St Andrews A's bid for the title took a turn for the better this week. Their unbeaten run continued with an excellent 4-1 win over last week's second placed Littlemoor. Skipper Neil Lee got them off to a good start, with some good fortune that propelled him forward into a strong lead. However, eventually it ended up being a close 5 point win for him, over myself. An unfinished break of 21 came just too late to enable me to turn the game around. The home side's other winners were Graham Pearson and Nigel Brayshaw, over Ralph Allan and Peter Allan respectively. Graham Tudor's 54 point win over Gary Rogers reduced the deficit quite considerably for Littlemoor, so St Andrews A's overall win was by just 8 points.

At Pudsey Congs, the B team were up against the early league leaders, Bradford Deaf Centre. A break of 43 by Jeremy Dixon was enough to ensure a 167-138 win over the (officially still unregistered) Trevor Smith. Peter O'Connell and Ian Ford also notched up one each on the scoreboard for the visitors with wins against Sid Ash and Colin Nelthorpe. Roy Denson, though, made his trip all the way over from Blackpool (!!) worthwhile, in defeating Brian Robinson 180-173. (4-1 to BDC).

At Princeville, the home team's woes continued, as they went down 4-1 to a full strength St Andrews B. John Bedford had a 31 point win over Don Hardcastle. Steve Boocock's win over Steve Gatenby  was by 25 and Steve Clark beat James Butcher 185-166. Graham Bentley was Princeville's only winner, by 40 points over Dave Smith. 

So, Bradford Deaf still lead the way but with, the still unbeaten, St Andrews A now up to second and St Andrews B now up to third; it was just about all change below them. The only exception being Princeville who continue to languish at the foot. This coming week could be a real humdinger, with Bradford Deaf Centre facing St Andrews A and Pudsey Congs A at home to Princeville and Littlemoor at home to Congs B. St Andrews B will sit this week out.

The next league meeting will be at St Andrews on Friday the 17th October with a 7:30pm start. We will need everyone's Individual and Pairs entries at the meeting. It is still £1.50 to enter the Individual Merit and the same for each player in the Pairs. The Team KO contest will not begin until April next year. So, there's plenty of water to travel under the bridge until then.

By Dave Howarth

League Secretary