Week ten of the South London & Kent Pool Alliance winter season and it was a great week for the four teams based at New Eltham Social Club, all winning to go into the Christmas break full of festive cheer.

The biggest wins came in Division Two, as both teams overcame opposition from Hustlers, with New Eltham New Boys beating Real Hustlers, 11-4 but New Eltham Social Club went one better, with a, 12-3 triumph over Happy Hustlers.

It was a bad night at the office for Happy Hustlers, despite playing well and giving their opponents a run for their money, each set was won by New Eltham by four frames to one.

New Eltham won the first four frames, before Donna Mullins prevented the whitewash and Edward Segrue won the next frame to half New Eltham’s lead but they went on to take the next four frames of the set to have the match won before the final set.

Hustlers troubles went from bad to worse in the final set, with Mullins the only one to trouble the scorers again, giving her two out of three for the night.

This round of matches means that all teams have played nine matches and with Bexleyheath Working Mans Club not having a game, it also gave the New Eltham teams a chance to close the huge gap.

Obviously these massive victories went a long way to reducing the deficit but Bexleyheath still have a 16 point lead over New Eltham Social Club, who in turn have a 19 point cushion over their neighbours, New Boys.

The two Hustlers teams are bringing up the rear, with Happy Hustlers slightly retaining their smiles, having a nine point lead over Real Hustlers.

In SLKPA Division One New Eltham scraped an, 8-7 victory against CSC Sorry in Advance to jump into fourth place.

They are now two points ahead of Academicals, who this week lost to Eltham Terrace Rack Pack, 9-6 and are now four points ahead of New Eltham in third.

The top two played the bottom two and results went as expected with big wins for both Crayford Arms and Rose Inn.

Rose Inn had the biggest victory but they didn’t have it all their own way, with Bellegrove A taking the first set, 3-2 however, Rose Inn whitewashed the second set and won the final set, 4-1 to make the final score, 11-4.

Leighton Aston and Jack Wilson top scored for the victors, both winning all three of their frames.

Fox & Hounds didn’t help themselves by only having four players against Crayford, but they held their own in the first set, only going down, 3-2.

Crayford dominated the second set, whitewashing it and they went on to take the first frame of the last set to win six on the spin and take an unassailable, 9-2 lead.

Fox did not let this dishearten them though and they won three of the last four frames, to take the set and make the score a more respectable, 10-5 which was well deserved.

Fox & Hounds have lifted themselves one place to seventh, whereas at the top of the table there are now only three points between Crayford, in top spot and Rose Inn.

In the SLKPA Premier Division, it was a typical slow start for New Eltham against Rugrats, as they took the first frame but Rugrats won the next three, for the set, before New Eltham pulled it back to, 3-2.

The second set was a mirror image of the first, with Rugrats taking the first frame, for a, 4-2 lead, before New Eltham won three in a row to go, 5-4 up and Rugrats took the last frame of the set to equalise.

New Eltham went on to take the last set by 4 frames to 1 for an overall, 9-6 triumph.

It was a captain’s performance by Paul Elford, scoring an unbeaten hat-trick and he was supported by Billy Levingbird and James Couch, each winning two of their three frames.

New Eltham have lifted themselves to seventh, five points ahead of their opponents, who are sitting in ninth.

Just behind them and rooted to the bottom are Eltham Terrace Nuthouse, who lost out in this week’s other basement battle against Pickwick.

This was a really scrappy, topsy-turvy affair, with Pickwick taking the first three frames, followed by Nuthouse winning the next three and the next six frames followed suit.

At six all, the next two frames were also shared to force the match into a final frame decider, which Paul Slater won to give Pickwick the, 8-7 triumph.

Despite finishing on the losing side, Jon Syta was the only unbeaten player, winning all three of his frames.

This result ends a nine match losing streak for Pickwick and puts them five points ahead of Nuthouse and one point behind New Eltham.

Allstars got back to winning ways and become the first team in the division to break 100 points with a, 9-6 victory over fourth placed Hustlers.

Man of the match was Hustlers’ George Covington, who won all three of his frames.

Hotshots remain 13 points behind Allstars, after they matched Allstars, 9-6 score line against Sharks.

Sharks took a, 2-0 lead but Hotshots won seven frames in a row to take a, 7-2 lead, but Sharks fought back to win four of the next five frames, before Hotshots secured the final frame.

Eltham Terrace Club A recorded a remarkable, 9-6 triumph against Eltham Terrace Rovers, considering they only had four players.

They needed to be on top form and rising to the occasion were Dan Heinink and Shane Hutley, who both scored unbeaten hat-tricks.

This result keeps Terrace 13 points behind Hotshots and Rovers in fifth.

The top teams maybe pulling away but it is all to fight for behind them, as 17 points separate fourth from tenth.

We now go into the Christmas break, so merry Christmas and see you in the new year.

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.