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