All aboard as both Anglesea teams score victories

Anglesea Arms scored the biggest win in the basement battle with Farmhouse, running out, 11-4 victors to win their second match of the season, to go 19 points ahead of their opponents, although they have played one more match. 

Royal Oak hit the top spot in Division Two last week, but Sea the Angles closed the gap to just six points, with a, 10-5 triumph over them and they have a game in hand. 

Sea the Angles had a great first set, winning it, 4-1 with Dan Brown, Reece Stewart, Donna Mullins and Jo Williams all winning frames and Captain Angie Hobbs was unfortunate not to claim a victory and whitewash the set. 

It was more of the same in the second set, as Stewart, Brown and Mullins won their second frames of the night and they were joined by Hobbs to again win the set, 4-1 and have the match won before the final set with an overall score of, 8-2. 

They may have taken their foot off the gas in the final set, as Royal Oak fought back and won the set, 3-2 to make the final score, 10-5. 

Stewart and Brown won Sea the Angles’ frames in the last set to complete their hat-tricks. 

As New Eltham New Boys didn’t have a game this week, Sea the Angles leapfrogged them into second by just two points, making the race for promotion a very close one. 

Going in the other direction to Division Two could be Rugrats Guardians, who couldn’t build on their first victory of the season last week and added another defeat to their loss’s column however, they were playing the only unbeaten side in the division, Eltham Terrace Nuthouse. 

Nuthouse won the first four frames, with Martin Hart preventing the first set whitewash for Guardians. 

Shane O’Reilly and Zoe Healy won the first two frames of the second set to increase Nuthouse’s lead to, 6-1 but Guardians fought hard and Luke Matthews and Ross Webster tied the set at two all. 

Louis Wilbourne won his second frame of the night to give Nuthouse the set and a, 7-3 lead going into the final set. 

Then the eight places and 38-point gap between the two teams showed, as Nuthouse whitewashed the final set to complete the, 12-3 trouncing. 

Wilbourne went on to win in the final set to make it three wins out of three for him and he was supported by three more unbeaten players for Nuthouse; Healy, O’Reilly and Jon Syta, who all won two frames. 

Sitting in the next relegation spot are Academicals, who went to Bellegrove A this week and it was the home side who returned to winning ways with an, 11-4 triumph. 

Academicals had the better start, winning the first frame but Bellegrove took the next four frames to win the set, 4-1. 

The first two frames of the second set were shared, but Bellegrove won the next two to clinch the set, before Academicals won frame ten to make the score, 7-3 at the end of the second. 

Kevin England made it a personal two out of two, with frame eleven to give Bellegrove an unassailable, 8-3 lead and they went on to win the final set, 4-1 to complete the rout. 

Steve Hughes went one better than England, winning all three of his frames and they were backed up by Joe Hills and Jack Taylor, who both won two of their three frames. 

Bellegrove A are now in fifth, whereas Academicals are fifteen points ahead of Guardians and just three points behind their opponent’s sister side Just Bellegrove. 

Just Bellegrove hosted New Eltham New Stars and there was a twelve-point gap between the two teams before this week, so the home side did very well to only lose by the odd frame, 8-7. 

Steve Pearce top scored for New Stars with an unbeaten hat-trick. 

Sandwiched between New Stars in fourth and second placed Nuthouse are Eltham Terrace Rack Pack, who won their sixth game of the season, 9-6 against Falconwood Club, who are now in seventh. 

Rack Pack ended the night with three unbeaten players; Dave Avery, Steve Heather and Jim Woodbridge, who all won two frames. 

Still top of Division One and looking to return to the Premier Division at the first time of asking is Pickwick, who recorded another big win this week, against Fox & Hounds. 

Pickwick won the first six frames, before Neil Shelton became the first to reply for Fox.

Fox & Hounds grew into the match but couldn't halt the Pickwick's progress, as Pauls Durrance and Gafa won the next two frames to give Pickwick the set and an unassailable, 8-1 lead, giving them the match before the end of the second set. 

Kerry Wyatt won frame ten to bring it back to, 8-2 but Durrance and Dawson put Pickwick into double figures. 

Alan Dolan and Clive Forrest tied the set at two all, to send the set into a deciding frame, which Martin Storey won to give Pickwick the overall, 11-4 triumph. 

Durrance ended the night with an unbeaten hat-trick and he was joined by teammate Storey on the same score. 

Pickwick are now just four points ahead of Nuthouse in second and it looks like they may occupy the two automatic promotion places, even though we are only just approaching the half-way point of the season, as Rack Pack are still eleven points behind Nuthouse. 

Next week is the week we have all been looking forward to, as the top two of the SLKPA Premier Division, Allstars and Hotshots both won again this week, to remain unbeaten and they face each other next week. 

Allstars played seventh placed Crayford A and as expected recorded a large, 11-4 triumph to stay top of the tree. 

Hotshots are now six points behind Allstars, after they recorded a win against Crayford’s neighbours and fellow relegation battlers, Rugrats. 

If you’ve only won one game all season, you can’t go to an unbeaten Hotshots and expect to get anything however, Rugrats did just that and ended up winning the first set, 3-2 which was even more special, as Rugrats came back from, 2-0 down. 

This stunned Hotshots into action and after sharing the first two frames of the second set, they went on to take the set, 4-1 and go, 6-4 up. 

Dafydd Ruffell won the first frame of the last set to bring the score back to, 6-5 but Rugrats couldn’t build on that and lost the final four frames, to give Hotshots the, 10-5 triumph. 

There was only one unbeaten player in this match, Richard Chapman who won all three of his frames for Hotshots. 

Sitting in third was Bull Tavern, but they have dropped to fifth, after they lost to Bellegrove, who replace them in third place. 

At last it was not a slow start for Bellegrove, as they won the first set, 4-1 and it would have been a whitewash if a yellow hadn’t have dropped after the black in frame four. 

There was some steady pool played by both teams in the second set, with Bull Tavern taking it, 3-2 to bring the score back to, 6-4 however, Bellegrove did get the whitewash in the last set to make the final score, 11-4. 

In the third set there was a brilliant last three ball clearance from Kieran Evans, who bridged over a yellow to double a red, leaving another double on his final red, followed by a simple roll in on the black to complete his hat-trick. 

Also winning all three of his frames was Captain Paul Elford to cap a superb all-round team performance by the Bellegrove to go sixteen points behind Hotshots.  

Also leapfrogging Bull Tavern are Eltham Tenace Club A, who recorded a respectable, 10-5 victory over The Fox, to put them three points ahead of their opponents. 

Sharks broke the spell of the Premier Division’s animalistic teams losing, by beating the bottom team, Rose Inn 9-6, to leave them four points adrift at the bottom and still winless. 

The top two maybe pulling away in the top division but there is a competitive chasing pack behind them, with only eight points between third and seventh. 

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 looking at potential sponsors; any interested parties can also contact Paul Gafa.