Happy New Years Eve everyone. Some of the Pairs and Individual Merit Preliminary Round matches were played this week at Littlemoor.

Dave Howarth & league newcomer, Sid Ash, were drawn at home against the St Andrews A pair Neil Lee and Nigel Brayshaw. Sid has already played some Bradford League matches for Pudsey B and so he wasn't quite brand new to the table. He was first up against Nigel and conceded just 5 points on the handicap to his opponent. Nigel got the better start of the two and was more free-scoring than Sid, gradually building up a lead of around 25. However, Sid is no novice and brings some good experience from the Bury League and occasional regional competitions. He gradually whittled the deficit back and around the 165 mark, the scores were just about level. A well worked and very handily timed 22 break then gave Sid a good lead for the first time. The break was perfectly timed and enabled him to get home by 14 (200-186). That 14 point advantage to partner Dave, meant that Neil just had a one point start (instead of 15). A quite cagey start to the next game then ensued, but Dave took advantage of some good early running and went 20 or so points clear after about 10 minutes. Neil played a few good individual shots but wasn't quite able to string much together to claw the lead back. At around the 160 point, Dave made a very useful 23 (which did have a couple of flukes in there!). It was just too much for Neil to peg back and so Sid and Dave were able to claim a place in the next round, to be played on the 15th February.

As I was either refereeing or playing, I didn't see much of the singles that were being played on the other table. However, I am advised that the Peter Allan/John Hirst clash was a "very good" and competitive game, which could have gone either way. However, it was last year's winner, Peter who finished on top 200-187. Whilst I was playing against Neil, John Allan then took on Sid in the next Individual match-up. Conceding 60 points to Sid, I am presuming John must have played pretty well to claim a fairly comfortable looking 28 point win.

The next rounds of the Individuals and Pairs will be played on the 8th and 15th February respectively, so please make arrangements with your respective opponents to play the remaining Preliminary Round matches as soon as possible and most definitely well before those dates.

This coming week, we are back to the league title competition. League leaders, Pudsey Congs, are away at Bradford Deaf Centre; St Andrews B will have home advantage to Littlemoor and St Andrews A will be at Princeville. 

I have done some updating to the 'Past Winners' page, specifically the 'Highest Breaks' section, which is now at the bottom of that page. I am grateful to Richard B and Stephen K for helping me to fill in some blanks. If anyone has any of the old handbooks that could help me fill in some more, could I borrow them please?

Thanks, and I hope you all enjoy your New Year celebrations, whatever you are doing.

Dave Howarth

League Secretary

The "dead rubber" in Group 2 of the Team KO competition, between Princeville and St Andrews B was cancelled this week, as the latter were unable to raise a full team. Also, as it was a match of no real consequence, the decision was taken that a re-arrangement wasn't necessary. Littlemoor, having already won both their matches, were already qualifiers from this Group for the final.

So, there's just the one match to report on this week... In Group 1, St Andrews A had already defeated Bradford Deaf Centre. Their opponents this week were league leaders Congs, who had surprisingly lost to the Deaf Centre last week. So, the situation was that all St Andrews A needed to do was to win to qualify for the final. The other scenarios, should they lose, were described in last week's blog (which can still be read). 

As it turned out, Congs actually won, but not by enough... they needed to win by 51 or more, but the final overall score was 792-779. Conceding 265 on the handicap differences to St Andrews A, it was always going to be a bit of an uphill struggle for Congs. 

The playing order was Neil Lee (h/cap 90) against Congs Phil Hirst (70) which Phil won 137-124. So, this was a net win for Neil (by 7). John Oyston (130) was then up against Congs John Hirst (90). It was the Congs man who came out nicely on top in this one with a 145-43 win giving his team a net win of 62 and thereby getting Congs into the lead and much closer to their desired target. Next was St Andrews A's Graham Pearson (75) against Richard Bowes (-80) giving a 155 advantage back to St Andrews A. However. although Richard still won by a handy 145 (254-109) including a break of 48, it still gave St Andrews A another chance to get back in. The final game was Congs Mick Hirst (45) against Nigel Brayshaw (95) (difference 50). Mick won this, but as it was by just 131-113, it wasn't quite enough to beat St Andrews A by 51 or more, nor were Congs able to prevent St Andrews A from scoring the 702 they needed to overhaul Braford Deaf Centre's aggregate. Thanks to Richard Bowes for supplying me with details of the playing order... His Facebook comment sums up the result well... "Despite not making the final, we've come away pleased with turning a 265 deficit on handicap into a 13 point win, it just wasn't quite enough."

So, well done to St Andrews A who have now qualified for the final. They last won this competition in 2011, but will be up against last season's winners, Littlemoor. There's a lot of water to go under the bridge between now and the final though, as it will not be played until the 25th April next year. 

This coming Thursday, the 28th December, will see the Preliminary Round matches for the Pairs competition. At Littlemoor, Dave Howarth and (our newcomer from Rochdale) Sid Ash, take on Nigel Brayshaw and Neil Lee. Ian Ford and Jeremy Dixon, of the Deaf Centre, will play Graham Pearson and Gary Rogers and at Congs, father and son combo John & Phil Hirst will welcome the Deaf Centre pairing of Brian Robinson and Ijaz Hussain. Please remember that the rules of this competition are that the two higher handicap players, play each other first. Their handicaps go on the scoreboard before the match starts. There is no time restriction and they will play until one of them reaches 200. The balls are left where they were at the end of the first game. The next player on will be the partner of the first player to win. The handicaps of the second two players are added to the scoreboard and the match proceeds until one of the second players reaches a total of 400. 

If you can arrange for your Individual Merit matches to be played on the 28th December as well, there is nothing to stop you from doing that. If it cannot be played on that evening, please contact your opponent and make arrangements to agree on a mutually agreeable date. 

Finally, I'd just like to wish all our players and readers of this weekly blog and update a very enjoyable Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Dave Howarth

League Secretary

This week saw the second round of matches in the Team Knockout contest. In Group 2, the holders, Littlemoor, having won their previous match against Princeville, simply needed to beat this week's opponents St Andrews B to reach the final again. Despite conceding a total of 90 points to St Andrews B, Littlemoor did indeed win, but overall, by just 11 points.

Similar to last week, players of very similar handicaps were drawn against each other. Both number ones, St Andrews B's Dave Smith and Littlemoor's John Allan were drawn against each other. Despite having a 25 point deficit to make up, John gave Littlemoor a very promising start with a 170-109 win. I beat Norman Procter by just 20 who fought back well with some excellent individual pot reds, after I had built up a good lead initially. Steve Clark for St Andrews B, also played well and got his team right back into it with a 149-124 win against Graham Tudor. But it was Ralph Allan who came to Littlemoor's rescue with an excellent 132-87 win over Steve Boocock to give the holders the 11 point win.

At Pudsey Congs, in another close affair, the visitors Bradford Deaf Centre came out on top 778-750. On the handicap totals the visitors handicap advantage was a very handy 95 points. Again, the top 2 players Richard Bowes and Jeremy Dixon were drawn together. The scoresheet shows that Richard made three noteworthy breaks of 30, 40 and 38 but a great finish by Jeremy scoring 36 unfinished, ensured the difference between them was 63 (238-175). For Congs, Dave Hirst beat Ian Ford by just more than their handicap difference (153-108). But the Deaf Centre's Ijaz Hussain beat Phil Hirst (154-122) and Brian Robinson beat John Hirst (111-102) to give them the overall win. 

Having won both their matches in Group 2, Littlemoor are now in next April's final. In Group 1, the scenario could now be rather more complicated. If St Andrews A beat Pudsey Congs this coming Thursday, then they will be in the final, by virtue of winning both their matches. 

However, (I hope my calculations are correct here!) for Congs to reach the final, they firstly need to beat the Deaf Centre's total score from their two matches of 1502. So, they need to win and score 753 or more. They also need to beat St Andrews A by 51 or more. If St Andrews A lose by less than the 51, they need to ensure they reach a total score of 702 or more. If St Andrews A equal or beat Bradford Deaf Centre's total of 1502, and don't lose by more than 51, then they will be the other finalists. I just wonder if anyone from the Deaf Centre will be at St Andrews, watching proceedings there?

So, this coming Thursday, on one side of the draw at least, there is still very much to play for. On the other side of the draw, in Group 2, Princeville (total score 762) and St Andrews B (610) are playing for who finishes second to Littlemoor. 

Good luck to all of you playing this coming week.

Dave Howarth

League Secretary

Now the half way point has been reached in the league season, the Team Knockout competition takes centre stage. At the last AGM, following a suggestion from Nigel Brayshaw; we voted on, and then changed the rules of the competition, in an attempt to "make things more interesting". The rule change was to draw names from a hat to decide who plays whom... However, that seems to have backfired somewhat, in that at Bradford Deaf Centre, there weren't any real changes at all in who were the "regular" opponents. Also, at Littlemoor, because of the fact that 3 of their 4 players are on the same handicaps, the same situation occurred. John Allan and James Butcher were also drawn out together, with both usually at top board. Who would believe that when given a 75% chance of playing someone different, you still end up playing who would probably be your regular opponent anyway? Ah well, at least we tried, and hopefully, in the next round matches, we might just end up with something we were trying to achieve!

Anyhow, looking at the result sheet from the Deaf Centre; although Jeremy Dixon beat Graham Pearson by 60 (160-100), it wasn't enough to stop a net win for Graham, being on a handicap of 75. However, Deaf Centre's skipper Brian Robinson (75) beat Nigel Brayshaw (95) by more than the 20 difference (127-94) and the net result of Ian Ford (95) v Gary Rogers (105) was level (118-108), but St Andrews A's most decisive performance of the evening was Neil Lee's (90) 133-89 win over Ijaz Hussain (60). Both players had notable breaks with a 21 for Ijaz and a cracking 28 from Neil. 

At Littlemoor, Dave Howarth (75) really struggled to get much table time against Keith Tomlinson (95) and although I (sluggishly!) "won" 86-74, it was an 8 point net loss. But, on the other table my team mate Graham Tudor (75) was taking good care of a very out of sorts Brian Haigh (45) with a superb 135-89 win which gave Littlemoor a handy lead at the break. Next up were regular opponents Ralph Allan (75) & John Bedford (60) and John Allan (30) against James Butcher (30). These were another two games that were a bit of a "plod". Princeville's John Bedford achieved a net win of just 1 point (110-94) but Littlemoor's John Allan finished the game better than James with a 26 break to get him into the lead and to win 125-107. Graham Tudor's win was the decisive factor in this particular contest.

The scoresheets from the two matches are in the usual place.

This coming week, in Round 2 of the Team Knockout, Pudsey Congs are back in action against Bradford Deaf Centre who must now win if they are to stay in the competition. And, at St Andrews B, last season's winners, Littlemoor will be the visitors and with some renewed vigour. St Andrews A and Princeville will be able to either put their feet up, or have the opportunity to get in some practice.

Good luck to all for the coming week.

P.S. The Players Table is now fully up to date following the rearranged match that was played on Monday of this week.

Dave Howarth

League Secretary.

An unusual day and time to make an update, but the postponed match from Week 4 was played this evening... Third placed Bradford Deaf Centre hosted second placed St Andrews B. 

Before this match, there was just half a point between them. Taking into account recent form, the momentum (and favouritism) will have been with the Deaf Centre; as they had whitewashed St Andrews A on Thursday, whereas St Andrews B were well beaten by leaders, Congs.

However, St Andrews B clearly didn't let any of that bother them. They swept aside the Deaf Centre 4-1. The scoresheet shows that Dave Smith had a 53 point win over Jeremy Dixon, Steve Boocock beat Ijaz Hussain 200-184 and Steve (The Whirlwind) Clark took care of Brian Robinson 200-183. The Deaf Centre's only winner was Ian Ford, who had a close run thing with Norman Procter, but finished on top 197-194. 

So, that win extended St Andrews B's gap between them and the Deaf Centre to 4 and a half points and now takes them to just 3 points behind Pudsey Congs. 

I'll update the Players Table on a later update.

Dave Howarth

League Secretary

At the half way point in the League competition, Pudsey Congs have extended their lead to a full 7 points. They had a season defining win against second placed St Andrews B this week... and incredibly, it was their eighth 4-1 win this season. They were actually on the wrong end of a 4-1 though, right at the start of the season, when going down to the Deaf Centre. Bradford Deaf Centre have had a bit of an in and out season so far, but took full advantage of St Andrews A's Graham Pearson's absence, with a convincing 5-0 away win. That win puts them now in a firm third place, lying just half a point adrift of St Andrews B. It also extended their lead over their fourth placed opponents. At Littlemoor, the home team had a rare, but somewhat convincing, 4-1 win over Princeville. Both now sit joint bottom and are two adrift of St Andrews A.

Congs winners this week were Richard Bowes, and brothers Mick and John Hirst. Richard looks to have been very free scoring as his opponent, Dave Smith only reached 111. Breaks of 68 & 30 were Richard's highlights. Mick's win over Steve Boocock also looks to have been comfortable (200-159) but John's win was a much closer 193-183 over Norman Procter. St Andrews B's best performer was Steve Clark with a 200-177 win over Phil Hirst.

The scorecard from St Andrews A suggests that Bradford Deaf may have had a bus to catch, as all four of them beat the clock. Jeremy Dixon had two 20 breaks and a 23 unfinished in his 34 point win over Neil Lee. Ijaz beat Nigel Brayshaw by 26, Brian Robinson beat Gary Rogers by 32 and Ian Ford beat John Oyston by 27. Very well done to them!

At Littlemoor, Princeville's newbie, Martyn Britton, kept up his 100% win record (2 from 2) with a 24 point win over Peter Allan, who was ably substituting for Graham Tudor. On the near table, the two players who sit right at the foot of the Players Table locked horns. Keith Tomlinson started the better of us, but once I had a little change of fortune and some good running (for a change!) I managed to re-locate at least some of my mojo and was also delighted to beat the clock, with a comfortable 33 point win. I was reminded afterwards though (thanks Ralph and Pete) that the chap I beat had a cataract operation only 2 weeks previously! Next up were Ralph Allan against John Bedford and John Allan against James Butcher. Ralph confirmed why he is still unbeaten this season with a good 184-171 over John. In the top board game, and with both John Allan and James Butcher on equal (30) handicaps, a close game was expected. It took John a while to get into his stride, but gradually his lead became more and more comfortable, especially when James had very little in the way of "leaves". The 50 minute bell put an end to James misery with the scores at 189-127. The 4-1 win to Littlemoor leaves both teams equal bottom on 18 points. 

The Players Table is also now fully up to date.

This coming week, and for the rest of this month, the league competition is now paused. On Thursday the Team Knockout competition kicks in, and in fact there is a repeat of two of this week's matches. In Group 1, Bradford Deaf Centre will host St Andrews A and in Group 2, Littlemoor will be at home once again to Princeville. Congs and St Andrews B both have free weeks. (This might give you an opportunity to practice, or even to play any rearranged Individuals / Pairs when you have a free week. There's no harm in playing the Individuals and Pairs matches BEFORE the arranged date if all parties agree - please just make me aware of the results if you are arranging to play your matches early).

Please also remember that the Team Knockout rules were changed at the last AGM, in that the decision on who plays whom, will now be drawn from a hat (or whatever else you have available!). So there is now some better potential for playing an opponent who you will not have played that often. The hope is that this change will make the competition more interesting.

Dave Howarth

League Secretary