Trio book their semi-final slots in Handicap KO

They will be joined by the winner of the quarter-final still to be played between Broseley’s Neil Caswell and Paul Harper from Maddocks.

Postans made his way to the last four by knocking out two of St John’s players. First to succumb was Mike Crawley in a black ball decider and then Rob Powell.

Hughes first knocked out Alveley’s Chris Jepson and then Carl Walker from Chelmarsh. In the second of these two matches, Hughes had the advantage of a 21 point start and before Walker could register a point, he had extended his lead to 69.

Walker knocked in a 34 break but trailing by the same number of points he needed the maximum points still on the table to win by one. But Hughes ended the possibility of an extraordinary comeback by fluking the final red.

The only remaining St John’s player, Jason Brown, pulled off the surprise of the night by knocking out two of the league’s top seeded players, both from Maddocks.

With only a seven-point handicap advantage, he first battled to knock out Dan Morris and then with a 21 point start, held on to beat Neil Pearson.

Over the two nights that the matches were played there were a number of respectable breaks.

Walker notched a 38 and a 27 playing against Reg Burton and then the academic 34 already mentioned when playing Hughes.

Gary Smith knocked in a 40 but this was more or less cancelled out by Neil Pearson’s 32, as he went on to comfortably win the frame.

The semi-finals and final, which are the best of three frames, will be played at Alveley on Tuesday, March 21.

Results: First Round: R. Burton 65, C. Walker 83; C. Jepson 60, C. Petford 47. Second Round: R. Powell 63, T. Steele 43; M. Crawley 53, I. Postans 55: C. Walker 67, A. Carson 53; C. Jepson 34, O. Hughes 67; D. Morris 44, J. Brown 53; N. Pearson 83, G. Smith 42; P. Harper & N. Caswell Walkovers. Quarter-Finals: I. Postans 64, R. Powell 18; C. Walker 42, O. Hughes 77; Jason Brown 49, N. Pearson 40.