SEDGLEY STUN LEADERS BRANDHALL WITH WHITEWASH

Sedgley Ex-Services stunned league leaders Brandhall inflicting their first defeat of the season - a crushing 5-0 whitewash to reduce the lead to six points and blow the title race wide open. Sedgley came into the match twelve points behind Brandhall in second place and surely a win for Brandhall would have made them heavy favourites for the title, even at this stage of the season. However Sedgley proved a class apart on the night with a display of solid snooker.

Daniel Ward opened the proceedings with a fine 46 break in defeating Geoff Williams. Simon Hickman made it 2-0 to the home side, Karl Ashmore knocked in a break of 30 but a 42 from Hickman gave him the edge. Mitchell Mann accounted for Jamie Brown aided by a break of 48 to make it 3-0 while Gary Miller looked to have pulled one back for Brandhall after a 34 break but a 40 break from Andrew Highfield took the advantage to 4-0. With the match sewn up all that was left to decide was whether Alan Hooper could win the consolation frame for Brandhall, however it was to be Sedgley’s night as Ryan Evans completed the whitewash, aided by breaks of 45 and 40.

It proved to be a good night for Sedgley’s Daniel Ward as he joined Robert Wharne at the top of the most wins table. Wharne lost for the second consecutive week as he lost the decider as Stafford Institute went down 2-3 at Ladywood. Ladywood had two convincing wins through Jason Hickman and Rob Howen but two black ball victories from Stafford’s Lee Walker and Chris Ward set up the decider. Wharne took an early lead but a 72 break from Balvinder Sembi, the highest break of the week, proved too much and gave Ladywood a 3-2 victory.

In division two there was a shock victory for lowly Dartmouth over high flying Penn Fields. Tony Poole won a black ball decider for Penn but that proved their only highlight as Dartmouth took the next three frames through Steve Simkin, Paul Piddock and Mike Day. Dave Bennett made it 4-1 to Dartmouth aided by a 40 break – the best in division two this week.

As in division one, division three saw first playing second as Sedgley WMC B hosted Goodrich defending a six point lead. The lead is now ten points after a 4-1 victory for the home side. It looked to be going Goodrich’s way as a 33 break from Robin Bood secured the opener. However Goodrich had no answer as Sedgley powered home through Paul Shakespeare, Richard Haney, Julian Rebisz in a black ball finish and Matt Russell.

Elsewhere in division three there was a superb 53 break for Colin Davies as his Electricity B side lost 2-3 at home to Landywood C. Paul Davies won the opener for Electric but Landywood won the match through Kane Grigg, Dale Hughes and Steve Barton. Colin Davies’ break helped win the final frame.

The highest break in division three this week however was at British Rail where the home side lost 1-4 to Wednesfield RBL. The away side went 4-0 up through John Pugh, Daniel Pugh, Brendan Russell and Dennis Pugh. The highlight of the night was yet to come as Dave Bolshaw took the consolation frame for Rail thanks largely to a stunning 56 break.

In division four Steve Shaw leads the most wins table despite losing his first match of the season as Shepwell Green lost 3-2 at Woodcross D. Shaw came unstuck in the opening frame against Alan Nelson but it was soon 1-1 as James Nicholls won on the black. Steve Hampson made it 2-1 for the away side but Woodcross took the match thanks to Mark Wall and Dan Petch.

The trend of making a high break yet finishing on the losing side continued in division five as the same fate befell Andy Paddock and Neil Hingley. Andy Paddock knocked in a 45 break, the highest in division 5 this season, but his side Penn Fields B were defeated at home by Goodrich B 1-4. Goodrich got off to a great start as Steve Heath and Ian Jennings put the away side 2-0 up. Paddock then got Penn Fields back into the match, an outrageous fluke must have been an indicator that it was going to be a good night, and so it proved as an excellent 45 break helped Paddock bring the match score to 2-1. Any hopes of a comeback were quickly extinguished as Dan Roberts knocked in a superb pink under pressure to put Goodrich 3-1 up. Steve Platt made it 4-1 thanks to a victory on a respotted black for the second consecutive week.

Neil Hingley must share Paddock’s mixed feelings as he won his frame thanks to a 36 break but was the only winner as his Darlaston side went down 4-1 at Essington. Essington coasted to a 4-0 lead thanks to Steve Powis, Terry Hales, Mark Edwards and Danny Wildey. Hingley’s heroics spared the blushes and made it 1-4.

In division 6 Liam Jones continues to head the most wins table despite losing his match to Wayne Banks as Golden Cue H defeated Whitmore Reans Cons C 3-2. Cue cruised into a 3-0 lead thanks to Jamie Smith, Peter O’Neil and Pat Jones Snr but Cons pulled one back through Steve Wright before Banks defeated Liam Jones to make it 2-3.