Bellegrove take bragging rights in derby cup match

The second round of The Founders Cup saw some interesting ties, with a derby between Premier Division Bellegrove and Bellegrove Flyers from Division Two arguably the most mouth-watering of the bunch. 

This derby match had the one of the biggest difference between the two teams in the league, with thirteen places between them, but you would never have guessed, as the first two sets were won by the odd frame, 3-2. 

Jason Brunton got the ball rolling for the Division Two side, but Peter Whyte equalised for Bellegrove. 

Richard Marsh restored Flyers’ lead, before Dan Heinink tied the set sending it into a deciding frame. 

Alan Boltwood held his nerve to put Flyers ahead for the third time in the match. 

Bellegrove’s Heinink and Barry Barham strung two frames together for the first time in the match, giving them the lead for the first time, 4-3. 

Marsh equalised for Flyers, but Dec Kelly restored Bellegrove’s one frame advantage, before Boltwood won his second frame of the night to tie the match at five all. 

Heinink played some clever deliberate fouls to record a personal hat-trick to put Bellegrove, 6-5 ahead but Flyers had Boltwood and Marsh coming up, who were both unbeaten and looking for their hat-tricks. 

Unfortunately for them Boltwood fell to Barham and Marsh lost to Whyte, giving Bellegrove the match by 8 frames to 5. 

Backing up Heinink’s hat-trick was Barham, with two unbeaten frames and Whyte, scoring two out of three, but was unlucky not to win all three, going in off on the black in the second set. 

Playing some great pool, especially in the first two sets, Flyers should be too good for Division Two and they do currently sit second, destined for promotion, having only lost two matches so far this season. 

Another thrilling match was also played at the Bellegrove, where second from bottom in Division Two, Happy Hustlers hosted Division One leaders, Falconwood Club

Although not at their best, Falconwood opened up a, 7-3 lead, needing one more frame to go through to the next round however, the match was by no means over. 

In frame eleven Falconwood’s Ian Stringer doubled a long black, but the cue ball went in off to hand the frame to Hustlers. 

In frames twelve and thirteen, Ross Webster and Brett Crawley had chances to win for Falconwood, but could not get them over the line, with Reece Stewart making a good clearance for Hustlers in frame thirteen, to bring the score back to, 7-6.

By this time quite a crowd had gathered, as the other match at the Bellegrove had finished and everyone stopped to see the conclusion of this tense affair. 

Frame fourteen between Hstlers’ Donna Mullins and Dave Selby of Falconwood was very tense, with both players having opportunities to win, which Mullins eventually did to set up a final frame decider. 

This was between Claire Stork from Hustlers and Falconwood’s Luke Matthews, and it was another tight affair. 

Stork failed to get position on the black off her final red, allowing Matthews to complete, what in normal circumstances would have been a relatively straight forward clearance to see Falconwood squeak home. 

So Falconwood scraped into the quarter-final with an 8-7 win, the only match of the round to go the distance.

Hustlers can be extremely proud of their performance and hopefully they can take this into their league form and rise up the table. 

There was another first division versus Premier Division match, as Fox & Hounds faced The Cocked Hats and the eleven-place difference between these two sides really showed, as Cocked Hats whitewashed the first set, 5-0.

Neil Shelton put Fox & Hounds first frame on the board with frame six, but that would be it for them, as Chris Hobbis, George Covington and George Taylor won the next three frames to have the match won, 8-1 before the end of the second set. 

Hobbis, Taylor and Covington all had their hats firmly cocked, all unbeaten with two frame wins and Adam Hewson was also unbeaten winning his only frame. 

Also winning, 8-1 against a team eleven places below them were current holders, Bull Tavern of the Premier Division, who beat Division Two’s Academicals. 

Premier Division, Hotshots were looking to extend their unbeaten run this season with a home match against first division, Eltham Terrace Rack Pack, who ironically play on the same table at Eltham Terrace for their home games.

The visitors got off to the worst possible start when their Captain, Stephen Unwin performed a foul break and was then dished by Richard Chapman.

Andy Mounger tied the match for Rack Pack, then Gary Sweetenham restored Hotshots’ lead and Neil Hall didn’t give Alison Cable a chance, performing a break and dish to give Hotshots a, 3-1 lead.

Rack Pack’s Adam Watts defied the eleven places between the two teams to end the set only, 3-2 behind however, Hotshots class showed in the second set, with Chapman, Hall and Ryan Francis taking the first three frames to open up a, 6-2 advantage.

Watts followed up his first set win with another in the second to prevent the set whitewash and ensure the match went into the final set. 

Steve Krishnan then recorded another break and dish on Cable, condemning her to two loses without touching the table, and putting Hotshots on the hill.

After starting the match with a win, Chapman ended it in exactly the same way, this time Chris Parlett was unfortunate to pot the cue ball off the break, leaving Chapman to clear up for his personal hat-trick and an, 8-3 triumph for Hotshots. 

Chapman wasn’t the only unbeaten player in the match, as teammates Hall and Francis won two frames and one frame respectively and Watts won both of his frames for Rack Pack.

There was only one all Premier Division tie, as bottom of the table, Bears hosted Pickwick, three places and seventeen points above them. 

Pickwick and more precisely Paul got off to a great start, as Paul Slater, Paul Gafa and Paul Dawson won the opening three frames. 

Shane Burnett and another Paul, Bears’ Cobbold pulled it back to, 3-2 at the end of the set, with Cobbold’s being a reverse dish. 

The second set was also a Paul show, as Slater beat ex Pickwick player Dean James, Gafa won frame eight and Cobbold frame ten with a break and dish. 

Bears’ Jeff Bailey and Jamie Phillips won the remaining frames of the set to finish the second set at five all. 

Pickwick tried their triumvirate of Pauls at the beginning of the last set to win them the match, but Dawson became the first Paul to lose on the night. 

Frame twelve became a battle of the Pauls, as Slater faced Cobbold, so another had to lose and it was Slater on this occasion, giving Bears a, 7-5 lead. 

Gafa kept Pickwick in the game with frame thirteen, but Gary Mason cleared up the balls in the next frame to seal the victory for Bears and give them their place in the next round.

It was a good night for pool, or should I say Paul, as both Cobbold and Gafa won all three of their frames, the difference was that Cobbold was backed up by Jeff Bailey winning both his frames and Jamie Phillips his only frame. 

Even though there have been some great performances by lower division teams against higher opposition, there has been only one giant killing so far this round, with New Eltham New Stars from Division One beating Rugrats, who have been having a great season in the top division, 8-6. 

I say so far as there is one unfinished game, where top of Division Two, Duke of Northumberland played host to the current Premier Division leaders, Sharks. 

With fifteen places between the two teams, the match is still finely poised at six all, so everything still to play for. 

All of the losing teams from the first round of The Founders Cup were drawn in the first round of the all new Silver Salver competition.

Eltham Terrace Nuthouse beat Farmhouse, 8-3, Bellegrove A beat New Eltham New Boys, 8-5 and Bexleyheath Working Men’s Club received a bye into the next round. 

The losing teams from round two of The Founders Cup will join the successful teams from the first round of The Silver Salver in the draw for the next round of this competition.   

For more information on the SLKPA, including league tables visit our website at www.slkpa.com or contact our Secretary, Paul Gafa on 07443 456662 or secretary@slkpa.com with any queries.

The league is always looking at potential sponsors and any interested parties can also contact Paul Gafa.