Week nine of the South London & Kent Pool Alliance winter season, the halfway stage and it’s taken that long, but finally Allstars have been beaten and it was by their nearest rivals, Hotshots.

The first set was close, with Hotshots just edging it, 3-2 and they went on to dominate the second set, taking it, 4-1.

Hotshots had a, 7-3 lead going into the final set, but Allstars staged a revival, taking the next two frames to bring it back to, 7-5 but Toby Bolt secured the victory for Hotshots with his third frame win of the night.

The last two frames were shared, giving Hotshots the overall victory by 9 frames to 6.

This result reduces the deficit between the two teams to thirteen points and Hotshots have half the season to claw that back.

Leading the chasing pack are Eltham Terrace Club A and they are thirteen points behind Hotshots, after they ended Sharks run of good form, with a, 9-6 victory over them.

Rugrats run of two wins in a row was brought to a bitter end by Hustlers and in particular Rugrats old boy, Adam Hewson.

This was a really close match, with the first two sets going to a final frame decider, both of which were won by Hewson, to give Hustlers a, 6-4 lead.

Rugrats’ Pat Firth pulled it back to, 6-5 but Hustlers went on to win the final four frames for a, 10-5 overall triumph.

Firth kept up the fight for Rugrats, winning all three of his frames but Hewson was the thorn in their side, going on to record an unbeaten hat-trick, alongside current team mate, George Covington.

Rugrats drop back to second bottom, whereas Hustlers are just two points behind Eltham Terrace Club A in fourth and two points behind them are Eltham Terrace Rovers, who triumphed in their derby match against Eltham Terrace Nuthouse.

Rovers have made some good recent signings and they came to fruition in this match, as Micky Clayton won the deciding frame in the first set.

The second set was just as tight, with Rovers again taking it by the odd frame, 3-2 to give them a, 6-4 lead going into the final set.

They went on to win the first four frames of the last set to take them to ten frames, before Trevor Biggs won the last frame to make the final score, 10-5.

Another new signing, Matt Holroyd won all three of his frames and he was joined by Chris Hobbis, with Nuthouse’s Danny Kent also unbeaten on a brace.

Pickwick’s dismal run continues, as they were beaten, 8-7 by New Eltham, who as a result join Pickwick on 56 points, but go above them, having won more matches.

As the score suggests it was a close match played to a decent standard, with New Eltham winning the first two sets, 3-2 and Pickwick won the last set by the same score.

There were no unbeaten players in the match but several did score two out of three.

It does look like it’s going to be a two horse race for the title but it is still all to play for behind them, as only 20 points separate third from tenth.

With Allstars losing, it means that Bexleyheath Working Mans Club are the only team with a 100% record, as they won their ninth game in a row to stay top of SLKPA Division Two and become the first team in the league to break through 100 points.

This week’s opponents were Happy Hustlers and it didn’t start well for them losing the first two frames but Angie Hobbs, Jade Holmes and Edward Segrue turned it around and gave Hustlers a, 3-2 lead at the end of the first set.

Unfortunately for Hustlers it was all downhill from there, and the 40 points between the two sides showed, as Bexleyheath took the second set, 4-1 with the in-form Segrue preventing the whitewash.

However, he couldn’t do that in the last set and Bexleyheath took all five frames to run out, 11-4 winners.

Bexleyheath are now 28 points clear at the top of the table but Happy Hustlers and only ten points ahead of their neighbours, Real Hustlers after they were comprehensively beaten this week.

Real Hustlers were playing second placed, New Eltham Social Club, so it wasn’t going to be easy but they started well, only going down, 3-2 in the first set.

However the rest of the game went the same way as the other match in this division, with Real Hustlers preventing the whitewash in set two by one frame, then totally capitulating in the last set to make the final score, 12-3 in New Eltham’s favour.

Harry Gooden and Mark Pope both scored unbeaten hat-tricks and the victory was made even better, as New Eltham’s Captain, Paul Carroll was absent with a sick note.

Even though New Eltham are 28 points behind Bexleyheath at the top, they do have a game in hand.

Top of SLKPA Division One, Rose Inn had the week off, so Crayford Arms seized the opportunity to retake top spot.

Crayford were 20 points ahead of Bellegrove A, who didn’t help themselves by only having four players and that really counted in the first set, as Crayford edged it, 3-2.

But that was it for Bellegrove, as Crayford won the next eight frames, which coupled with the two byes gave Crayford a massive, 13-2 triumph.

It was a great all round team performance from Crayford, with some superb potting going on, especially from Akar Necati and Dave Selby.

In the final frame, Selby should have had a break and dish but ran out of position on the black, which prompted Dan Brown to lay a couple of snookers however, Selby played an outstanding shot to escape from the snooker and pot the black.

This gave Selby an unbeaten brace but Necati went one better with three out of three and he was joined by Kev Nankoo.

Crayford now have a four point lead at the top of the table however, Bellegrove have slipped to the bottom replacing Fox & Hounds, after they picked up a valuable victory.

Their match against CSC Sorry in Advance was extremely close, with all three sets being won by the odd frame, 3-2.

The first set went to a final frame decider, with Kerry Wyatt beating Aaron Shephard, to give Fox the lead however, Shephard equalised with the next frame but Fox won the next three frames for the set, before CSC closed the gap back to two frames.

The first frame of the last set went to Fox, making it, 7-4 but CSC won three in a row to tie the match again and send it to a final frame decider, which Wyatt won again to give her side the, 8-7 triumph.

Despite finishing on the losing side, Martin Hart didn’t lose, winning all three of his frames.

These two teams are now locked on 51 points but CSC stay above Fox courtesy of one more win.

Just Bellegrove are only one point ahead of their neighbours and Fox, after they were beaten, 10-5 by Eltham Terrace Rack Pack, who have jumped to third as a result.

Dropping to fourth are New Eltham Club, who were joined on 63 points by Academicals, after they beat them by 10 frames to 5.

The inspiration behind the victory was Tony Gear, Paul Doherty and Tony Bailey, who all won their three frames.

This is a really tight division, with only 30 points separating top from bottom so nobody is safe.

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.