West Midlands Police the first to register a Premier Division away win

The other promoted team, Bearwood Cons, who had lost narrowly to the Police the previous week, did well to defeat Amblecote Institute A 3-2, thanks to Gary Ford, who won on the black against Ash Sidaway, Mick Cash & Avtar Sohanpal.

Only Phil Thompson, who beat Simon Thomas, could win for reigning champions Townsend Social on their visit to play the strengthened Norton Social A team for whom Steve Mason, Rob Pitt, Ashley Aston and Andy Smith won four closely-contested frames.

Hotshots SC A, the 2017/18 champions, recovered from their opening day defeat at Amblecote Institute to beat Pockets A 3-2, thanks to Roy Stokes, Bal Sembi, with a break of 56, and Mark Sutton, who had a run of 47. Gary Smith and Tom Pepperall won for the visitors.

Hotshots SC B, who had surprised Norton the week before, lost 3-2 at Brandhall Labour, despite another black-ball success for Mark Kelly and a 50 break by Dan Hartley; Paul Caldeira, Wayne Robbins and Rob Howen secured the first win for Brandhall.

In Division One, only three teams have won their first two matches: Bahia’s SC A, Norton B and Kinver Constitutional C lead the way in what appears to be a very competitive division.

Bahia’s came away from Pockets SC B with a 3-2 win, both Jordan Macdivitt & Mark Jeffries coming back well from some way adrift before Reece Bahia took the decider, while Norton won 4-1 away to Amblecote Inst D, last season’s Second Division champions. Carl Webb and Tony Brown edged the tighter frames for the visitors but Jordan Taylor cleared the last four balls against Andrew Brown to earn some consolation for the Institute.

Kinver C went 2-0 down at home to Kingswinford Cons A, but stormed back to win thanks to Steve Nicholls, Tom Postings and Gregg Reece. Earlier Tim Carter, with a break of 34 to beat the prolific Adam Sprague, and Thomas Male had given Cons a great start.

There were contrasting fortunes for the other Kinver teams: the A team lost 3-2 at Moor Pool and Snooker, who were indebted to Simon Dingley, with a break of 44, Neil Gennard and Warren Knight, the inaugural Singles Handicap champion ten years ago, who was making his debut for the team. The B team, however, took all five frames away to Amblecote Inst C which included a black ball win for their most willing reserve, Ted Tromans. All three Kinver teams look set to compete very effectively.

Baggeridge Social B enjoyed their first win at home to Dudley Ex-Servicemen. Luke Whale, Alistair Baker and Trevor Cox, making his debut, won before Rob Thompson & Steve Childs fought back for the visitors in a match completed in fine spirit in little more than an hour.

Stourbridge Old Edwardians A bounced back from a 5-0 defeat away to Kinver A to defeat Amblecote Inst B 4-1. Dave Woodall, Gavin Dunn, Chris Cowley & Paul Garbett, with a break of 34 all won, with Alan Moore replying but, just like at Kinver the previous week, the frames were closely-contested.

Second Division report: Again, just three teams have won their first two matches: the two Amblecote British Legion sides and Kingswinford Snooker Centre. The Legion B team came through a tight match away to Kinver D, winning 3-2 thanks to Bill Crowther, Alex Bull & Gary Chater while Marcus Hines and Dan Barker, who cleared the last five balls to beat Steve Bull won for Kinver.

Billy Green, Steve Norton & Rob Boylin were on the mark for the Legion’s A team who defeated Old Edwardians B 3-2, and, together with Kingswinford SC, 3-2 winners at Wombourne, they trail the B team by a single point. Richard Loftus, on his first appearance for KSC, Steve Ballinger and John Salisbury won for the visitors, with Jon Perry & Dave Flavell replying for Wombourne.

The newly-formed Amblecote Institute E team won their first match, a good all-round performance to ease past Stourbridge Institute D 4-1 away from home. Cary Homer, Lee Edwards, Lewis Hackett and Audie Homer combined to good effect, with Dominic Bacciocchi taking a frame for the hosts.

Bahia’s SC B also won their first match with Mark Reece, Gary Skinner and Paul Craig making home advantage count against Stourbridge Institute B. Harry Jones and Carl Green, both well into the veteran stage, but no less effective, ensured that the Institute took something from the match.