Both Tier Two East and West played out the final week of theSouth London & Kent Pool Alliance summer season and the excitement was in Tier Two East, where the bottom four were fighting it out to stay in the division.

Glenmore Arms, Eltham Terrace Rack Pack, North Heath Social Club and Bellegrove A were the teams in question and they were all playing each other, as Glenmore faced Rack Pack and North Heath met Bellegrove.

Glenmore took the first step to securing safety by winning the first set by 4 frames to 1 but Rack Pack fought back and took the second set, 3-2 before Glenmore won the final set by the same score to give Glenmore the overall victory, 2-1 & 9-6.

Despite the loss both Chris Gaunt and Dan O’Rourke won two of their three frames for Rack Pack.

So Glenmore have claimed third place and Tier Two pool next summer season but with their one point Rack Pack are only three points ahead of the other two and were anxious to find out their result.

North Heath looked to be cruising to victory and possible survival when they won the first set, 4-1 but Bellegrove weren’t lying down and whitewashed the second set, 5-0 to tie the match in sets, 1-1 but go 6-4 up in frames.

Rack Pack now needed the points to be shared to stay in the division.

Bellegrove took the first frame of the final set but North Heath won the next two before Jonathan Syta won his third frame of the night to tie the set at 2-2, however Bellegrove were 8-6 ahead in frames so secured the bonus point.

They now needed the last frame to stay in the division and send North Heath down, putting Rack Pack in the relegation play-off spot.

Bellegrove’s Nathan Lampen stunned a long pot on his final colour but ended up snookered on the black, which proved costly as Simon Morris sunk the eight ball to give North Heath the set and the win in sets, 2-1 but Bellegrove scored more frames, 8-7 to share the points.

This delighted Rack Pack as they finished fourth, leaving North Heath in the relegation play-off position and Bellegrove relegated, so this division really did go down to the final frame.

The only two teams that were safe in this division were Crayford Social Club Rugrats, in second and division champions, Royal Oak, who were six points ahead of their opponents so could not be caught.

Rugrats wanted to keep up their form going into the promotion play-off and they started well, taking the first set, 4-1 going on to win the second set, 3-2 before Oak won the final set by the same score, giving Rugrats the 2-1 & 9-6 triumph.

Despite the loss Phil Tworek finished on an unbeaten brace and John Cochrane won two of his three frames.

North Heath will play Pickwick Academicals in the relegation play-off after Academicals finished fifth in SLKPA Tier Two West.

Academicals had only won two matches before this week so were looking to build up some confidence before the relegation play-off.

They played Fox & Hounds, who were one place above them but twelve points however this gap didn’t show as it was a very close game with each set going to a deciding frame with Academicals successful in each one to end up with a 3-0 & 9-6 victory.

Alan Dolan did his best to keep Fox in the game by winning all three of his frames but this match was won with great team spirit that Academicals will take into the relegation play-off and this was inspired by Paul Thomas and Gary Mason who scored unbeaten hat-tricks and James Grant, winning two out of three frames.

The other game in this division was between the top two, Eltham Terrace Rovers and Bellegrove Social Club.

Rovers were already eleven points clear of their opponents and had beaten them twice so it was no surprise that they extended their lead to fifteen points with another victory, 3-0 & 11-4.

As with the rest of the season, it was a great team performance with Kevin England and Lee Osborn winning both their frames but Ryan Francis went one better with three out of three.

Chris Hobbis also scored an unbeaten hat-trick to remain unbeaten for the season, playing and winning all nine frames he’s played.

Rovers only lost one match all season and broke fifty points, only the third team to do this in this format and they were also one of the other two.

The SLKPA summer 2016 season is almost over, all we have to do is find out who will be promoted alongside Royal Oak and Rovers, either Rugrats or Bellegrove Social Club and whether Academicals or North Heath will be joining Greyhound and Bellegrove A in Tier Three.

Congratulations and thank you to all those who took part and made the season so competitive and one to remember.

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.