Broseley are left feeling the heat after an in-house defeat

The title-chasers suffered only their second league defeat of the season when they went down 3-2 in the in-house battle with their A side. As a result, their lead at the top has been cut from four points to just one with only two matches remaining.

One of those games sees Broseley meet Chelmarsh B, the team that recently floored them in the League Cup final.

In truth, the match versus Broseley A could have gone either way. The first two frames were comfortably won by the A team’s Matt Smout and Neil Caswell, who respectively beat Craig Griffiths and Owen Hughes.

The same could be said for the final two frames won by the B team’s Nick Carson and Eddie Mullard, who got the upper hand when playing against Jamie O’Hara and Andy Garbett.

It was the third frame that actually decided the outcome. Gary Watson scraped home by a single point in a black ball finish against Pete Thompson. Up until last week Pete had been unbeaten and now he has lost two on the bounce. Just like his team, his form (or luck or both) has dipped when it is most needed. A good win for Broseley A gives them a four-point advantage over their nearest rivals chasing the runner-up position in the Second Division.

Now heavily on Broseley B’s shoulders are Maddocks after they beat St John’s B 4-1.

St John’s consolation came from Jason Brown, who just managed to get the better of Simon Yeats. From that point on it all went Maddock’s way s Neil Pearson, Dan Morris, Steve Powell and Paul Harper all won.

The five points Maddocks gained means that they are now in an excellent position to gate crash Broseley B’s party. Meanwhile, a 3-2 win over Alveley B keeps Chelmarsh B still in with an outside chance of a top two position for a 34th season.

Against Alveley B they raced into a 3-0 lead thanks to excellent wins from Simon Thomas, the unbeaten Gary Smith and Chris Lewis – Thomas and Smith respectively knocking in breaks of 53 and 29.

Alveley B also have a star in Martin Coffey Jnr, who tops the Second Division Most Wins table, and he and Dave Jones collected the two wins that stopped Chelmarsh from a runaway victory.

Rob Powell, Martin Lippitt, Tim Steele and Josh Summers did the business that saw St John’s A through to a fairly comfortable 4-1 victory over Woodfield who, despite defeat, still look certain to become Second Division champions.

Alveley C were confirmed as wooden spoonists for a third successive season after losing 3-2 to Chelmarsh Sc.

Chris Petford and Chris Jepson, with a break of 36, won for Alveley but Carl Walker, Matt Judd and Ian Postans saw Chelmarsh home.

League Results

Alveley B 2, Chelmarsh B 3: S. Fullwood 26, G. Smith 76; T. Weaver 19, S. Thomas 83; I. Stephens 7, C. Lewis 40; M. Coffey Jnr 63, P. Manning 21; D. Jones 61, M. Rogers 27. Broseley B 2, Broseley A 3: C. Griffiths 15, M. Smout 55; O. Hughes 26, N. Caswell 52; P. Thompson 42, G. Watson 43; N. Carson 59, J. O’Hara 21; E. Mullard 61, A. Garbett 15. Chelmarsh SC 3, Alveley C 2: C. Walker 79, B. Arnold 19; C. Petford 27, N. Jones 62; I. Postans 76, R. Burton 3; T. Askew 36, C. Jepson 75; M. Judd 74, S. Coldecott 33. Maddocks 4, St. John’s B 1: S. Yeats 53, J. Brown 64; N. Pearson 60, M. Crawley 33; S. Powell 58, K. Smith 23; D. Morris 45, M. Jones 36; P. Harper 54, P. Williams 15. St. John’s A 4, Woodfield 1: K. Hawkins 4, Luis Ferraro 65; R. Powell 57, P. Hyland 20; M. Lippitt 72, N. Drewett 39; T. Steele 62, J. Morris 44; J. Summers 49, R. Castle 20.