After a poor start to 2024, league leaders Pudsey Congs, re-attached the wheel that appeared to be falling off their wagon with a thumping 5-0 away win at Princeville. Two of the four games were pretty convincing, but the other two were marginal. James Butcher has sent me the following match report:-

"First up was myself v Richard (Bowes) and Keith (Tomlinson) v Phil (Hirst). Richard made the first move with a good break of 38 on his second visit and slashed the deficit by about two-thirds. Not having the required match sharpness, my approach was more building momentum from the ground upwards and hope I can get into the game. It was a case of "when" Richard could take the lead, rather than "if". But it did not happen until the final minute, My game was slow and out of sorts, whilst Richard's breaks broke down when having the ball in promising positions. Even as Richard led with about 40 seconds to go, there was a faint chance I could regain the lead, but a wild cross loser attempt to play a drop cannon the next shot did not materialise. A well-deserved win by Richard, but performance wise, it should have been by more than three. One wonders whether the handicap ceiling against the 50 minute time has been hit.

On the other table, it's the usual below par performance from Keith by glancing at the scoreboard. Once Phil got into the lead there was only going to be one winner. Maybe hot chocolate should be prepared for the half time interval instead of tea. 

Next up was John (Bedford) v Dave (Hirst) and Martin (Britton) v John (Hirst). Both home players started promisingly, and Martin plugged away whilst John crept up. At one stage a home aggregate win was not entirely out of the question. However, John's form and experience proved valuable as he steered to a win in the final street. On the other table John and Dave played an open game. John enjoyed a good middle period, whilst Dave slowed down. John led by 30 in the final minutes, but Dave produced a fine comeback with a 17 break and a teen break in his next visit, the latter with 3 clinical pot reds. John was in possession in the dying seconds and could have tied the game, but a long loser in-off rattled the jaws when he could not have hit it any better. 

A clean sweep for the twice defending champions elect, if there is such a phrase!"   Thanks for that James... that kettle at Princeville really does take some hammer. I'm not sure whether it could cope with hot chocolate as well as tea.

At Bradford Deaf Centre, St Andrews B's poor start to 2024 continued... Dave Smith was taken ill on Tuesday and so Malcolm Barnes had to step in at short notice. (Get well soon Dave). But Malcolm lost 200-178 to Deaf Centre skipper Brian Robinson. Steve Clark also lost 200-167 to Jeremy Dixon. Norman Procter then suffered a defeat to Deaf Centre's Ian Ford with a closer score of 200-192. St Andrews B's only winner was Steve Boocock who beat Ihjaz Hussain 200-166. The home team registered 3 breaks of over 20  - Jeremy with a 27, Ian with a 25 and Brian with a 21.

On the other side of the coin, this season's regular basement dwellers, Littlemoor, managed to fire in a third win this month with a convincing 4-1 win at St Andrews A. For Littlemoor, John Allan, conceding 60 on the handicap to Neil Lee, scored an 18 at his first visit and quickly followed up with a 34. In fact John had pegged back all the handicap deficit before Neil had made a scoring shot. Although Neil was then able to keep pace with John for a period, it was short-lived as John had just about all of the running to win comfortably 200-152. Gary Rogers then pulled one back for St Andrews A with a much closer 200-195 win over Graham Tudor - this was a game that could have gone either way at the end... In fact, Graham probably ought to have won, but it ended in farce with a comedy of errors, when both played the wrong ball, but only one of those fouls was called by the referee!

Ralph Allan and St Andrews A's Graham Pearson then brought some "normality" back to proceedings, but again, the running was very much with Littlemoor. Graham frequently (and frustratingly) had little to go at, so Ralph took full advantage to run out a clear 200-128 winner. A 25 break was Ralph's highlight. Last up, St Andrews A's Nigel Brayshaw took on Dave Howarth. Early on in this one, it was obvious it was not going to be St Andrews A's night when Dave ran in a (sometimes lucky!) 48 break to peg back Nigel's 20 point handicap advantage. Once ahead, Dave maintained the lead, despite a spirited effort from his opponent and won 200-164. 

So, this week's results leaves Congs with a four point lead again (after St Andrews B had drawn level with them last week). Despite their 4-1 defeat this week, St Andrews B are still second and Bradford Deaf Centre have crept a shade closer. Littlemoor have climbed off the bottom and now sit joint fourth with St Andrews A. Princeville now find themselves at the foot, two points adrift. This coming week St Andrews B may have a "league title decider" when hosting Pudsey Congs. St Andrews A will be at the Deaf Centre and Princeville will have home advantage over the resurgent Littlemoor.

At the League Meeting this week we drew the first rounds proper of the Individual Merit and Pairs competitions. Those interesting draws can be viewed on the appropriate page and will be contested in the middle of next month.

The Players Table is now fully up to date.

David Howarth

League Secretary 

At the end of 2023, Pudsey Congs, St Andrews B and Bradford Deaf Centre were well clear of the remaining three in the league table. Before the Team KO competition kicked in in December and then the  Christmas break, third placed Deaf Centre were a full 8 points clear of 4th placed St Andrews A. So, at the half way point, it looked like the league title would be between the top three. But, last week all three of the top teams in the league table were surprisingly beaten by the bottom three. And, very unusually, this weeks fixtures presented a similar set of matches that were again top 3 versus bottom 3. So, many of you might ask... "Could the same thing happen again this week?".... The answer to that one is "Yes, it actually did happen"

With home advantage, leaders Pudsey Congs were up against 4th placed St Andrews A, who were 13 and a half points behind them. Congs Dave Hirst got his team off to a winning start, beating opposing skipper Neil Lee 200-181. Phil Hirst though then lost to St Andrews Nigel Brayshaw 191-183. Following up on that win, Graham Pearson then clearly did well to beat Congs top board Richard Bowes 200-182, and this was despite two excellent breaks of 57 and 81 by Richard. In the last game Gary Rogers sealed the 4-1 win for the pre-match underdogs with a 200-189 win over John Hirst. Richard's comments on the match on the Facebook page read...  

"A keenly fought series of close games. DH won in relatively straightforward fashion. PH lost heart early and was nearly 40 adrift before a mature comeback put him in front briefly. GP did an excellent job of keeping me from scoring for about 15 minutes, when I did get in with the 81 (fluked the white at 30odd so needed 15 hazards to keep it going) it got me to within 6 in the last street but wasn’t quite enough. JH and GR played a very cagey game with the last 37 aggregate points using up the last 16 minutes of clock time. Conceding well over 200 on handicap and losing by only 18 has a superficial feeling of satisfaction attached but it’s all about the W as they say. By such fine margins are league titles decided?"

Also with home advantage, second placed St Andrews B were up against Princeville who sat 4th equal. The scoresheet shows an excellent 3-2 win for the visitors. I'm unaware of the playing order but I'm guessing it will have been as follows:- the home team's Dave Smith lost a low scoring game to Brian Haigh 171-149. Norman Procter then pulled one back for St Andrews B with a 187-178 win over Keith Tomlinson. Steve Clark then gave St Andrews B the lead with a 200-174 win over John Bedford. But Princeville's James Butcher then came to the rescue for the visitors with a 200-163 win over Steve Boocock to seal the 3-2 win including the 24 point difference aggregate point. Both James and John recorded 27 breaks for Princeville in this tight encounter.

At Littlemoor, Bradford Deaf Centre were back to full strength with skipper Brian Robinson's return from a long holiday, following his retirement from work. Brian was up first against Graham Tudor and on the other table, Littlemoor's Dave Howarth took on old foe Ian Ford. I am advised that (despite his long winter break) "Brian played really well" to beat Graham Tudor comfortably with a good 10 minutes to go 200-155. And although, Dave Howarth is wallowing at the foot of the Players Table, he took full advantage of some improved form and a welcome dose of good fortune to beat Ian 200-182 with about 3 minutes to spare. That good fortune was carried forward into the second half of the match when Littlemoor's John Allan beat his regular rival Jeremy Dixon by just three, 158-155. But, arguably, the handiest piece of good fortune was Ralph Allan's 177-176 win over Deaf Centre's Ijaz Hussain. It was a nip and tuck affair throughout, but with just a few seconds to go, Ralph was 6 points behind. He scored a straightforward 3 followed by a cannon, making five... at which point (and just after that) the bell went, but with the white still in motion around the table, it luckily headed towards a pocket and literally "fell in" to give him a further 2 points and the win to boot! Brian's big win over Graham was enough though to ensure Littlemoor's win was just the 3-2.

The league table situation is now quite a bit tighter than it was at the end of 2023... St Andrews B are now joint top on points with Pudsey Congs on 39 and a 1/2 points each. The Deaf Centre are a further six and a half points back in third, but the remaining three are now beginning to narrow the gap with a clear promise of ensuring a more exciting race for the title in the second half of the season. This coming week sees St Andrews B at the Deaf Centre, St Andrews A will host Littlemoor and Congs will travel to Princeville. 

The Players Table is also fully up to date.

Please note that the next League Meeting will be at St Andrews this coming Friday the 26th January 2024 at St Andrews at 7:30pm. We will be drawing the next rounds of the Individual Merit and Pairs competitions. 

I will be updating the 'Past Winners' page with more information kindly provided to me by Richard Bowes over the next couple of days, so watch that space...

David Howarth

League Secretary

Just when it appeared that the league title was now between the top two or three teams; we have just had a set of Thursday results that possibly contradict that opinion. In a week where, based on previous results and points differences, the top three teams ought to have beaten the bottom three; the complete reverse actually happened...

At St Andrews, the A team faced the B team. St Andrews B are still strong title contenders and sit second. Last week they were a full thirteen and a half points clear of their stablemates. I'm not sure what the playing order was but I suspect that the first game will have been Dave Smith against the A team skipper Neil Lee. That went to "league form" with Dave winning 198-187. The next game will probably have been Graham Pearson against the B team's Norman Procter. That resulted in a huge win for Graham 200-140. That looks to have been followed by another big one for the A team when Gary Rogers beat Steve Clark 200-159. But then Steve Boocock replied with another big win (but this time for the B team) with a 200-144 win over Nigel Brayshaw. Gary Rogers' Facebook comment when posting the scoresheet says they've "Got to slow down. In Wetherspoons for 9:10pm. Three games left with 20 minutes on the clock". All I will say in response to that is "Food for thought?" 

At Princeville it was last week's 5th against 3rd placed Bradford Deaf Centre, but 9 points was the difference between them. My thanks go to James Butcher for sending me the following...

"First up was myself v Jeremy (Dixon) and Keith (Tomlinson) v Ian (Ford). The top board game got off to an open start. Jeremy initiated the first scoring by stringing a few shots together.  I responded to restore the handicap difference. Jeremy was looking promising after playing some good individual shots to reduce the handicap deficit. But an unforced error or balls straying off their intended position was never far away. The game slowed down in the middle stages as cautious play came to the fore. Neither player wanting to open the game up too much. I was content with the odd cue ball pots and double baulk play, in an attempt to speed my own game up. I gradually restored the handicap difference towards the latter stages and strung some scoring runs together to advanced my lead. However, Jeremy still kept himself in the game and had two game changing teen breaks in the final minutes to reduce a 40pt deficit. He grouped the balls well in an attempt to win by the barest of margins. However, the changing of gear from balls in hand to potting at top of the table turned out to be one adjustment too many. The break ended at 14 and the bell went. An exciting end. Who knows what would have happened with another five minutes to play with?  (145-139 to James)

On the other table, Ian soon got into the lead and did not look back. Although Keith reported he did catch up with Ian. (200-168 to Ian)

Next up was John (Bedford) v Ijhaz (Hussain), plus an interesting battle between Martin (Britton) and Graham (Lambert). Graham got himself into the lead, but Martin recovered from a slow start and built some scoring momentum in the second half to be on top. (194-179 to Martin)

John and Ijhaz started brightly, with the latter taking an early lead with some controlled stroke play and fluid cueing action. However, John responded with a well constructed 22 break to regain the lead. A vital break as Ijhaz had little to go at. John's lead was heading north of 30pts in the second half and an aggregate point was looking promising for Princeville, combined with Martins double figure point lead. The aggregate point was far from settled as both Ijhaz and Graham were in possession in the final minute. Having both time and ball position to score enough points. (168-138 to John). But, Princeville registered all 3pts in the second half to win 4-1."

At Littlemoor the gulf between table topping Congs and their hosts was 18 and a half points. Without talisman Richard Bowes though, could this cause them some imbalance? First up was Littlemoor's Graham Tudor against Dave Hirst and on the top table it was Congs Mick Hirst against John Allan. As I was refereeing Mick and John I didn't see Graham's game. However, I am advised that Graham played "much better this week" and took advantage of Dave's "unfamiliarity" with the table to win 194-171. On the top table John pegged back the handicap difference of 15 quite early on, but didn't really take a clear lead. Both scored occasional double figure breaks, but it was clear they wouldn't beat the clock. A 23 break from John was the highlight of the game and was enough to give John a 156-133 win. So, a great start for 'the basement dwellers'. 

That confident start for Littlemoor must have rubbed off on Ralph Allan and Dave Howarth as both started quite well. I didn't see Ralph's game as I was playing on the other table, but I believe both him and Phil Hirst were nip and tuck for a good way. However, Ralph probably then had the better running during the latter period and ran out a 200-169 winner with a good 8 minutes or so left. On the other table I was able to peg back the 15 point handicap deficit against John Hirst quite quickly. Despite my poor form this season, I played with a bit more confidence, following wins from team-mates Graham and John. I was able to establish a lead which reached 20-30 plus at one stage. But, my opponent, who won last season's Players Table and is also second in the same table this season, clearly doesn't give up. John took full advantage of a change in the running and although I was still in front at the point Ralph had won, John managed to pip me to the post 200-189 and just saved Congs from a 5-0 defeat!

Although all three bottom teams won, it hasn't changed the table that much. Congs still lead, but now by just one point from St Andrews B. Bradford Deaf Centre's gap from the top is still the same as it was last week, but the other 3 below them have closed the gap on them just a little more. This coming week, we have another 'top 3 versus bottom 3' scenario with Congs taking on St Andrews A, Princeville will be visiting St Andrews B and Littlemoor are at home to Bradford Deaf Centre. After the week just gone, I wouldn't want to try predict the result of any of those three now.

After playing our match against Congs, Ralph Allan and I played our Individual Merit prelim round match. Although we are equal on handicaps, it was Ralph who, early on, was confirming the chasm between us in the Players Table. He was soon 20, 30 and later on 40+ in front. But, with no clock running, I was thinking "just bide your time and dig in". That positivity paid off, and I was able to gradually and eventually reduce the lead. In fact around the 165 mark, I (briefly) took the lead, but by just the one point. It was nip and tuck for a while with both of us nervously missing scoring opportunities that we would probably have got only minutes earlier. Ralph then regained some of the confidence that seemed to be ebbing away, and he sneaked home by 200-190. Good luck to him for the next round.

The Players Table is now up to date.

Please note that the next League Meeting will take place at St Andrews on Friday the 26th January at 7:30pm. We will be drawing the next rounds of the Individual Merit and Pairs competitions. I can see that there is just the one Pairs match to play from the preliminary rounds, and I am advised that will be played "soon".

David Howarth

League Secretary

Apologies for the delay, but I have now updated the Players Table to include the results from last Thursday.

I think in my rush to get an early update done last Friday, it seems I forgot to report on a Pairs match that was also played last week between the Deaf Centre pairing of Ian Ford and Jeremy Dixon against the St Andrews A pair of Gary Rogers and Graham Pearson... It was won (just) by the Deaf Centre chaps... Ian Ford beat Gary Rogers 200-185 and Jeremy Dixon beat Graham Pearson with a final total score of 400-384... so well done to them, and not a bad effort either by Gary and Graham, who only just fell short, with Graham scoring only one less point than Jeremy.

I am also still working on updating the records for the 'Past Winners' page after receiving some more information from Richard Bowes. He has been trawling through some old records that were passed to him by a relative of our former and late President Allan L. Smith... At one time, we used to have a team snooker competition... who knew that? As soon as I have fully updated the spreadsheet, I will post the extra details to the page.

Dave Howarth

League Secretary

A very early update from me this week. 

I'd just about finished updating this page when my Facebook "pinged" with the result of an Individual Merit result played this afternoon, so I simply inserted this paragraph at the top ... I bet the ink is still wet on Princeville's marker board! Anyhow, Stephen Kershaw has beaten Congs Phil Hirst 200-163. Stephen's comment states "Home advantage and the best of early opportunities were the difference". 

Last night it was back to the league competition, after three weeks of the Team Knockout plus a week of preliminary rounds for the Pairs and Individual Merit competitions. The two teams who were successful in qualifying for the Team KO Final in April, were both quite well beaten on their return to the regular league format.

At Princeville, St Andrews A were the visitors. I have received the following report on the match from Princeville's James Butcher:-

"First up was Graham (Pearson) v myself and Keith (Tomlinson) v Gary (Rogers). The handicap difference didn't change early doors. However, the opening happened when Graham had two unfortunate moments in successive visits. His cue ball was up against the top cushion and he hit the wall whilst playing his shot, followed by a foul stroke. From then on, I halved the deficit and got into parity fairly quickly at around 105pts Graham had little in the way of leaves and had to dig out, whilst I registered double figure breaks on regular visits and took my lead beyond 40pts. Graham enjoyed a couple of fluent scoring runs in between, but had little points to defend and I reached to 200. On the other table, Gary got off to his usual good start and led for the duration. Keith did get within parity at one stage, but a well timed break in the teens by Gary at the business end got him close to the finishing post and onto the 200 mark.

Next up was Brian (Haigh) v Nigel (Brayshaw) and John (Bedford) v Neil (Lee). Brian was on the front foot from the beginning and soon cleared the deficit at the 120pt mark with consistent scoring. Making it difficult for Nigel to get a foothold and play his trademark high octane game. The game was finished in 42 minutes. The other match ended up as an exciting encounter. Scoring was a bit slow to begin with, although John had the better start; Neil played a dead eye cannon with a large degree of difficulty and his game sparked to life. The table did not take kindly to John's soft touch stroke play and missed a short range shot in the middle bag that was easier to score. Neil returned the favour in a similar fashion. As John's scoring run slowed down, Neil channelled his inner Judd Trump and played a few quality long range pot reds that would have whipped a rapturous applause in front of a paying audience at a WST ranking event. Neil enjoyed a seemingly comfortable lead of 20pts plus. But John silently found his way back into the game and was 14pts beind in the final minute. John was on a break and played a few long range in offs to get the balls grouped together in a more promising position.  A crucial cross loser yellow was played in the penultimate shot, leaving a long loser red shot with ball in hand.  However, the yellow landed awkwardly for John to cue cleanly and was forced to play a forcing shot.  John attempted the in off, but could not get clean contact with the red and his cueball rattled the jaw of the pocket. The bell went and Neil won by a single point. 

A mostly enjoyable night by those in attendance and a good way to start the new year."

Thanks very much for that James, so that 3-2 win for Princeville lifts them from joint bottom, to one above the foot. 

At Bradford Deaf Centre, Pudsey Congs had their run of five successive 4-1 wins broken. It still ended with a win for the league leaders, but this time by just 3-2.  The scoresheet shows that Bradford Deaf Centre put up quite a bold showing though, with Ian Ford beating Phil Hirst 200-191 and Ijaz Hussain had a close looking encounter with Dave Hirst, but finished just on top by 184-180. However, for Congs, John Hirst beat the Deaf Centre's reserve, Graham Lambert, 185-170. Then on the top board, Congs Richard Bowes continued his rich vein of form, beating Jeremy Dixon by over 100 with a 194-92 win. Breaks of 58,43, 33 and a 41 unfinished enabled him to initially peg back the handicap deficit and to then streak clear, reaching just 4 short of the 200 before the 50 mins were up. 

At St Andrews, the B team took on Littlemoor. The visitors arrived with some confidence, particularly as they had disposed of this evening's opponents only recently in the Team KO competition. John Allan got Littlemoor off to a decent start, defeating Dave Smith 179-157 and this was despite a very good 30 break from Dave early on in the piece. However, Dave Howarth was then frustrated by St Andrews Norman Procter, whose good potting added a fair bit of good fortune, carried him through to a 193-152 win to draw the home team level. Steve "Whirlwind" Clark then put the home team in front with an excellent 200-183 win over Ralph Allan inside 40 minutes. Steve knocked in a 21 break in this encounter and is also the first player to beat Ralph (in this league) this season. Graham Tudor was unable to get the visitors any further points in his loss to an in-form Steve Boocock 200-152, who closed out with an unfinished and stylish 17. 

That 4-1 win enabled St Andrews B to gain a point on Congs and puts them now just 2 points adrift of the leaders. The Deaf Centre remain third but are now 7 and a half points off the top and a gap of 8 is between them and 4th placed St Andrews A. Princeville are just one point behind them in 5th and Littlemoor are again propping up the rest and will need more than a miracle between now and March to even threaten the top two!

This coming week it's bottom versus top. There's another derby at St Andrews and in Bradford, the Deaf Centre will be climbing Great Horton Road to Princeville.

I'll update the Players Table at some stage, hopefully this weekend. Malcolm has advised me he may have some old handbooks that he can lend me, to make some further additions to the Highest Breaks gaps on the 'Past Winners' page. I'll update those records also when I can wrestle the handbooks from him.

Good luck for the coming week and I hope you all have a very happy, healthy and successful 2024.

Dave Howarth

League Secretary