W19-20 week 13 match reports
Five more teams break 100 points in SLKPA
Thirteen weeks into the South London & Kent Pool Alliance winter season and five more teams have broken the 100-point mark, to make it nine teams of the 25 to achieve that feat.
In the first division, Eltham Terrace Rack Pack, New Eltham New Stars and Fox & Hounds all joined Pickwick and Eltham Terrace Nuthouse on three figures.
Two of those teams played each other this week, as New Stars hosted Fox & Hounds and the match started really close, swinging one way then the other, with the first four frames being shared, before Steve Pearce won the fifth frame to put New Stars 3-2 ahead.
This started a run of five frames in a row for New Stars to put them 7-2 up.
Clive Forrest won his second frame of the night to prevent the second set whitewash and bring Fox back to 7-3.
Pearce and Dave Jandu won the first two frames of the last set to give New Stars an unassailable lead however, Fox fought hard and took the final three frames to win the set 3-2 and make the final score a more respectable 9-6.
Not only did Forrest prevent the second set whitewash, but he went on to win another frame in the third set to complete his hat-trick.
Jandu was the inspiration behind New Stars victory, also winning all three of his frames.
Fox & Hounds six points put them on exactly 100 points and kept them in fourth place, whilst New Stars are just one place and seven points ahead of their opponents.
On the same points as New Stars but ahead of them by one more in the win column are Rack Pack, who also won 9-6 this week against bottom of the table Rugrats Guardians.
Guardians started well with Ross Webster and Martin Hart winning the first two frames, but Dean Rider and Chris Parlett took the next two frames to tie the match, before Harrison Hurst won frame five to give Guardians a 3-2 lead.
The second set also went to a deciding frame, but this time Sam Kinsville won it for Rack Pack to tie the match at five all.
Dave Avery and Rider won the first two frames of the last set to edge Rack Pack ahead by 7 frames to 5.
Luke Matthews pulled one back for Guardians, but Kinsville and Parlett won the final two frames to make the final score 9-6.
There was only two unbeaten players on the night, both from Rack Pack, with Captain Steve Unwin winning his only frame and Rider all three of his.
Rack Pack may be sitting in the promotion play-off spot, but Guardians are languishing eight points adrift at the bottom and 18 points away from guaranteed safety.
Academicals are just above Guardians and they faced a tough task in their derby match against table toppers Pickwick.
Academicals belied their lower placing in the table to play some knowledgeable pool at times and raised their game to match the Pickwick, coming back from 3-0 down, with Paul Thomas, Dean Williams and Gary Mason all winning to tie the match at three all.
Pickwick knew they were in a battle and key shots and pots were made to ease Pickwick through the gears to win eight of the last nine frames to make the final score 11-4.
Mason was the only Academicals player to trouble the scorers in the last nine frames, to win half of his team’s four frames.
The Pickwick’s Pauls are positively performing, after hat-tricks last week, both Gafa and Dawson achieved the same this week.
Academicals are now ten points away from guaranteed safety, whereas Pickwick have opened up a fourteen-point lead at the top and are 32 points ahead of third, so with five games to go, promotion is edging ever nearer.
Promotion is also beckoning for Nuthouse, as they are 18 points ahead of Rack Pack, after they beat Beelegrove A this week, also by 11 frames to 4.
It was another tough game for the Bellegrove however, the first set was close, as the first two frames were shared, but Dave Sparey and Alex Biggs won the next two frames to give Nuthouse the set, before Kevin England pulled one back for Bellegrove.
The first two frames of the second set were also shared but it kind of fell apart from there, as Danny Kent, Alex Biggs and Sparey won the next three frames to give Nuthouse a 7-3 lead.
Louis Wilbourne won frame eleven to secure the win for Nuthouse, but as in the previous two sets, Jack Taylor took the next frame to share the opening two frames of the set.
However, this set went the same way as the last, with the final three frames going to Nuthouse for an overall score of, 11-4.
Only two players troubled the scorers for Bellegrove, with Taylor recording a hat-trick and England the only other winner.
Nuthouse had three unbeaten players on the night, with Wilbourne and Sparey scoring a brace, but Alex Biggs went one better, winning all three of his frames.
Bellegrove A hold onto seventh place and guaranteed safety but their neighbours, Just Bellegrove are breathing heavily down their necks and are only three points behind, after they recorded a much-needed win over Falconwood Club.
After being bashed last week, Just Bellegrove needed to restore some pride and they did just that with a 9-6 triumph to drag Falconwood into the relegation dogfight.
Many of the frames were scrappy and could have gone either way, but with most of them falling Just Bellegrove’s way, they’ll take that if it means a victory.
Falconwood are now just six points ahead of their opponents in the relegation play-off spot and three points ahead of Bellegrove A, so they definitely need to be looking over their shoulder at what’s going on behind them.
Th two teams that have joined the 100-point club in the Premier Division are Bellegrove and Sharks, despite both suffering losses this week.
Sharks stay in fourth although they narrowly lost 8-7 to second placed Hotshots and now there is a 23-point gap between the two teams.
Third placed Bellegrove went to Eltham Terrace Club A, in seventh and it was a tight first set, with the home side taking a 3-2 lead and that soon became 4-2 with a break and dish in the first frame of the second set.
Bellegrove fought back and won the next four frames, which included a lovely finish from Graham Levingbird, taking out a long double on his last red before potting a long black.
At 6-4 up the away side were looking to kick on and finish the game off, but the final set was a disaster for them, losing it 5-0 to give Terrace a 9-6 triumph.
It was as simple as Terrace taking their chances and Bellegrove not for a deserved win.
The away side did have two unbeaten players, Peter Whyte and James Couch, both winning two frames.
Bellegrove are now only one point ahead of Sharks and ten in front of their opponents in seventh, so the fight for the prize positions behind the top two is very much on.
Crayford A stay bottom of the table after they were beaten by The Fox 9-6 and after coming off the bottom last week, Rose Inn pick up their second win of the season, somewhat unexpectedly 8-7 against Bull Tavern in fifth.
Rose Inn are now three points ahead of Crayford and also three points behind Rugrats above them.
This week Rugrats had a tough time against the unbeaten league leaders, Allstars, who remain unbeaten with an 11-4 victory to leave Rugrats fourteen points away from guaranteed safety.
The SLKPA second division is drawing to a close with only one or two games left for the teams and without playing this week New Eltham New Boys have stepped closer to guaranteed promotion and the title.
New Boys stay top by two points even though Royal Oak beat their nearest rivals, Sea the Angles 10-5 and New Boys have a game in hand.
Royal Oak got out of the blocks quicker, taking the first set 4-1 but that didn’t reflect the game itself, as all of the frames were close and could have gone either way however, Jo Williams was the only Sea the Angles player to get on the score sheet.
The score line in the next two sets was closer, both ending up 3-2 and again could have gone either way, but went to Royal Oak to give them the 10-5 triumph.
It was an eventful night and Sea the Angles will be disappointed, as the game was much closer than the score line suggests and they missed the chance to close in on the top two, finishing thirteen points behind their opponents however, they do have a game in hand.
After preventing the whitewash in the first set, Jo Williams went on to win her next two frames as well to complete her hat-trick, with Dan Brown and Claire Stork claiming the other frames for Sea the Angles.
Farmhouse kept their hopes of not finishing bottom in their first season alive by beating their nearest rivals Anglesea Arms 9-6.
Their second victory of the season takes Farmhouse to within 19 points of their opponents, but Anglesea Arms have played one more match, let’s hope their nine penalty points don’t prove costly at the end of the season.
For more information on the SLKPA including league tables visit our website at www.slkpa.com or contact our Secretary, Paul Gafa on 07443 456662 or secretary@slkpa.com with any queries.
The league is looking at potential sponsors; any interested parties can also contact Paul Gafa.
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