This week saw Bears from Tier Two East take on New Eltham New Boys of Tier Two West to see who will join Nuthouse and Duke of Northumberland in being promoted to the SLKPA Elite League next season. 

 

After some confusion on the lag, Greg Fothergill got the match underway for New Boys with a dry break. 

 

Jeff Bailey probably chose the wrong colour, opting for the more difficult yellows and a battle for control of the table ensued. 

 

Fothergill potted his last colour, but went in off, giving Bailey two visits on his final colour and the black, which he duly cleared up to give his side the opening frame. 

 

A nervous frame from Gary Mason, where he had four sets of two visits but didn’t really do anything with them, handing Mike Peka the frame to equalise for New Boys. 

 

Dean James attempted to bring some quality to the match and almost cleared the table in three visits but rattled the black. 

 

Anthony Lee battled back, getting himself two sets of two visits to clear up all his yellows and the black to put New Boys, 2-1 up. 

 

Kelly Lee played a fortuitous frame against Shane Burnett, frustrating him at every opportunity, until her luck ran out and she potted the black out of turn, giving Burnett the frame to level the match at, 2-2. 

 

Frame five was a scrappy tactical battle between Bears’ Paul Cobbold and New Boys’ Captain Michael Barnes. 

 

Eventually Barnes gave away two visits, allowing Cobbold to clear all his yellows and leave just the black, which he potted in his next visit to nudge Bears in front by one frame. 

 

The first frame of the second set can only be described as a comedy of errors, with Bailey making the least amount of errors to give himself a brace and the Bears a, 4-2 lead. 

 

Mason made up for his earlier frame with a much more confident showing this time round to gain revenge on Peka and extend his team’s lead to, 5-2. 

 

James showed his quality again, although he was somewhat fortuitous to kiss his penultimate yellow in whilst hanging over the pocket, to make it four on the spin for Bears and, 6-2 overall. 

 

Fothergill looked to be preventing the set whitewash with a wonderful clearance, but missed a tricky black however, it wasn’t easy for Burnett, who took out a pressured five-ball clearance plus the black with style, to put the Bears on the hill. 

 

Cobbold completed the set whitewash, to give his side the, 8-2 triumph and the last remaining place in the Elite League next season. 

 

That’s the team pool done and dusted for another season, with just the pairs and singles competitions to complete. 

 

Congratulations to all those picking up prizes and well done everyone on another competitive season.  

 

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.