The fifteenth winter season of the South London & Kent Pool Alliance kicked off this week, with 26 teams in action over three divisions. 

Pickwick produced the biggest win of the night, beating Falconwood Club, 12-3 in a bid to return to the top division at the first time of asking. 

Pickwick played some solid pool and rode their luck at times, against the team that just missed out on promotion last season. 

It was a great night if your name was Paul, as Dawson squeezed in a tight black and Gafa and Slater both scored hat-tricks. 

Pickwick have set the early pace in Division One and their sister team, Academicals are not far behind them, after getting off to a perfect start by whitewashing the first set against Rugrats Guardians. 

They made it six on the spin with the first frame of the second set, then Luke Matthews secured Guardians first frame to ensure the second set was not another whitewash. 

Academicals won the next two frames to go, 8-1 up and have the match won before the end of the second set. 

Ross Webster and Martin Hart put back to back frames together for Guardians however, Academicals were relentless, with Shane Hutley, Dean Williams and Gary Mason all winning to put their team, 11-4 in front.

Matthews won again, as a consolation for Guardians, making the final score, 11-4. 

It was a wonderful all round team performance by the Academicals, with Hutley, Mason, Chris Bracey and Paul Thomas all winning two of their three frames, but Williams and  Paul Doherty were both unbeaten, winning one and two frames respectively. 

New Eltham New Stars got off to a winning start, beating Bellegrove A, 9-6 with Dave Jandu taking the man of the match accolade by winning all three of his frames. 

Relegated alongside Pickwick were, Eltham Terrace Nuthouse and they also started their fight to return to the top flight with a victory, by 9 frames to 6 over Fox & Hounds. 

Nuthouse took a, 2-0 lead but by the end of the set Fox had reduced the deficit to one at, 3-2. 

The damage was done in the second set, as they won the first four frames of the set, with Kerry Wyatt preventing the set whitewash. 

Louis Wilbourne secured the win for Nuthouse in frame eleven but Fox won the next two frames to pull the score back to, 8-5. 

Dave Sparey extended Nuthouse’s lead with the penultimate frame, but Kerry Wyatt did the father/son Biggs double by beating Trevor in set two and Alex in the final set, on her way to a hat-trick.

Nuthouse had three of their own unbeaten players, Sparey, Shane O’Reilly and Danny Kent, who all scored a brace. 

Bellegrove A may have got off to a losing start, but the same can’t be said for their sister side, Just Bellegrove who edged a narrow, 8-7 victory over Eltham Terrace Rack Pack. 

Despite the loss Dean Rider top scored with three frame wins and he was backed up by Tony Frost, who won two of his three frames. 

New Eltham New Boys matched Pickwick’s highest win of the week, with a, 12-3 triumph over new boys to the league, Farmhouse. 

However, they are not top of SLKPA Division Two, as Sea the Angles were awarded a walkover because Bexleyheath Working Man’s Club could not field a side. 

Sea the Angles sister side, Anglesea Arms were not so fortunate, going down, 10-5 to Royal Oak. 

Top scoring in the Premier Division this week were 2016/17 champions, Eltham Terrace Club A, who beat Sharks, 11-4. 

Last year’s champions, Allstars also started the new season on winning ways, with a, 10-5 triumph over The Fox. 

The 2018/19 champions, Hotshots made it a hat-trick of wins for previous champions, but only just, narrowly beating Bellegrove, 8-7. 

Hotshots got off to an amazing start, winning the first set, 4-1 and that soon became, 6-1 with the first two frames of the second set. 

But Bellegrove dug deep and won three scrappy frames in a row to make it, 6-4 going into the final set. 

However, all that hard work was undone as Hotshots won the first two frames of the last set to go, 8-4 in the lead. 

Bellegrove didn’t let that dishearten them, as Barry Barham performed a break and dish to start a run of three frames on the spin, finished off by Peter Whyte completing his hat-trick in the final frame. 

Newly promoted Crayford A had a tough start against Bull Tavern and did very well to take six frames off them, finishing, 9-6 behind. 

Rose Inn also had a losing start to their first season in the top division, going down, 10-5 to Rugrats. 

The first two frames were shared but Rugrats won the last three frames of the set to take a, 4-1 lead. 

They went on to win the first three frames of the next set, making it six in a row, but Leighton Aston prevented the second set whitewash. 

Josh Page won frame ten for Rugrats to give them an unassailable, 8-2 lead going into the final set. 

They must have took their foot off the gas, as Rose Inn won the last set, 3-2 to make the final score, 10-5 in Rugrats favour. 

Aston and Jack Wilson won two of their three frames for Rose, as did Rugrats’ Page, Dafydd Ruffell and Scott Foley, but Steve Gibson went one better with an unbeaten hat-trick. 

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.