BRANDHALL Labour found the task of conceding 204 points to Kinver B just beyond them on the neutral tables of Kingswinford Conservative Club.

Jason Hickman gave them a fine start, winning by 75 points, but Adam Sprague countered by establishing a lead against Callum Downing, who hit back to reduce his winning margin to 18.

Alan Hooper opened up with a fluent 40 break but his opponent, Steve Nicholls, fought back so strongly that Alan had to clear the colours to win by 47, while Chris Southall had to clear those last important colours to beat Tim Charnock by 52. Kinver still led by 48 at the start of the final frame, but Bal Sembi looked in good touch with a 41 break before going in-off, giving Steve Jones the chance to counter with 38 to restore Kinver’s advantage, before clinching the match on the last red.

Kinver, from the First Division, have beaten four Premier teams to reach their first final. They will face opponents from their own division, Amblecote Institute B, in the final.

Stourbridge Old Edwardian Club hosted the other semi-final which saw Amblecote defeat newly-crowned Second Division champions, Norton Social B, on the final pink. Matt Johnson gave Amblecote a winning start with a 15 point success against Joe Davies, fresh from his fine achievement in reaching the final of the Worcestershire Junior Championship, but Luke Grosvenor played particularly well to beat Cary Homer by 34 to extend Norton’s advantage to 52 points. Adam Coley has been in top form for Amblecote in the closing weeks of the season but he lost narrowly to Paul Hipkiss. Mick Cook, however, produced one of his finest games for the Institute, defeating Barry Tromans by 75 points, with the aid of a 31 break, to give his team a 16 point lead. Pete Cairns did his best to retrieve the situation but Sam Harrison took the pink to see Amblecote through to a final appearance.

Foursomes (pairs) Final: Amblecote RBL hosted the final between the holders, Jon Bate and Callum Downing, now based at Hotshots SC, and Tom Hamilton and Harry Jones of Stourbridge Institute. The Stourbridge pair began well, leading 21-12 before Callum compiled a superb 82, cutting the deficit to 16. In a tense second frame, Callum wasn’t given the opportunity to pot another ball as Harry and Tom tried to hold their advantage but Jon whittled away to edge his team ahead. Finally, a well-judged snooker on the blue by Callum produced the error and Jon took blue and pink to land the Geoff Williams Memorial Shield, struck in honour of the popular left-hander who played for Wombourne.

Stourbridge over 40’s inter-league report: Stourbridge had to beat Worcester 4-1 to reach the final of the Worcester Inter-League competition.