At the half-way stage in the league season, St Andrews B now look even stronger favourites for the league title. This week they defeated their nearest rivals Pudsey Congs B, and this was despite the fact they were without their top-board player, David Smith. The scoresheet shows that John Bedford played top and had a big win over last week's Players Table leader, Mick Hirst (178-129). Steve Boocock did similar for St Andrews B with a 196-150 win over Trevor Smith. But Roy Denson and Sid Ash restored some pride for Congs B with wins over Steve Clark and John Oyston respectively. St Andrews B will be pleased with that 4-2 win which takes them now five and a half points clear.

At Pudsey Congs, their A team have had an in and out first half of the season and haven't been able to string more than two successive wins together. However, this week they had a comfortable looking 5-1 win over St Andrews A with wins for Dave Hirst, Richard Bowes and Phil Hirst. Richard looks to be recovering well from his recent illness, recording breaks of 56, 36, 48 and 31. Regular reserve John Rider saved the blushes for St Andrews A with a strong 200-170 win.

In the basement battle at Princeville, the home team were strengthened with the inclusion of Stephen Kershaw in their line-up. He certainly did the business over an out of sorts John Allan (176-112) and included a break of 33 in the process. It was a similar situation on the near table with Graham Bentley beating Littlemoor's Graham Tudor 200-169 with a good 5 minutes to spare. So, 2-0 at the tea-break meant Littlemoor were staring down the barrel a little bit. However, both Ralph Allan and Dave Howarth started brightly against Princeville's James Butcher and Steve Gatenby. Ralph increased on his 45 point handicap advantage and Dave quickly got the 20 back that he conceded and took a lead of around 30 with a break of 22. So, all was looking well for the visitors until the running changed for them both. James and Steve gradually worked hard to reduce their deficits... James took the lead with a fair bit of time left, but Steve still looked like losing, needing 6 with Dave stuck on 198. A nervy finish saw Steve and I both missing easy looking chances, until Steve sneaked past me to win 200-198. James was already 184-162 in front of Ralph at the bell to record a 6-0 whitewash for Princeville and drag themselves off the bottom (at Littlemoor's expense!).

At the league meeting on Friday, we drew the next rounds of the  Individual Merit and Pairs. They can be seen on the appropriate page. We also reviewed the players with asterisks against their handicaps, that have played 6 games or more. Sid Ash's handicap was reduced from 90 to 80. Roy Denson was left on 75. Colin Nelthorpe was amended from 100 to 105 and Trevor Smith's was increased from 45 to 50.

That's it now from me until 2026... And so, on behalf of the League Committee, we would like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.

By Dave Howarth

League Secretary