Five weeks into the South London & Kent Pool Alliance winter season and the second division is extraordinarily tight, with all six teams separated by just seven points and this week all three matches were won by just one frame.
Bottom team Hurricanes Reborn hosted top team Blackheath Sports Club and Luke Knight got the home side off to a winning start, to get his own season up and running.
The French Connection, Phoebe and Charles French made it, 3-0 before Glen Ward prevented the set whitewash.
Arif Salih continued his great form to give Hurricanes the first set, 4-1.
Hurricanes’ Captain, Kevin England performed an outrageous fluke on the black to steal the frame from Alan Dolan to increase his team’s lead to, 5-1.
The next two frames went to Blackheath, before Phoebe French won her second frame with a 7-baller and Salih won again, to put their team on the hill at, 7-3.
Blackheath came out fighting in the third set, with Dolan winning frame eleven however, Charles French joined Phoebe on two out of two to give Hurricanes the victory.
The last three frames went to Blackheath, which included Clive Forrest’s unbeaten brace, to make the final score, 8-7.
It was a good all-round team performance from Hurricanes to conquer the league leaders, but the standout performers were the French Connection, Charles and Phoebe, with two unbeaten frames each.
After losing their first match of the season last week, second placed Bexleyheath Raiders were looking to bounce back against Farmhouse, three places and five points behind them.
Farmhouse had much the better start, winning the first three frames, before Ashley Summerhayes prevented the set whitewash.
Nick Brown took the fifth frame to give Farmhouse the first set, 4-1.
Raiders battled back and the second set was much closer, swinging backwards and forwards until Shelton D’Costa won the set deciding frame to give Raiders the set, 3-2 and reduce the arrears to, 6-4 overall.
Frame eleven went to Summerhayes for his hat-trick and Jeff Schofield levelled the match at six frames all.
John Denahy nudged Farmhouse back into the lead and Antony Darvill won the match with his unbeaten second frame win.
Carl Evans took the last frame to give Raiders the last set, despite losing, 8-7 overall.
The second match in this division was won by the lower placed side, so could the same happen as fourth placed Sundridge Park Working Men’s Club hosted Bell Ya Later in third.
With two points between them, this match was just as closely contested.
The first three frames went to the home side, but Reece Stewart, with two frame wins and Angie Hobbs won the next three frames to tie the match.
Dave Sparey, Simon McEvilly and Grant Aspill put another three frames together for Sundridge Park, before Hobbs won her second frame of the night to finish the set, 6-4 behind.
Stewart and Hobbs recorded their hat-trick frames and Tony Clarke joined them in the winner’s circle to nudge Bell Ya Later into the lead for the first time in the match, 7-6.
Sparey sent the match into a final frame decider, which young Slok Patel won to give Sundridge Park the, 8-7 victory to reduce the gap between them and their opponents to one point in the table.
All three matches in the division went to the underdog by eight frames to seven, so there were no changes in position, but the gap between top and bottom was reduced by one point to seven.
Just like Division Two, all three matches in SLKPA Division Three ended with the same score, 9-6 and the top teams struggled.
Top of the table, Bellegrove Newbies hosted the team they played in week one, and Angerstein was a much improved side.
In each of the first two sets, Newbies took a, 2-0 lead but Angerstein not only pegged them back, but also won the deciding frame to take a, 6-4 advantage into the final set.
Again, Newbies won the opening frame of the set however, Angerstein took the next three for the win, before Newbies won the last frame for a 9-6 final score.
Angerstein rode their luck a little bit but were deserved winners to end Newbies five match unbeaten run.
As well as staying top of the table, the other shining light for Newbies was 16-year-old Lewis Garland scoring a hat-trick.
Average Joes were sitting in second place, but they also lost, 9-6 to White Hart, which allowed them to leapfrog their opponents into second by three points.
The bottom two faced each other, as Plough & Harrow hosted Large Lakhars, with three points between them and this match started evenly, with both sides having chances.
Billy Tippett put Plough in the lead, but some mistakes from James McGuire and some great potting from Raj Phull made it, 2-1 to Large Lakhars.
Lewis Mann levelled the match, before Akash Phull won the set frame for a Large Lakhars, 3-2 lead.
Plough made less mistakes in the second set, as Ollie Powell took his time to manoeuvre his balls into potable positions, before rapidly depositing them to tie the match.
Sarah Dalton had been lacking in confidence this season, so was grateful when Raj Phull gave her ball in hand and she cleared up.
After losing to Gurdev Sian in the first set, McGuire took revenge in the second by potting a lovely long yellow and an equally long black.
Sanket Shreshtha took a risky black, using his opponent’s ball to hold the white and Mann capitalised on Ajit Gedhu’s mistakes to whitewash the set and give Plough a, 7-3 lead going into the last set.
Lynn Mather had the chance to win the match, but missed a long black and Akash Phull cleared the table to make it, 7-4.
Plough didn’t have to wait long for the victory, but it wasn’t plain sailing, as Arthur McDougall rattled the black on his first attempt however, his opponent potted the white, giving McDougall ball in hand and the win.
There was some toing and froing in frame thirteen, before Tippett played a plant on his last two yellows, held for the second yellow into the same pocket and potted the black in the left middle for the frame.
The last two frames went to Large Lakhars’ Raj Phull and Surj Singh for a more respectable, 9-6 final score.
This result increased the gap between the two sides at the bottom to six points.
The only unbeaten teams left in the league are now in the Premier Division, as both Sharks and New Eltham New Stars won again this week to make it five in a row.
Both teams were on 36 points and Sharks hosted Royal Oak in ninth, while New Stars played eighth placed Falconwood Club.
Sharks started strongly with Rahat Munim performing a well taken reverse dish and that was followed up by another quality clearance from Eno Idiong for a, 2-0 lead.
John Cochrane got a frame on the board for Oak, but Sharks dominated the set and ended it, 4-1 up.
That was extended to, 5-1 with Alex Biggs grabbing his second of the night however, Oak defied the odds and won the next four frames, including a second win from Cochrane to level the score at 5-5.
The next two frames were shared as Vu Son put Sharks one up, before Paul Williams won his second frame of the match to level once again.
Sharks finished well with Geoff La Porte and Munim winning the next two to go, 8-6 up and secure the match, before Phil Tworek took his second frame to leave a close, 8-7 final score.
This result put Sharks eight points ahead of New Stars however, they won, 10-5 to remain top of the table by two points.
Fourth played fifth, as Rugrats travelled to Bellegrove with a strong side, whereas Bellegrove were missing a few players so, were expecting a tough match.
However, the complete opposite was the case with the first two sets being won, 4-1 before Bellegrove whitewashed the final set, for a, 13-2 triumph.
Bellegrove capitalised on Rugrats’ mistakes and made some excellent clearances, especially from Nick Steadman in the second set, coupled with a full-length dead weight safety from Peter Whyte to run away with the match.
There was a hat-trick of hat-trick heroes, with Adam Coppen, Steadman and Whyte all winning three frames, and a rare appearance from Tom Haworth returned an unbeaten brace.
This win propelled Bellegrove into third place, one point behind Sharks, whereas Rugrats drop to fifth, after they beat Pickwick this week.
This was a very close match that could have gone either way, but Hotshots eventually took it, 8-7.
They were helped by Ryan Francis in inspirational form to win all three frames, including a break and dish in frame three and Elliott Giles also performed a break and run in the thirteenth.
Not to be outdone, Paul Slater also recorded a break and dish in frame six.
Pickwick stay in sixth on 35 points, the same as Rugrats above them and Sundridge Park Pocketeers below them, after their match against Foots Cray Bears this week.
Although Bears and Pocketeers had the same won one lost four record, Bears were three places and five points behind their opponents at the bottom of the table.
Pocketeers had a good start winning the first two frames however, Bears won the next three frames to take the set, 3-2.
The second set was the reverse of the first, with Bears winning the first two frames, making it five in a row, before Pocketeers took the last three frames of the set, to take it and tie the match at five all.
The first two frames of the last set were shared, keeping the scores level, then Jeff Bailey edged Bears back into the lead and on the hill.
Gary Mason won his third frame of the night to give Bears the win, before Kevin Dempsey took the last frame, making the final score, 8-7.
Bears remain bottom of the table, but they are now only one point behind Royal Oak and Falconwood.
Eltham Terrace Rack Pack hit the top of the first division last week however, they lost the local derby against Eltham Evolution, 10-5 and drop to fifth as a result, two places and one point behind their opponents.
Cue-Ologists were in fourth, one point behind second placed Bellegrove Flyers and this match would be equally as close.
Cue-Ologists Captain, Stephen Maeers won the first frame, but Bobby Rogers kept up his good form to level the match.
Rocky Marchant had the eye of the tiger and jabbed Cue-Ologists back into the lead, before Peter Moult continued the ding-dong battle and sent the set into a deciding frame, which Steve Pearce won against Chris McKenzie to put Flyers into the lead for the first time in the match.
Rocky went two for two to tie the match again, before Rogers did the same against his former team and put Flyers back in the lead.
The next two frames were shared keeping the set level, although Flyers were, 5-4 ahead overall.
The set deciding frame was Pearce versus McKenzie take two and the result was the same, with Pearce taking it in quick time, making the overall score, 6-4.
McKenzie started the third set for Cue-Ologists, avoiding Pearce, but he came up against Rogers, who recorded a hat-trick to show his old teammates what they were missing.
Flyers were on the hill however, Maeers pulled one back for Cue-Ologists and not even Mark Hill could put them over the line, as he lost to Simon Platt, putting his team, 2-1 up in the set and one frame behind overall.
In the penultimate frame Rocky was finally knocked down by Jason Brunton, giving Flyers the match and sending the third set in a row to a deciding frame.
Pearce was up again, but this time he played Rachel Howard, and she couldn’t stop him from achieving his hat-trick or winning the set.
Rogers and Pearce were the stars of the show, helping Flyers to win each set, 3-2 for a 9-6 final score.
Cue-Ologists drop to sixth, whereas Flyers return to the top of the table, with Pool Runnings joining them on 43 points in second, after they beat The Con Men, 9-6 this week.
New Eltham New Boys’ poor start to the season continued, as their winless run was extended to five matches, after Eltham Terrace Tigers beat them, 10-5 this week.
Tigers jump up to fourth, one point ahead of their sister side, Rack Pack whereas New Boys are four points adrift at the bottom.
Academicals in eighth played Nolans three points ahead of them in seventh and this was an incredibly close game, with Nolans just edging it, 8-7 to extend their lead over their opponents, with both teams staying put in the table.
For more information on the SLKPA including league tables visit the website at www.slkpa.com or contact the 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. kk
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