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