It's probably far too early to start predicting what the league table will look like next March, but it's already taking a shape that suggests where it might be when the winter months start to fade away. Although Littlemoor's lead was reduced from ten points this week, it was only by the one point. Their nearest two rivals, Congs and the Deaf Centre, both had 5-1 wins. However, Littlemoor had 3 winners from four at St Andrews A, but weren't quite able to turn around the 94 point lead their opponents had on them for the bonus point, so 2-4 was the final score there. (see scorecard page).

At Princeville, the bare 5-1 score-line in favour of the Deaf Centre suggests mostly one-way traffic... but here's James Butcher's match report...

“Starting proceedings was James (Butcher) v Jeremy (Dixon) and Keith (Tomlinson) v Ian (Ford). At scoreboard glance, Keith held his own and scored rather steadily. But Ian showed no signs of slowing down. It was reported back that Keith had the chance to win and did not take his opportunities.

On the far table, Jeremy started very brightly with two worked round the table cannons and eliminated the deficit before James really got going. James gradually got some momentum with some in-off play and largely restored the handicap difference. Past the halfway point, James scoring dried up and Jeremy changed tack with a conservative approach. The plan appeared to work, as Jeremy got in parity. But James eventually changed the run in play and latched on an unforced error by Jeremy to regain the handicap difference. Jeremy pulled it back again, but time was ticking and played a shot of position. With less than a minute left, James led by one point and executed a round the table cannon to stay in possession. Then played the same shot again before the bell rang.

After a half time interval of tea and tasty mince pies, next up was Edward (Lawson) v Brian (Robinson) and Ian (Tomlinson) v Ijhaz (Hussain). Brian did not take long in reducing his handicap deficit and enjoyed a lead of 20+pts. The warm applause from the visiting members suggests some good shots was played along the way. Edward did enjoy some late run in with a break in the teens and got the deficit down to single figures. Though Brian was set up to finish at 200 and did so.

On the other table, Ijhaz started very brightly with a silky-smooth cueing action and controlled the balls. He got into a two-shot scoring lead before Ian could get off the mark. Ijhaz's lead extended to around 20. Once Ian had an opening, he made full use of it and registered a break in the teens. From there, the running changed and Ian reduced the deficit and built a lead of 20, whilst Ijhaz had little to go at shots wise. A short jenny became a feature in Ian's game. Ian was close to seeing the game out. After an in-off white, he needed an in off red to win but the shot was on the thin side. With 2 minutes to go, Ijhaz was on the board and found his early game rhythm. Stringing shots with control and precision. He got close to running out with an unfinished break of 20. The pot red attempt did not find the pocket, cue an agonising reaction from Ijhaz. With 20 seconds left, there was a tricky cross faced loser for Ian to play. But it need a lot of back spin, drag and power into the middle pocket. The heroic attempt was in vain. With seconds left, Ijhaz sprinted over to top of the table for a pot red. The bell sounded before he could get down to play the shot. It did not matter in the end, as the bell went and there was more mild jubilation from the visiting players. Ijhaz realising he won by 1pt, cue a sigh of relief. A chaotic end, which was a very good advertisement for Bazilliard Ball. Bradford Deaf return to the City Centre with a hard grafted 5-1 win."           (The scorecard can be viewed on the appropriate page).

Congs 5-1 home win against St Andrews B was described on Facebook by Richard Bowes as following:- 

"Dave Smith and I got off to an early start at about 18:15… Dave Hirst and I have struggled for consistency in the last week or so but both found some in putting us about 90 up on double aggregate. John’s game rapidly became an exercise in mitigating the effects of Hurricane Clark which blew in and established a 70 point lead within the first 13 minutes of the game so to only lose by 21 was a great effort. Mick followed up his 30 odd from last week with another tonight as he drew away from John B at a steady rate finishing with 12 minutes to spare. All away by 21:15 and we’ve come away very pleased."

The scorecard shows Richard's 199-143 win included breaks of 42,40, 30 and 41. Mick's huge win 200-91 included a break of 31. Dave Hirst also had a handsome 200-145 win over Steve Boocock. John Bedford, commenting on Facebook after his defeat to Mick said that "Mick played great and never gave me a chance. Well done."

At St Andrews A, Littlemoor were without Dave Howarth, but he was replaced at number 4 by Peter Allan, who had already won 3 from 3 this season. However, his 100% record didn't remain intact as he was beaten by just 8pts (200-192) by Gary Rogers. Littlemoor's winners were John Allan 200-183 against Neil Lee, Ralph Allan (200-172) over Nigel Brayshaw and Graham Tudor (200-188) against Graham Pearson.

This coming week will see the last round of bonus point matches before we go into the Team Knockout, Pairs and Merit matches. Pudsey Congs are at Princeville and St Andrews A are at the Deaf Centre whereas Littlemoor will be at Robin Lane again to visit St Andrews B.

Dave Howarth

League Secretary

With the league season now in full swing, Littlemoor's fine form continued this week with a crushing (and possibly season defining) 6-0 win over second placed Bradford Deaf Centre. That convincing win propelled them to 10 points clear of the Deaf Centre, who still cling onto second place. John Allan took full advantage of a running change against Jeremy Dixon after a slow start and was 161-133 in front at the bell. Ralph Allan also just came out on top against Ihjaz Hussain after a close encounter 185-171. Then, in the later two games, Graham Tudor knocked in a 24 just at the right time to see off Brian Robinson after Dave Howarth had sealed a good win over Ian Ford. Dave wanted just 5 to win with 15 minutes left, but took a further 10 minutes to reach the 200! 

At St Andrews, Princeville were up against the B team. There was just the one winner for the visitors, in Edward Lawson, who recorded a 199-180 win over Norman Procter. St Andrews B's victors were Dave Smith against Keith Tomlinson, Steve Clark against Graham Bentley and John Bedford over his former team-mate James Butcher. I'm advised by James though that his game was interrupted by a third-party user of the building simply walking into the billiard room at a really crucial stage. James said that his concentration was badly affected by this, and his 26 break should have been more, and would probably have led to him winning... I must admit, some of the noise that often comes from 'above' and outside the room at St Andrews can be off-putting... not an ideal situation at times. 

At Pudsey Congs, as is often the case with their fixtures against St Andrews A, the 'who plays who' doesn't follow the usual convention (Captain's prerogative, I suppose!). Mick Hirst was promoted to top board and faced St Andrews A's Graham Pearson. Two good breaks of 30 and 29 (both biggest this week) must have gone a long way to ensuring a big 200-129 win for Mick. I'm not sure who played second and third, but Congs Richard Bowes appears to have been out of form... either that or Neil Lee has successfully kept him quiet as he won in comfortable fashion 197-123. John Hirst was then beaten by St Andrews A's Gary Rogers 200-154 and so that made the final game a 3 pointer. Both Congs Phil Hirst and his opponent Nigel Brayshaw were unaware of this, as Richard Bowes Facebook comment reads "Winners won big at Congs tonight. We chose not to tell Phil he was playing a 3 pointer, and in the winning of it, he spared our blushes". A 200-141win for Phil did indeed secure his team, the win point, the aggregate point and also the return fixture bonus point... he must have been as "well chuffed" as his team mates when he was made aware of that!

This coming week, Littlemoor have what could be a banana-skin as they travel to St Andrews A, who beat them 3-2 in week 4 and they will also have 94 points to peg back if they want to win the bonus point. Princeville will welcome Bradford Deaf and St Andrews B will be visiting Congs at School Street.

At the league meeting on Friday we drew out Groups 1 and 2 in the Team KO competition also and set the 3 weeks of matches which commence on the 5th December. We also drew the Individual Merit and Pairs Competition. They can be viewed on the appropriate pages.

By David Howarth

League Secretary

Apologies for this much later round-up of the week's results, but as I get older, somehow my weekends are getting busier! The eagle-eyed ones amongst you will have noticed that I had already updated the results, league table and players table earlier this morning.

This week was the second week of return fixtures and, as it turned out, all 3 teams who brought forward their aggregate point wins from week 2, managed to win the bonus point. However, not all of those three came out the overall match winner.

Pudsey Congs took a substantial 91 point lead with them to Bradford Deaf Centre, and so would need a disaster (by their high standards) to lose the bonus. It very nearly was a disaster for them though, as Phil Hirst lost by 27 to Ian Ford and Dave Hirst lost by a huge 87 to Jeremy Dixon. Then John Hirst lost to Brian Robinson, but by just 3. Richard Bowes, on the other hand, rescued the bonus point with a comfortable 58 point win over Ihjaz Hussain. Richard commented on the Facebook page "All our first leg advantage was lost in the first two games (David and Phil) leaving John and I to recover the points. John's game looked level every time I looked across." Richard's win was made up with breaks of 36, 38 and (another highest break of the season) 88. Having said all that, it was an excellent 4-2 home win for the Deaf Centre and ensuring they remained in second place in the league table... not bad, considering that in weeks 2 and 3 they were rock bottom.

At St Andrews, the derby went the way of the A team with a thumping 5-1 win. They had a 39 point advantage from week 2 and made certain that they didn't let that slip. I am guessing that the first game will have been between the A team's new recruit John Rider and Norman Procter. It was Norman who finished 191-167 on top in that one; but then Neil Lee pulled one back for the A team in beating Dave Smith 185-175. But following that there were two further good wins for the 'A quartet' when Nigel Brayshaw beat Steve Clark 200-183 and then Graham Pearson had a big win by 200-138 over John Bedford... John commented on Facebook "Great performance by Graham. Never gave me a chance. Well done!" ... The sort of comment we have become used to from a very good sportsman... who is always generous in defeat. That very good win by St Andrews A didn't just lift them off the foot of the table,,, it catapulted them up to third. 

Littlemoor continued with the good form that has seen them top the league all season. Princeville were looking to turn round a 24 point deficit against them from week 2. Dave Howarth put Littlemoor's talisman, John Allan in to bat first against James Butcher and on the other table, it was Princeville's Keith Tomlinson against Graham Tudor. I didn't see much of Graham and Keith's game, but it looked like once Graham drew level at around half way, he struggled a bit to get a decent lead. However, he came out on top with a handy 168-157 win. In the game between John and James, it was pretty scrappy considering it was a top board game. Neither player seemed to get the hang of what is becoming a notoriously difficult table, but it was John who had most of the good running and although James did start what looked like a dangerous fight back, it was John who got some more of the running close to the bell, and he was 159-124 in front as the bell ended proceedings. 

Next up for Littlemoor were two of their three players who still have a one hundred per cent record this season. Ralph Allan was pitched in against the experienced Graham Bentley and Dave Howarth was up against Princeville's second season newbie, Martyn Britton. I'm advised that Ralph and Graham B's game was nip and tuck for a lot of the way, but that Ralph had a good chance to win close to the finish. But Graham held on to win by 178-166 at the bell, to bring Ralph's excellent run of 4 wins to an end. In my game, I got off to my usual slow start and was soon over 40 behind against Martyn, who is showing clear signs of making into a good player for Princeville. I was struggling to get much going at all for a long way and had just about resigned myself to a first defeat this season, when I started a break that was helped along by one fluke, followed by another outrageous one, and then coupled with some handy running in terms of position mixed in with a couple of decent shots, I ran out with a 29; which left Martyn stranded on 185... I can't believe the luck I have had so far this season, after last season's debacle!

So, Littlemoor extended their lead at the top from three to four points, but this Thursday they will face a resurgent Bradford Deaf Centre, who are looking at an "easily gettable" 15 points to retrieve the bonus. Pudsey Congs are at home to St Andrews A and sit on a very handy +137 from week 3 and Princeville are back in Pudsey, but this time will be on Robin Lane at St Andrews B and will be trying to turn around the 55 points deficit from week 3. Good luck to all.

Please also note that the next League meeting will be this coming Friday at St Andrews at 7:30pm.

David Howarth

League Secretary

So far this season Princeville's fortunes have been mixed, but this week they outscored everyone else with a handy 5-1 home win over St Andrews A. James Butcher has sent me the following:-

"A very honest Gary (Rogers) realised his handicap was 5 too many before proceedings got underway. The respective captains were completely oblivious to this. First up was Nigel (Brayshaw) (of St Andrews) v Keith (Tomlinson) and Steve (Gatenby) (Princeville) v Neil (Lee). Nigel started very brightly. Playing some impressive one cushion cannons, leading to another scoring shot. He reached to 133 before Keith could get off the mark. Keith had very little to play at, mostly low value two ball shots at long range. When he did get a more easier shot, a short red loser in the middle bag, this opportunity was spurned. Nigel kept adding to the points tally, although his scoring started to slow down. Keith had better running in the 2nd half and enjoyed some table time, but could only reduce the deficit from 40 to 20. Nigel found his trademark cannon game again and moved on to 198. Keith picked up a few more shots before the bell went. On the other table, the lead kept changing by 10 points to either player. It went to the very end, but Steve occupying the table with over a minute to go and scoring half a dozen proved vital.

Next up was James (Butcher) v Graham (Pearson) (St Andrews A) and Martin (Britton) (Princeville) v Gary (Rogers). The top board game started steadily, as both players regularly accumulated points. There was a pattern of whether James went on a small scoring run, Graham tended to match it and maintain the core handicap difference. The game was relatively open with a view of either player trying to find the next gear. Though that type of fluency proved difficult to build, as neither player got into full flow when the balls were nicely placed. At halfway, the game went into safety mode as both players exchanged a range of safety shots. James was the first to blink, but little damage was done. With less than 15 minutes to go, Graham still held a lead of above 30 and forced James to take high risk shots. These weren't fully executed and presented Graham an opportunity to win. Three, if not all four remaining points were still to play for. But uncharacteristic misses came to the fore. Possibly due to a skiddy table, warm conditions and shiny new balls. James knuckled down, dug deep and chipped away at the deficit. A controversial refereeing moment occurred, when the red ball was spotted in the middle after an in off red, pot red into the middle bag and another one from the black spot. The cue ball was positioned for a half ball in off, from the middle pocket. This was corrected after both players were bemused. With around 6 minutes to go, the other match concluded to 200 up. Gary reduced his handicap deficit to begin with, but Martin found his playing rhythm from last week and restored the original difference and a bit more." 

That big win for Princeville lifted them from being 2 points adrift at the bottom into a far more respectable fourth spot, so well done to them. 

Bradford Deaf Centre were at St Andrews B and had 3 winners from the four games with just Steve Boocock winning for the Pudsey men. His win was by 44 which clearly helped his team in claiming the return fixture bonus point. The Deaf Centre's winners were Jeremy Dixon, Ijaz Hussain (by just 1) over John Bedford and Ian Ford (again, by just the 1 point!) over Steve Clark. 

At Congs it was another changed line-up for league leaders Littlemoor. It finished honours even at 3-3 as Littlemoor brought a handy 86 point advantage with them from Week 1. Graham Tudor and Peter Allan were the visitors winners over Mick and John Hirst respectively (by 194-123 and 200-182) which went a long way to assisting them in holding onto the bonus point. Congs winners were Richard Bowes 200-133 against John Allan and Dave Hirst with a 200-161 over Sid Ash. Richard managed to increase his highest break for this season to 58. He also recorded a 50 and two breaks into the 30's.

The Players Table is also right up to date. I'd be happy to get some feedback on it - maybe there's far too much detail on there? 

This coming week, there's a derby at St Andrews, where the A team have a 39 point lead from week two. A good win by them could left them off the foot of the table. At Littlemoor, the home team will have a 24 point carry over from week two, but Princeville look like they could now be on a march. Congs will visit the Deaf Centre taking with them a hefty 91 point lead for that very crucial bonus point. Good luck all.

David Howarth

League Secretary