It's taken ten attempts but finally Rising Sun have lost their first game of the South London & Kent Pool Alliance summer season.

This week they played second placed Rose Inn, thirteen points ahead of them and a victory would have given them the Tier Three title after clinching promotion last week.

However Rose Inn are looking for promotion themselves and ripped up the script with a 2-1 & 8-7 triumph.

The match went right down to the wire and with the score at one all in sets and seven all in frames Peter Reynolds won his third frame of the night to give Rose Inn the win and deny Rising Sun the championship for another week at least.

Rose Inn are now two points ahead of the teams in second and third, who played each other this week.

It was another close game between Bellegrove Flyers and Crayford Social Club 2, so close that the points were shared, with Crayford winning in sets, 2-1 but Bellegrove scored one more frame, 8-7.

The teams are still level on points but Crayford have gone above Bellegrove, having played one more match and therefore have won more frames.

Plumstead Radical Club are next in line for the promotion places but are six points behind Bellegrove and Crayford after beating bottom of the table, Foots Cray Social Club by 2 sets to 1 and 9 frames to 6.

We are getting to the business end of the season and the competition is great in every division but none more so than SLKPA Tier Two East, where seven points separate bottom from second.

It was Eltham Terrace Rack Pack who really closed the gap this week by beating the team above them, Bellegrove A, 3-0 & 9-6.

The game could have gone either way but Rack Pack held their nerve and won each set by the odd frame, 3-2.

It was a brilliant all round team performance with Alex Thompson, Tony Frost and Stephen Unwin all winning two of their three frames but Dan O’Rourke was the hero of the night, with a superb clearance to secure the first set and a break and dish to win the final set and achieve his unbeaten hat-trick, his second in a row.

Rack Pack are now just one point behind their opponents, who are one point behind North Heath Social Club after they were beaten by Crayford Social Club Rugrats this week.

Rugrats won the match convincingly in frames, 11-4 but because North Heath managed to win three of their four frames in the same set, they nicked a set making it 2-1 to Rugrats in sets.

Steve Gibson helped to give his captain, Scott Shephard a great birthday present by winning all three of his frames.

There may only be seven points between second and bottom but Royal Oak have upheld their six point advantage at the top with a win over Glenmore Arms.

Royal Oak did the damage in the first and last sets, winning them both by 4 frames to 1, sandwiching a 3-2 victory for the Glenmore in the second set, giving Royal Oak a 2-1 & 10-5 win overall.

It was another fine team display with Paul Clements, John Cochrane, Steve Clarke and Steve Heather all finishing with unbeaten braces.

Bottom played top in SLKPA Tier Two West, as Greyhound Elite played Eltham Terrace Rovers.

The match went true to form as Rovers romped home to a 3-0 & 11-4 triumph to extend their lead at the top to five points.

Rovers ended the night with four unbeaten players, Darren Porter, Dean Rider and Ryan Francis all with three frame wins and Kevin England won both of his.

In comparison Greyhound are just one loss away from relegation, which is highly likely as they are yet to win in their previous eleven attempts.

Fox & Hounds pulled themselves away from the relegation battle with an unexpected, 2-1 & 8-7 victory over Eltham Terrace Nuthouse.

It was a real topsy-turvy affair with Fox taking the first set, 3-2 then Nuthouse won the second by the same score before Fox won the match with another 3-2 victory.

Despite the loss, Nuthouse captain, Craig Jones finished with three out of three and he was supported by Zoe Healy and Dave Sparey, who won two of their three frames, as did Kerry Wyatt and Clive Forrest for Fox.

Nuthouse stay in third, six points ahead of their opponents but they still have eight points to catch Bellegrove Social Club in second.

Bellegrove didn’t read the script as they played Pickwick Academicals, in what could be the last game of pool played at the Pickwick and they came away with a 2-1 & 9-6 win to stay in contention with Rovers.

Sam Bedingham-Pearce and Tony Hodsdon both won two of their three frames but Jason Brunton went one better with an unbeaten hat-trick.

Academicals have a battle on their hands if they don’t want to finish in the relegation play-off position, as they are seven points behind Fox, one place above them.

Royal Oak Addicks had their SLKPA Elite League fate sealed this week but they didn’t go down without a fight, taking the first three frames to win the opening set, 3-2 against third placed Falconwood Club.

Falconwood battled back and made it even more of an uphill struggle for Addicks, who only had four players and ended up losing the last two sets, 4-1 to give Falconwood the 2-1 & 10-5 victory.

Due to Addicks lack of players, Dayle Stork was the fortunate one who picked up two out of two without picking up his cue but Barry Barham and Declan Kelly had to work for their unbeaten two frame wins.

Falconwood’s other team, Falconwood Social were pulled back into the relegation dogfight by fellow strugglers Pickwick.

After the second set Pickwick were, 2-0 & 8-2 up but Falconwood battled in the last set, taking it to a final frame decider, which Tony Stork won to give Falconwood an all important point and spoil Pickwick’s party.

Paul Gafa and George Hammond were the inspiration behind the, 2-1 & 11-4 victory but they feel it may be too little too late, as they are two points behind their opponents and three away from safety.

Glenmore Arms B are the other team that have been dragged into the quagmire after they lost to second placed Bellegrove.

It was an emphatic, 3-0 & 12-3 triumph that gave their captain, Paul Donohoe something else to celebrate, other than his birthday.

This result keeps the pressure on Hotshots at the top but they don’t seem to be feeling it, as they had their own huge victory this week.

They played a depleted Eltham Terrace Club A but didn’t pull their punches, sewing the game up within the first two sets by whitewashing them both, 5-0.

Eltham made a game of it in the last set and were hoping to scramble a point by taking it to a final frame decider but Hotshots anchorman, Richard Chapman had other ideas, taking the frame to give his side the 3-0 & 13-2 victory.

Chapman’s final frame win left him with an unbeaten hat-trick and he was joined by Andre Cox and Danny Kelliher on the same score.

So with three games to go in the Elite League, Hotshots and Bellegrove are locked on 32 points, with Hotshots on top courtesy of winning more frames and they are just four points ahead of third, giving us an exciting three weeks ahead, especially as they play each other next week.

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 with any queries.

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