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