The final week of the South London & Kent Pool Alliance Elite League and the race for the title went down to the wire but Hotshots have finished champions, after a thrilling season, where four different teams have held the top spot and battled it out for top honours.

Hotshots needed just one set against Falconwood Club, in third to clinch the championship but the away side had other ideas as they took the first set, 3-2 with Barry Barham winning the deciding frame on a break and dish.

However, Hotshots took control from the seventh frame onwards and secured the set they needed with a 4-1 victory in the second and they went onto win the match with another 4-1 win in the third, making the overall score, 2-1 & 10-5.

Stacy Redman did his best to halt the champions by winning all three of his frames in a personal battle with Hotshots Captain, Andre Cox, which could prove crucial for Cox when the final rankings are worked out.

Cox’s team mate, Danny Kelliher may have done enough to catch him in the rankings by scoring a hat-trick and he was joined by Neil Hall as the only other unbeaten player, also with three frame wins.

This was always going to be a tough week, as the top four all played each other, so Hotshots had to go for broke but it may not have mattered with Bellegrove falling at the final hurdle.

Bellegrove kept their title ambitions alive against fourth placed Eltham Terrace Club A, by taking the first set, 3-2 despite a break and dish in the second frame from Dave Rawlinson.

Tony Halpin got the second set off to a perfect start for Bellegrove, with a dish from a dry break but the in-form Dan Heinink replied with the same for Eltham and they went onto take the second set, 3-2 to tie the match at one set and five frames all.

It was a night for total clearances, as Rawlinson kicked off the third set with a dish from a dry break and Heinink followed up with a break and dish, helping Eltham to take the final set, 4-1 and the match by 2 sets to 1 & 9 frames to 6.

Eltham’s Captain, Ron Brown was even more pleased as he finished the night unbeaten with two frame wins.

Despite the victory Eltham remain in fourth and the top four stay unchanged, with Hotshots top, Bellegrove second and Falconwood Club third.

At the bottom of the table all of the relegation place were sealed last week but that didn’t mean that two of the three couldn’t go out with a bang.

All three would have been nice but as third from bottom,Falconwood Social were playing bottom team, Royal Oak Addicks that couldn’t happen.

It’s been a tough season for both teams in their first season in the Elite League but Falconwood fared slightly better picking up four wins before this week, with Addicks winless.

Unfortunately, it was to remain that way as Falconwood ran out the winners by 3 sets to 0 & 13 frames to 2.

Addicks gave themselves an uphill struggle by only having four players, so credit to them for fighting on and to Captain, Dave Glenwright and Ben O’Brien who picked up their frames.

Paul Rowlinson, Elliot Giles and Paul Doherty all finished the match with unbeaten hat-tricks for Falconwood.

Although they were already relegated, Falconwood just missed safety by one point, after also already relegated, Pickwick scored a massive, 2-1 & 11-4 victory over Glenmore Arms B.

Pickwick got the night off to a perfect start by whitewashing the first set, 5-0 which added to the obstacles Glenmore needed to overcome after arriving with only four players.

With that in mind, Glenmore did well to pick up a set, however Pickwick were playing with no pressure and collected their fourth win of the season.

There were some fine clearances from Allan Formosa, who recently came out of retirement, Billy Levingbird and Dean James, helping Pickwick to finish off the season with a win before saying goodbye to the top division for the first time in SLKPA history.

Rising Sun had already won the newly formed SLKPA Tier Three so the fight was on for the two remaining promotion places, with Crayford Social Club 2, Rose Inn and Bellegrove Flyers all tied on 27 points, however Crayford didn’t have a game this week so were hoping one of the others didn’t pick up any points.

Rose Inn secured their promotion spot with a 3-0 & 10-5 triumph over Plumstead Radical Club.

Michael Bunn was their inspiration by winning all three of his frames.

Crayford were now hoping Bellegrove Flyers failed to pick up any points and it was possible as they were playing champions Rising Sun.

The match did go to form with Rising Sun picking up the win but it was a close one, 2-1 in sets & 8-7 in frames, so Flyers did what they needed to do to clinch promotion and join their opponents and Rose Inn in Tier Two.

Playing for pride were Orpington Sports Club and Foots Cray Social Club and it was Orpington who finished with smiles on their faces after a 3-0 & 9-6 victory.

The majority of Tier Two East and West have one more match to play but everything is already decided in Tier Two West with Bellegrove Social Club securing the promotion play-off place despite losing, 2-1 & 10-5 against Fox & Hounds.

Fox did all the damage in the first set, whitewashing it 5-0, however the next two sets were a lot closer, swinging one way then the other, with Fox taking the second set and Bellegrove the third, both by the same, 3-2 score.

Bellegrove's Martin Hession won his only frame but Alan Dolan and Kerry Wyatt both recorded unbeaten hat-tricks for Fox.

Eltham Terrace Nuthouse were two points behind Bellegrove and needed a big win to steal the promotion play-off place, as they had played one more match but they were playing the newly crowned division champions, Eltham Terrace Rovers.

It was a close tense match, as every set was won by the odd frame, 3-2 with Rovers taking the first and Nuthouse the second before Rovers dashed Nuthouse’s faint hopes of nicking the promotion play-off spot by winning the final set and the match, 2-1 & 8-7.

Without their captain both Zoe Healy and Shane O’Reilly stepped up to the plate and won two of their three frames for Nuthouse but Rovers Ryan Francis went one better with three out of three.

The bottom two played each other in the remaining game in this division but Greyhound Elite were already relegated and Pickwick Academicals couldn’t get out of the relegation play-off spot, so pride was the only thing at stake in this match.

Academicals had won the previous two meetings and were expecting to take this one, as Greyhound only picked up their first win last week.

Greyhound had other ideas though and built on last week’s success by taking the first set by 4 frames to 1 but Academicals fought hard and won the next set by the same score to tie the match in sets and frames, 1-1 & 5-5.

The final set swung back in Greyhound's favour, whitewashing it, 5-0 to secure their second and biggest win of the season by 2 sets to 1 & 10 frames to 5.

Paul Thomas did his best to keep Academicals in the game with an unbeaten brace but John Hurd went one better for Greyhound with three frame wins and he was supported by Bill Mossom on two out of three.

Academicals won’t find out who they will be playing in the relegation play-off until next week as there are still four teams in SLKPA Tier Two East that are scrapping it out to avoid the bottom two places.

Current bottom club, Bellegrove A improved their chances of survival by sharing the points with third placed, Glenmore Arms.

Bellegrove took the first two sets, 3-2 but Glenmore won the final set, 4-1 making the final score 2-1 in sets to Bellegrove but Glenmore won more frames, 8-7.

Mavji Halai recovered from a 7-baller to play two amazing shots and win in the final set and Jonathan Syta played incredibly well to finish on three out of three for Bellegrove.

North Heath Social Club held the relegation play-off spot and they had it all to do as they faced top of the table, Royal Oak who still needed four points to guarantee them the title.

Royal Oak got the win but not the four points they needed as North Heath pinched a set, with the final score 2-1 & 9-6.

John Kinsville and Phil Tworek did most of the damage for Oak, both winning all three of their frames.

To win the championship this week, Royal Oak were looking to Eltham Terrace Rack Pack to take points off Crayford Social Club Rugrats and they did just that by sharing the points.

Rugrats won the match in sets, 2-1 but Rack Pack notched up more frames, 8-7, giving Royal Oak the Tier Two East title and Rugrats the promotion play-off, where they will face Bellegrove Social Club.

Scott Shephard was unbeaten for Rugrats on three out of three with Alex Thompson and Dan O’Rourke matching this for Rack Pack.

Bellegrove A and North Heath are now level on 21 points at the bottom and only four points separate the bottom four teams, as they all play each other next week in the final match of the season, as Rack Pack take on Glenmore and the bottom two battle it out for Tier Two survival.

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.