HOTSHOTS SC B took advantage of a postponed game for their closest rivals, Norton Social A, to move seven points clear at the top of the Stourbridge Snooker League's Premier Division.

They won 5-0 at home to Pockets SC A. Luke Garland gave them the perfect start with a break of 75, and Jon Bate, Rich Haney, Luke Higginbotham and Callum Downing, whose pink ball win inflicted only the second defeat on Andy Smith, completed a really good win.

Hotshots’ A team, bidding to retain the title, had dropped only four frames in their last six matches, but they lost away to Pockets’ B team. Richard Lewis, who opened with a fine 34 break, Gavin Evans and Tony Kidd all won for Pockets, all establishing significant leads before their opponents hit back, while Rob Howen and Milan Krstanovic, on the final black, took a frame each for the champions.

Chris Southall, Jason Hickman, Geoff Williams and Alan Hooper all won decisively for Brandhall Labour at home to last season’s runners-up, West Midlands Police, before Kev Franklin replied in the same vein, with the help of a 42 break. However fourth-placed Brandhall are a daunting 16 points off the top.

Moor Pool and Snooker A went 2-0 ahead at Netherton Sports and Social but Andy Barnett, Jamie Spence and Paul Bowen turned the match around for the home team, while Amblecote Institute A went 4-0 ahead at Moor P&S B including a fifth successive win for Mike Richards, before Ian Priest earned a consolation point for the hosts.

In the First Division, league newcomers Hotshots SC C had won their first nine matches to open up a ten point lead at the top, but they were defeated in the final match of the first half of the season away to Kinver Constitutional B.

Baggeridge Social beat Kinver Constitutional A 3-2 to remain in second place; Luke Whale’s win against Robin Hall was his 9th in 10 frames, but he was taken to the black, whereas his brother Matt, and Frankie Bennett, in the decider, won a shade more comfortably.

Norton Social B’s Luke Grosvenor’s unbeaten run was ended by Moor Pool and Snooker C’s Paul Jones, whose team went on to win 3-2 thanks to Ben Wakeman, who has lost only once as well, and Darren Corbett, with yet another good performance in a deciding frame. Moor P & S are fourth, with just four points fewer than Baggeridge.

In the Second Division,: Stourbridge Old Edwardians’ Chris Cowley, with breaks already of 67 and 51 earlier in the season, went a step further with an 83, failing on the yellow, with a century beckoning, as part of a 3-2 win against Amblecote Institute D.

Old Eds, in only their second season of competition, remain fourth, seven points off the pace being set by Stourbridge Institute B, who edged a close match against Wombourne. The unbeaten Nick Aston, Tommy Hamilton, crucially on the pink against Dave Flavell, and Simon Tyler in the decider sealed the result, with John Wooldridge and Stuart Taylor at least keeping Wombourne in close proximity five points behind, in third place.

The leader’s advantage stretched to three points, however, as the second placed team, Amblecote Institute C, slipped up 3-2 at home to Kingswinford Cons C.