With trick or treating going on outside, I’m sure there was also a few tricks on the pool tables of the South London & Kent Pool Alliance, but there was Halloween hell for both of the Rugrats teams who, amongst others lost  by large margins.

 

The nightmare started for Rugrats when they turned up to the Premier Division leaders, Allstars with only four players, but Allstars were ruthless, winning the opening ten frames. 

 

Scott Foley prevented the total whitewash with frame eleven, but the horror show continued, with Allstars taking the last four frames, for a, 14-1 massacre. 

 

The biggest tricksters for Allstars were Stacy Redman, Tony Halpin, Paul Cook and Derek Power, who all won their three frames. 

 

Rugrats have dropped to eighth while Allstars have cemented their place at the top of the division by opening up a nine-point lead, after just four matches. 

 

Leading the chasing pack are Hotshots, who are also unbeaten, but only just after they suffered a scare and had a tough match against Sharks. 

 

Sharks got off to a great start by taking the first set, 3-2 with Arif Salih winning the deciding frame, but Hotshots battled hard and whitewashed the second set to go, 7-3 up. 

 

Hotshots only needed one more frame for victory, but Sharks had other ideas and won the first three frames of the third set to pull back to within a frame. 

 

However, Jamie O’Donnell and Steve Krishnan won the last two frames to give Hotshots the, 9-6 triumph. 

 

Krishnan also won a frame in set two to give him an unbeaten brace and he was joined by Sharks’ Vu Son on the same score.     

 

Sharks are now one place and seven points above Rugrats, and are on the same points as Bull Tavern, after their narrow, 8-7 victory over bottom side Rose Inn. 

 

Bull won the first two frames, but Rose Inn brought it back to two all, before Tony Bailey won the deciding frame of the set to give Bull a, 3-2 lead. 

 

The second set went exactly the same as the first, with Bull taking the first two frames, Rose the second two and Bailey won the deciding frame to extend Bull’s lead to, 6-4.

 

 Leighton Aston pulled it back to, 6-5 but James Sheed and Jamie White won the next two frames, to give Bull an unassailable, 8-5 lead. 

 

Rose Inn won the last two frames to make the score a respectable, 8-7. 

 

Both teams ended the night with two unbeaten players, Neil Mundy with one frame win and Aston with a hat-trick for Rose Inn and Bailey and White with a brace for Bull. 

 

 

Sitting in between Rose Inn and Rugrats at the bottom are Crayford A, as their nightmare start to the season continued against The Fox. 

 

Crayford thought they might be picking up their first win when Dean James won the deciding frame of the first set to give them a, 3-2 lead. 

 

They were holding their own when the first two frames of the second set were shared, but The Fox strung three frames together to take a, 6-4 lead into the final set. 

 

Jamie Phillips and Steve King tied the match for Crayford, but George Taylor, Tony Stork and George Covington won the last three frames for The Fox to give them the, 9-6 triumph. 

 

You may have been mistaken in thinking it was St George’s Day not Halloween, as both George Taylor and George Covington recorded unbeaten hat-tricks for The Fox. 

 

The Fox are now in fourth place, sandwiched between Bellegrove and Eltham Terrace Club A, who played each other this week. 

 

After playing some brilliant pool last week, it started off quite the opposite this week for Bellegrove, as they slipped back into their customary slow start and lost the first set, 4-1. 

 

The horror show continued in the second set, with Terrace taking it, 3-2 to go into the final set, 7-3 ahead. 

 

With Terrace needing just one more frame for victory, Bellegrove were staring defeat in the face, but they must have cast a spell, winning all five frames in the set to steal the victory by 8 frames to 7. 

 

Kieran Evans played his first match for two and a half years and played as if the magic never left him, winning both of his frames. 

 

This result puts Bellegrove four points ahead of Terrace in the table. 

 

If Rugrats massacre was a horror show, then their sister side Rugrats Guardians performance wasn’t much better, leaving them rooted to the bottom of SLKPA Division One. 

 

This week’s opponents were Eltham Terrace Rack Pack and they took the first eight frames to win the game without reply. 

 

Dave Beshaw was the first to win a frame for Guardians in frame nine, then Steve Heather made it, 9-1 with the tenth frame. 

 

That soon became, 11-1 with Chris Parlett and Dave Avery completing their unbeaten braces. 

 

Dale McPhee pulled another frame back for Guardians, but Dean Rider made it, 12-2 with his hat-trick, before Ross Webster won the last frame, making the final score, 12-3. 

 

Rack Pack have jumped into second place, four points behind the league leaders, whereas Guardians are now eight points behind Falconwood Club, after they picked up their first win of the season. 

 

Falconwood won the first two frames however, Richard Marsh pulled one back for Just Bellegrove, but Harry Lear won frame four to give Falconwood the set. 

 

The first set ended with a victory for Bellegrove’s Keith Smith to pull it back to, 3-2. 

 

The second set went one way then the other, with Falconwood leading, 2-1 for an overall, 5-3 lead but Mark Porter and Smith won the last two frames of the set, to give Bellegrove the set and tie the match overall. 

 

Marsh nudged Bellegrove ahead, but Falconwood strung three frames together for the first time on the night to give them their first win of the season. 

 

Smith won the last frame, his third of the night to make the final score, 8-7. 

 

Also winning all three of his frames was Falconwood’s Akar Necati to help his team close the gap on their opponents to three points. 

 

Academicals did just enough to stay one point ahead of Just Bellegrove, in their derby match against Pickwick. 

 

Pickwick used their knowledge of many years of top division pool and were too strong for Academicals, winning every set, 4-1 for an overall, 12-3 triumph. 

 

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Academicals, as Gary Mason produced a good finish in frame six and Paul Thomas made a fine clearance in the last frame, to punctuate a run of eight frames for their opponents. 

 

Man of the match was Paul Dawson, who worked his magic to win all three of his frames, as did teammates Paul Gafa and Martin Storey. 

 

 Pickwick remain top of the table and five points behind them are New Eltham New Stars in third, who also won, 12-3 this week. 

 

New Stars proved to be far too strong for Fox & Hounds, winning the first nine frames without reply to have the game won before the end of the second set. 

 

Alan Dolan prevented the second set whitewash and Neil Shelton won frame eleven giving Fox back to back frames, but it was too little too late, as New Stars won the next three frames to take the final set, before Clive Forrest clinched the last frame as a consolation for Fox. 

 

Ben Worden won his only frame for New Stars and Dave Jandu, Paul Carroll and Steve Knight made the nightmare worse for Fox, as they all recorded unbeaten hat-tricks. 

 

The top three, Pickwick, Rack Pack and New Stars all have a won three, lost one record but there is still one unbeaten team in the division, Eltham Terrace Nuthouse, although they almost lost that record against Bellegrove A this week. 

 

It was another topsy-turvy game for the Nuthouse, where they narrowly took the first set, 3-2. 

 

After winning frame five, Terry Mitchell went on to win the next frame, and his teammates continued the good work by taking the rest of the frames in the second set to go, 7-3 ahead. 

 

Nuthouse suffered a whitewash in the second set but produced their own in the final set to win the match by the odd frame, 8-7. 

 

It was a night for the committee men, as Bellegrove’s John Skuza and Louis Wilbourne for Nuthouse were the only unbeaten players, winning a frame each. 

 

This comeback for Nuthouse echoed the comeback Premier Division’s Bellegrove had against Eltham Terrace Club A, reversing a, 7-3 score line to win, 8-7. 

 

On Halloween, was it spooky that this happened at the same venue, involving teams from both Bellegrove and Eltham Terrace?

 

Despite winning all four of their games so far, Nuthouse are sitting in fourth, seven points behind Pickwick, at the top and two points ahead of this week’s opponents. 

 

Sea the Angles were the only unbeaten side in SLKPA Division Two, and they had a very close game this week with New Eltham New Boys. 

 

The first four frames were shared then Michael Barnes won the set decider to give New Boys a, 3-2 lead. 

 

The first two frames of the second set were also shared, but after not winning a frame last week, the Sea the Angles boys, Reece Stewart and Dan Brown won their second frames of the night, to put back to back frames together giving them the set and a, 5-4 lead. 

 

Michael Barnes won his second frame of the night to tie the match at five all. 

 

Dave Fulkes, Greg Fothergill and Billy Russell made it four in a row for New Boys to give them the set and the match. 

 

Claire Stork prevented the set whitewash, before Michael Barnes completed his hat-trick to give his team the 9-6 victory. 

 

This result has put New Boys in joint second with Sea the Angles on 28 points, seven points behind the division leaders, Royal Oak, but they have played one more match than the others. 

 

This week Royal Oak played bottom side Farmhouse and the game was much closer than the score line and the 20-point gap between the teams suggests.

 

The first two frames were shared, then John McHale and Edward Segrue won back to back frames for Royal Oak to give them the set, before Alfie Deacon pulled it back to, 3-2. 

 

Royal Oak did the damage in the second set, winning the first three frames before Nick Brown prevented the set whitewash. 

 

Segrue won his second frame to take the set, 4-1 and go into the final set, 7-3 ahead.

 

 Royal Oak only needed one more frame for victory, but Farmhouse were putting up a tough fight and won the first two frames of the final set, but George Evans-Vine sealed the win with frame thirteen. 

 

Royal Oak went on to win the last two frames for the set, making the final score, 10-5. 

 

Nick Brown did his utmost to keep Farmhouse in the match by winning all three of his frames. 

 

Danny Whitewood achieved the same feat for New Boys, and he was backed up by Segrue and Johnnie Allen, who both won their two frames. 

 

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.