Last week's postponed match was played over two nights this week... both Princeville and Pudsey Congs B took advantage of the fact that it was strictly Congs B's turn to sit this week out on the Thursday. That match resulted in a very handy 4-1 win for Congs B to help them draw a bit closer to leaders St Andrews B. League Chairman, James Butcher, was Princeville's only winner. Congs B's victors were sub Colin Nelthorpe, Sid Ash and Roy Denson. That win for Sid keeps him top of the Players Table, with 11 wins from 13 played. I'm grateful to Mick Hirst and James Butcher for arranging their players at short notice to get the match played so soon following its late postponement due to the poor weather forecast on the scheduled date.

In this week's fixtures, the big surprise was St Andrews B suffering their first defeat since the beginning of October... the loss was inflicted by Bradford Deaf Centre. The fact that it was an away win was also a bit of a surprise. Jeremy Dixon and Ihjaz Hussain beat Dave Smith and John Bedford respectively. The two Steve's for St Andrews B, namely Boocock and Clark, held sway with close wins against Brian Robinson and Ian Ford. The visitors claimed the crucial aggregate point by 61 to seal the 3-2 win. I believe that Bradford Deaf have now proven that St Andrews B are not invincible this season and the door may now be slightly ajar.

At Littlemoor, Congs A recruited "Travelling Wilbury" John Rider to make up their four... and he continued his good recent form with a 50 point win over the home team's reserve, Peter Allan (150-200). On the near table, John Allan was up against Congs A's Dave Hirst and it was the latter who got the better start, increasing his handicap advantage, taking him into almost a 50 point lead. John worked hard to eventually get into the same street a couple of times, but never actually caught up. Dave finished well to win 191-155 at the bell. Phil Hirst then continued Congs A's wins with a 200-178 win over Graham Tudor... a break of 23 from Phil made the difference late on, in what was previously a very tight affair. In my game against John Hirst, I made my usual sluggish start, allowing John to get a handy lead. However, although it was a scrappy game with any number of flukes from both of us, it was probably me who had the better fortune/running to carry me through to my first win since November. a 4-1 win to Congs A was a fair result, but it leaves Littlemoor now floundering a full 7 points adrift at the foot of the table.

St Andrews A's visit to Princeville was often described a few years ago as "El Clasico" ... suggesting some feistiness. However, Gareth Kershaw's comments on Facebook suggest this was anything other than that... for those who don't do social media - here it is :- 

Playing order was, me v Nigel on far table and Graham v Neil on near table to the door. I guess Graham played well against Neil but didn't see much with playing, the smile on grahams face to tell me at least I can win would suggest he played well  I struggled to make any in roads into the 25 handicap difference until right at the end. I was on 191 whilst Nigel was on 194, I was on a break of 7 and could've left him a double baulk but went for a pot red as I thought it was a bit of a bad trick to try win a game that way as it turned out I missed the pot and Nigel ran out with 6, with me begging the question should I have just played the double baulk to win  I marked for James but my guess is Steve played pretty well to beat Gary by 63! James made great in roads early on against graham and got I think to about 10 behind without graham scoring. Graham got his head down though and started to string some nice 10-15 breaks in with only leaving scraps for James and got back to 40 in front, James started to catch some back but was all a bit too late in the end. Very pleasant evening with some chaps I've not seen for a long time so good to catch up with them. I will get another win in the Pudsey league this season I hope, 5 more attempts for me to go 

So, a nice 3-2 win for Princeville, gave them a fifth win this season and takes them 7 points clear of Littlemoor whose favouritism for the wooden spoon has just gone odds-on with Betfred. This coming week, there's derbies all round at Congs and St Andrews, whereas Littlemoor will be at Bradford Deaf Centre and Princeville have the opportunity to get some practice in. 

Please also remember that the Individuals and Pairs have now been drawn and so you can make arrangements to get them played between now and the 19th February. 

By Dave Howarth

League Secretary