at Norton Social A. Earlier, Karl Ashmore & Dan Petch, with a 47 break, for the visitors, and Andy Smith, who produced a fine clearance of the last red and all the colours after his opponent, Phil Thompson had struck a 54 break, and a top-form Neil Rollinson for Norton had shared the honours.

Townsend now trail the Police by 3 points and they are that same amount ahead of Pockets SC A in 4th, after Pockets recovered from dropping the opening frame to Hotshots B’s Dawid Konior, who had runs of 32 and 35, to take the other 4 frames decisively, Lee Page making breaks of 39 and 51.

Frankie Bennett and Luke Whale both did well to take a frame each for Baggeridge Social at St John’s Social, but Tim Steele, Nick Carson, who had a 47 break, and Simon Thomas enjoyed fairly comfortable victories to take the match 3-2 for the hosts.

First Division report: The top four teams in the First Division were in action against each other: two, predictably tight, 3-2 results enabled Stourbridge Institute A to close the gap on the leaders, Norton Social B, to a single point. Nick & Ashley Aston and Steve Howell won for the Institute at Moor Pool & Snooker, before Simon Dingley, who inflicted the first defeat on Paul Garbett, and Ian Priest, still unbeaten in 12 frames, fought back for the hosts, who remain in 3rd place, 4 points further away.

Norton lost for only the second time, 3-2 away to the resurgent Kingswinford Cons C team, courtesy of Wayne Whitmore, Sam Porter and John Cartwright’s decider, although John Woodcock and Carl Webb’s wins for Norton at least ensured their team remained in pole position. The Cons’ great run of form has taken them to within eight points of the leaders.

Amblecote Inst B and Stourbridge Old Edwardians both enjoyed 4-1 away wins to close within two points and three points respectively of the top four: the Institute won at neighbouring Amblecote RBL B, although all frames were well-contested, while Old Eds won at Stourbridge Institute B with both Ed Davies & Keith Cosnett winning after stepping in to help out. Also Chris Cowley made it 10/12 wins before Simon Tyler salvaged a point for the hosts.

Five successive defeats had halted Kinver Constitutional B’s promotion hopes but they returned to winning form, 3-2 at Wombourne, with Adam Sprague now sporting an 11/12 record, although they were indebted to Graham Taylor and Les Cross both successful on returning to the team.

Kingswinford Cons A’s six match luckless run continued with yet another 3-2 defeat, this time against their B team. Tim Carter & John Byng levelled the scores after Steve Small & Gregg Reece had given the B team a 2-0 lead, but Andrew Brown had the final say for the B team in the decider against John Rees.

Second Division report: Kinver Constitutional C strengthened their lead at the top of the Second Division with a 3-2 win on the tables of one of their biggest rivals, Bahia’s SC. Chris Randle, Steve Spruce and Ron Smith just did enough in a closely-matched game, with Reece Bahia and Matt Redfern earning Bahia’s the two points which keeps them clear of the 4th placed teams.

Bahia’s lost their share of second place as Kingswinford Snooker Centre beat Amblecote Inst C 3-2, away from home, Matt Surmacz’s black ball win against Colin Homer a vital factor before Jamie Westwood and John Salisbury made the match safe.

Amblecote RBL A had another good win, their 3rd in the last 4 weeks against teams from the top four, this time 3-2 at home to Amblecote Inst D. Billy Green’s black ball win ended Adam Kensett’s excellent run of nine straight victories since joining the team. Steve Norton & Jamie Green clinched the match for the Legion with Ade and Steve Butcher having the consolation of keeping the Institute within 4 points of the runners-up berth, so there’s much to play for.

Finally, Stourbridge Inst C took all five frames against their own C team, an unexpected result between two well-matched teams; Brian Taylor, his son Stephen Metcalfe-Taylor, daughter Adele Simmonds, and Alan Jeffries and Sam Mattocks all won with varying degrees of difficulty.

Stourbridge & District Snooker League 6-7 December 2017

Premier Division results:

Hotshots SC A 3 (C.Downing 54, R.Stokes, M.Krstanovic) Pockets SC B 2 (J.Shuck, A.Kidd) Pockets SC A 4 (G.Smith 36, R.Pepperall, T.Pepperall, L.Page 39, 51) Hotshots SC B 1 (D.Konior 32, 35) Norton Social A 2 (A.Smith, N.Rollinson) Townsend Social 3 (K.Ashmore, D.Petch 47, D.Payne) Amblecote Inst A 1 (D.Oakes) West Midlands Police 4 (M.Sheehan, E.Bastable, G.Sloan, K.Franklin 41) St John’s Social 3 (T.Steele, N.Carson 47, S.Thomas) Baggeridge Social 2 (F.Bennett, L.Whale) Kinver Const A bye

First Division results:

Moor Pool & Snooker 2 (S.Dingley, I.Priest) Stourbridge Inst A 3 (N.Aston, A.Aston, S.Howell) Amblecote RBL B 1 (G.Foster) Amblecote Inst B 4 (C.Tromans, M.Cook, A.Moore, M.Colbourne) Stourbridge Inst B 1 (S.Tyler) S/b Old Edwardians 4 (C.Cowley 27, E.Davies, K.Cosnett, G.Birch) Kingswinford Cons A 2 (T.Carter, J.Byng) Kingswinford Cons B 3 (S.Small, G.Reece, A.Brown) Wombourne 2 (J.Perry, D.Flavell) Kinver Const B 3 (G.Taylor 22, A.Sprague, L.Cross) Kingswinford Cons C 3 (W.Whitmore 30, S.Porter, J.Cartwright 21) Norton Social B 2 (C.Webb, J.Woodcock)

Second Division results:

Bahia’s SC 2 (Reece Bahia, M.Redfern) Kinver Const C 3 (C.Randle, S.Spruce, R.Smith 21) Stourbridge Inst C 5 (S.Metcalfe-Taylor, B.Taylor, A.Jeffries, A.Simmonds, S.Mattocks) Stourbridge Inst D 0 Amblecote Inst C 2 (R.McManus, M.Skidmore) Kingswinford SC 3 (M.Surmacz, J.Salisbury 24, J.Westwood) Amblecote RBL A 3 (B.Green, S.Norton, J.Green) Amblecote Inst D 2 (A.Butcher, S.Butcher)