SLKPA Tier Two East’s exciting conclusion

 

Duke of Northumberland and Bears have been fighting it out all season, swapping positions at the top, but last week Bellegrove Flyers sneaked into the race, going top of the table, on the same points as Duke, but top by one more set won, with Bears only two points behind. 

 

Flyers had the toughest task, playing fifth placed Rugrats, whereas Duke and Bears were travelling to the bottom two teams. 

 

Given the circumstances, the first set between Flyers and Rugrats was incredibly close, with the first four frames being shared, before Aaron Shephard won the deciding frame for Rugrats. 

 

Ashley Hewson, Dylan Suggars and Shephard won the first three frames of the second set, making it four in a row for the set. 

 

In his final game for the team, before moving away, Flyers’ Captain Keith Smith prevented the set whitewash, before Pat Firth made it, 4-1 in the set and 7-3 overall. 

 

Hewson won the first frame of the final set to give Rugrats the bonus point, but Jason Brunton, Richard Marsh and Alan Boltwood won the next three frames for the set and a point. 

 

Pat Firth took the last frame for his own personal hat-trick to make the final score, 2-1 & 9-6 to Rugrats. 

 

 With Flyers only scoring one point, it meant that all both Duke and Bears had to do was win to finish in the top two positions. 

 

Bears went to second bottom Bell Ya Later and came away with maximum points, scoring a, 3-0 & 11-4 victory. 

 

This put them on 38 points, one ahead of Flyers and two in front of Duke, but their result is yet to be added to the table. 

 

Duke played bottom of the table Bexleyheath Working Men’s Club, who had only one win this season and were 30 points behind their opponents.

 

This game went true to form with Duke winning, 3-0 & 10-5 one frame less than Bears but it didn’t matter as maximum points was more than enough to send Duke back to the top of the table by two points. 

 

The fact that Duke and Bears finished first and second was even more remarkable given that the game between them earlier in the season was void and therefore both had played one less game than the rest of the division. 

 

The final game in the division was a dead rubber between Hurricane Hustlers and Eltham Terrace Rack Pack, as neither side were able to improve or worsen their final league position. 

 

The first two frames were shared, after Tony Frost rattled the black, leaving Alfie Southby with a fine clearance to take out. 

 

However, Rack Pack won the last three frames of the set, with Andy Mounger producing a great clearance to clinch the set and Steve Unwin continuing his winning ways to give them a, 4-1 lead.

 

In the second set, Hurricanes went back to a formula that worked so well for them last week and it continued this, with Southby and Lee Carmen winning the opening two frames. 

 

This brought Hurricanes back to within a frame, but Chris Unwin won a tough frame against Kevin England and Mounger levelled the set to restore Rack Pack’s three-frame lead overall. 

 

James Cooke took on Simon Byrne to decide the set and it was Byrne who held his nerve to give Hurricanes the set. 

 

At 1-1 & 6-4 in Rack Pack’s favour there was still everything to play for, but with Cooke and John Ly winning frames eleven and twelve, Rack Pack secured the bonus point.

 

Then, in the next frame Mounger won his third frame of the night to give his team the frame, set and match. 

 

Rack Pack weren’t stopping there with Steve Unwin and Chris Parlett taking the last two frames to whitewash the set and give their team a, 2-1 & 11-4 triumph.

 

Mounger wasn’t the only unbeaten player, as John Ly joined the Unwins, Chris and Steve in winning two out of two frames. 

 

Hurricanes may have finished the season with a loss, but Captain England is proud of his team’s efforts in this, their first season, finishing sixth of eight teams, winning five of their fourteen matches.

 

Duke have joined Eltham Terrace Nuthouse from SLKPA Tier Two West in getting promoted to the Elite League as champions, but who will be going up with them? 

 

Bears have secured the play-off spot in Tier Two East, but the race to see who will be playing them from Tier Two West was between four teams and they were playing each other this week. 

 

Bellegrove A were in pole position, and they travelled to Fox & Hounds, four points behind them in fifth, whereas third placed New Eltham New Boys hosted Academicals in fourth with them both on the same points. 

 

Given the circumstances, the match between Bellegrove and Fox was always going to be a close game, which was reflected in each set being won by the odd frame, 3-2. 

 

Jack Taylor got Bellegrove off to a great start with the first frame, but Alan Dolan, Clive Forrest and Kerry Wyatt strung three frames together to give Fox the first set. 

 

Petrina Pearce pulled one back for Bellegrove with frame five. 

 

The first four frames of the second set were shared, but this time the pressure was too much for Petrina Pearce, instead the deciding frame went to Glen Ward, giving Fox the set and an overall, 6-4 lead. 

 

Each side won one of the opening two frames of the final set, before Forrest secured the bonus point with frame thirteen. 

 

Fox’s Captain Kerry Wyatt gave her team maximum points with the penultimate frame and Petrina Pearce gained revenge for her loss in the previous set by beating Ward in the last frame, to make the final score, 3-0 & 9-6. 

 

Kerry Wyatt led from the front, winning all three of her frames and she was joined by teammate Alan Dolan on a hat-trick, to give their team an outside chance of the play-off. 

 

It was another tense, close affair between New Boys and Academicals, with New Boys just edging it, 2-1 & 8-7. 

 

That was enough for New Boys to claim the play-off spot, just one point ahead of both Bellegrove and Fox in third and fourth respectively and two points in front of their opponents. 

 

Now that’s all been decided, we turn to the dead rubber of the division where Eltham Terrace Nuthouse hosted Downham Tavern Terrors. 

 

Top versus bottom and the difference in class really showed, as Nuthouse whitewashed the first set. 

 

Tommy Bowden put Terrors first frame on the board with frame six, but Paul Doherty, Jon Syta and Trevor Biggs won the next three frames to give Nuthouse the second set, the match, and the bonus point before the end of the second set. 

 

Terrors only had four players, so had to give Nuthouse frame ten, to make it, 9-1 going into the final set. 

 

The first three frames of the last set also went to Nuthouse making it seven on the spin to give them maximum points. 

 

Paul Martin gave Terrors a second frame, before a bye made it a terrible night for the Terrors, as they were terrorised by Nuthouse, 3-0 & 13-2. 

 

Shane Hutley and Jon Syta both scored an unbeaten brace, with Paul Doherty and Leighton Aston winning all three of their frames however, they both received byes. 

 

Terrors finish their first season in the SLKPA bottom of the pile, but they did pick up two victories and were close in a few more, so they have lots of positives to take into the future. 

 

Nuthouse were pretty dominant in this division, winning it by fourteen points to go back to the Elite League at the first time of asking. 

 

The title and the bottom three had already been decided in the top division last week and all that was left was second, third, fourth and fifth. 

 

Terry’s Allstars and Hotshots were in second and third on the same points and Pickwick and The Cocked Hats sat in fourth and fifth, with one point between them. 

 

Allstars travelled to Pickwick making it difficult for them both to hang on to their upper hand. 

 

Dean Passer started well for Allstars, winning the opening frame, but Pickwick worked hard, and Ian Chapman, Paul Gafa and Martin Storey won the next three frames to give them the first set. 

 

Paul Cook, Tony Halpin and Richie Mitchell won three in a row for Allstars to put them, 5-3 up overall and, 2-0 ahead in the second set. 

 

Gafa won frame eight to pull one back for Pickwick however, Passer and Cook won the last two frames of the set to give it to Allstars, 4-1 and put them, 6-4 up overall. 

 

Mitchell and Rob Taylor made that four in a row with the first two frames of the last set, to secure the bonus point for Allstars. 

 

Gafa recorded his hat-trick with frame thirteen, which turned out to be the set whitewash preventing frame for the second set in a row, as Phil O’Kane and Nick Steadman won the last two frames to make the final score, 2-1 & 10-5. 

 

Allstars had three unbeaten players, with Passer, Cook and Mitchell all winning two frames however, Pickwick’s Gafa went one better with three out of three. 

 

This result gave Allstars a three-point lead over Hotshots in the table, but they hosted bottom team, Falconwood Club this week. 

 

Looking for their first win in the last game of the season, Falconwood had a tough task against third placed Hotshots, but they started well, with Akar Necati winning the second frame to tie the set at, 1-1. 

 

However, Richard Chapman, Steve Krishnan and Tony Wilson won the next three frames to give Hotshots the set, 4-1. 

 

Hotshots’ dominance continued into the second set, winning the first four frames of the set, to make it seven in a row. 

 

That made it, 2-0 & 8-1 giving Hotshots the bonus point before the end of the second set and condemning Falconwood to a winless season. 

 

Ian Stringer put a run of two frames together with the tenth and eleventh to bring it back to, 8-3 overall. 

 

Chapman and Necati won the next two frames, giving Falconwood a, 2-1 lead in the set and the hope of a point to finish the season. 

 

However, Hotshots were ruthless as Ryan Francis and Wilson won the last two frames to make the final score, 3-0 & 11-4, giving them maximum points to steal second place from Allstars. 

 

Stringer and Necati both scored two out of three to give Falconwood their four frames however, Chapman and Wilson, both went one better with unbeaten hat-tricks for Hotshots. 

 

So Hotshots pip Allstars to second place by one point, but who will finish fourth and fifth, with Pickwick currently two points ahead of Cocked Hats and they had already relegated New Eltham New Stars to play?

 

There was a strange occurrence in this game, as Cocked Hats only had three players and New Stars four, which proved costly in the end, with New Stars edging it, 2-1 & 8-7. 

 

Chris Hobbis and George Taylor got Cocked Hats off to a perfect start, playing and winning the first two frames. 

 

This meant that Louis Wilbourne had to win his frame for the set and as he was given the bye the first set went to Cocked Hats. 

 

The other two frames in the set went to New Stars as byes. 

 

Frame six was played and Wilbourne took it to put them one up in the set and, 4-2 up overall. 

 

The next three frames were all byes, 2-1 to New Stars to tie the set at, 2-2. 

 

Frame ten was contested between Taylor and Paul Carroll, and Carroll held his nerve to level the match at one all and five all. 

 

Two of the first three frames in set three were byes given to New Stars and Dave Jandu made it, 3-0 to give them the final set and the bonus point. 

 

Hobbis won the penultimate frame and Wilbourne was given a bye in the last frame to bring Cocked Hats back to within one frame. 

 

This gave Cocked Hats one point, which wasn’t enough to leapfrog Pickwick, so they ended up in fifth, one point behind Pickwick, but five points ahead of Bellegrove, who were relegated last week. 

 

The final game of the season saw Bellegrove travel to the newly crowned league champions Sharks. 

 

After two weeks in a row without a full team, Bellegrove had one this week, but it was their opponents Sharks who were a player missing this week.

 

The first two frames were shared and frame three was given to Bellegrove as the bye, putting them 2-1 up, but Rahat Munim and Vu Son won the last two frames to give Sharks a, 3-2 first set lead. 

 

Courtesy of Dan Heinink and the bye, Bellegrove went, 2-0 up in the second set however, Alex Biggs and Munim levelled the set for Sharks.

 

James Couch won the decider for Bellegrove to tie the match at, 1-1 & 5-5. 

 

All to play for between the league champions and the relegated Bellegrove and it was Jeff Laporte and Munim who put Sharks, 2-0 up in the set.

 

Barry Barham won the next frame for Bellegrove and with the final frame being given to them, that effectively made the penultimate frame the decider, not only for the set but for the match and the bonus point. 

 

Vu Son played Dan Foley with two points on the line, and it was Vu Son who was covered in glory, giving Sharks the narrow, 2-1 & 8-7 triumph. 

 

Munim was the inspiration behind Sharks victory, winning all three of his frames. 

 

All in all this has been a really competitive season, with the decision on many positions going right down to the wire, and it’s not over yet, with Bears facing New Boys for a place in the Elite League next week, and the singles and pairs competitions still to be contested.  

 

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 always looking at potential sponsors and any interested parties can also contact Paul Gafa.