This week was another very eventful one.... On Friday last week, I reported on the "first leg" of the last league match of the season between St Andrews B's Dave Smith and Congs' Richard Bowes. That game was won by Dave Smith and in doing so, he ensured that his team was still in with a very slim chance of claiming the league title. All Congs needed from the very last match to actually claim the title was to acquire half a point. 

The "second, third and last legs" took place on Monday. Most of you will probably know what happened after reading my Facebook post. However, for those of you who didn't see it, here goes.... St Andrews B did not make it easy for Congs at all... First up, St Andrews B's Steve Boocock showed why he is well up there on the Players Table and put in another solid performance to see off Dave Hirst with a stonking 200-142 win that included a well worked 27 break. Dave simply had no answer. So, that was 2-0 to the home team and with it, an almost unassailable lead for the aggregate point. Next up was St Andrews B's Steve Clark against Phil Hirst. In a classic Steve Clark game, he lived up to his reputation and Billy Whizzed around the table. To be fair to Phil, he got very little in the way of running and this left Clarky to charge to a 200-159 win, and with it now a 3-0 lead, and giving not much hope at all for Congs to try get the aggregate point. Knowing that Congs John Hirst was going to be late, Norman Procter was advised to also arrive later. Norman actually arrived just before John and both were immediately given the news of what they needed to do on their arrival, as the previous game was already concluded. Both made virtually the same comment in response...which I will not repeat here!

Showing no pressure at all, to the nail-biters watching, John couldn't have set off any better, hitting a 20 break at his very first visit. That gave him a lead, and although it was only slender one initially, he stuck to it and gradually pulled a further 10, 20 and eventually 40 points clear. The tension, that was tangible from those looking on, gradually ebbed away. Norman played his usual canny game, with some excellent individual potting and also showing little pressure. But he simply had very little answer to John's more regular scoring. John finally knocked in a crucial break of 11 to win the game and the title for Congs, for what I believe is a record third season on the trot. Very well done to John and to Congs and commiserations to St Andrews B who put up a valiant showing to test Congs stamina to the limit.

On Wednesday, in the first one of the Pairs semi finals, the winners from the last two seasons, Princeville's Stephen Kershaw and Edward Lawson took on Ralph and Peter Allan. I wasn't at this one, but clearly Ralph and Peter must have played well as Peter beat Ed 200-182 and then Ralph beat Stephen giving the Littlemoor pair a 400-361 win. 

In the second Pairs semi, on Thursday it was another Princeville v Littlemoor affair. This time John Bedford and Peter Turner welcomed John Allan and Graham Tudor. First up Peter played Graham. Peter often has quite a big start on his opponents and in this one, his scoreboard lead was 55. His opponent took his time (no clock!) but gradually whittled down the deficit with only an occasional double figure break and very little scoring responses from Peter. Graham eventually won 200-170. The next game started much quicker with Littlemoor's John Allan soon getting into the swing, buoyed by the fact that the scoreboard position was level after his partner's 30 point win. Nothing went right at all for John Bedford though and he became more and more frustrated at having nothing to go for a lot of the time. Littlemoor's John eventually "crawled" to a comfortable 400-335 win to end his opponents misery.

So, this week we have "new" league champions and an all Littlemoor Pairs final to look forward to. This coming week Littlemoor will feature again, but St Andrews A will be standing in their way when the Team Knockout final will be contested at St Andrews. Spectators are welcome and a start as soon as possible from 6:30pm is scheduled. NB - in this competition, the decision on who plays whom will be drawn from a hat and the order of play will be decided alternately by the opposing captains. The 50-minute rule is applied and all players start from zero with the handicaps being added at the end. Good luck to all involved.

The final Players Table is now up to date and I have also written a few lines about that just above it.

David Howarth

League Secretary