The first South London & Kent Pool Alliance action of 2020 came in the form of the Founders Cup second round and there was only one fixture where a team from a lower division beat a team from a higher division. 

 

Eltham Terrace Nuthouse have remained unbeaten so far this season and are sitting second in Division One, but they faced tough opposition in round two of the cup, The Fox who are currently seventh in the Premier Division. 

 

Nuthouse started well with Louis Wilbourne and Shane O’Reilly winning the first two frames. 

 

Steve Dixon pulled one back for The Fox, but Danny Kent restored Nuthouse’s two frame advantage, giving them the set, before Eliot Giles won the last frame of the set to bring the score back to, 3-2. 

 

Alex Biggs and Dave Sparey increased Nuthouse’s lead to, 5-2 but Paul Williams and Giles won the next two frames to tie the set and reduce Nuthouse’s overall lead back to just one frame, 5-4. 

 

The set decider went to Kent, giving Nuthouse a, 6-4 lead but Dixon prevented him from getting his hat-trick by winning the eleventh frame. 

 

Giles also lost out on his three frame wins by losing to Wilbourne, who recorded an unbeaten brace. 

 

That put Nuthouse one frame away from victory, which they achieved in the next frame with Alex Biggs picking up his unbeaten second frame win to give Nuthouse an, 8-5 triumph. 

 

Nuthouse’s prize for such a scalp is a quarter-final match against the only other unbeaten side in the league, the Premier Division leaders Allstars and they have their own player, Trevor Biggs to thank for that, as he drew out their opponents. 

 

Division One strugglers Just Bellegrove were the visitors to Allstars, so it was no surprise that the Premier Division side breezed past their opponents, 8-1. 

 

Jason Brunton won the first frame for Just Bellegrove but it all went downhill from there, with Allstars taking all of the next eight frames to have the match won before the end of the second set. 

 

Richie Mitchell, Paul Cook and Stacy Redman all won two out of two and Derek Power won his only frame. 

 

The other two teams from Bellegrove Social Club had a much better week, with Bellegrove A from the first division comprehensively beating the only team left in the competition from Division Two Farmhouse, 8-2 and in the all Premier Division affair Bellegrove beat Crayford A, 8-5. 

 

Bellegrove thought it would be plain sailing when they raced to a, 4-0 lead against Crayford, helped by a break and dish from Kieran Evans and it really should have been a first set whitewash but Dec Kelly went in off on the black, giving Shane Burnett the fifth frame. 

 

Crayford battled back with Burnett winning two in a row and Jeff Bailey made it three on the bounce for the team to bring the score back to, 4-3 however, James Couch, Paul Elford and Kelly won the next three frames to put Bellegrove on the hill at, 7-3. 

 

 Burnett secured his hat-trick and Steve King won frame twelve to make a game of it, bringing the score back to, 7-5 but Bellegrove’s match winner from the previous round, Couch won his third frame of the night to give his team the, 8-5 triumph. 

 

As well as his break and dish in the first set, Evans was also unbeaten on two frame wins, as was Captain Paul Elford. 

 

So, two of the three Bellegrove teams make it through to the quarter-final but only one of them will be going through to the semi, as by the luck of the draw, made by Bellegrove A’s Captain John Skuza, they will be facing each other. 

 

Fox & Hounds became the third first division side into the quarter-final with a narrow victory over another Division One side, Falconwood Club. 

 

This was a classic topsy-turvy battle between teams that are just two places and thirteen points away from each other in the table. 

 

The lower of the two, Falconwood won the first four frames, with Kerry Wyatt winning frame five to prevent the set whitewash. 

 

This inspired Fox & Hounds and they won the first four frames of the second set to make it five in a row and put them in the lead for the first time in the match however, Brett Crawley won frame ten to prevent the set whitewash and tie the match for Falconwood at five all. 

 

Neil Shelton put Fox back into the lead, but Kerry Wyatt missed out on her hat-trick, losing to Akar Necati to make the score all square again. 

 

The to-ing nd fro-ing continued as Fox’s Alan Dolan won frame thirteen and Paul Baker took the penultimate frame to send the match into a final frame decider, which Glen Ward won to give Fox the, 8-7 triumph. 

 

Fox & Hounds will play another team that just edged a battle to make it through to the quarter-final, fourth in the Premier Division, Bull Tavern. 

 

Hotshots raced out of the blocks, whitewashing the first set, 5-0 against Bull, but they didn’t let that dishearten them, winning three of the next four frames to reduce the deficit to, 6-3. 

 

Arguably the player of the night, Joe Kane played the last frame of the second set and won it for Bull to reduce the gap even further to, 6-4. 

 

The last set went the same way as the second, with Bull winning three of the first four frames of the set to tie the match at, seven all and send the match into a final frame decider, which Kane won again to send Bull into the next round, at the expense of Hotshots, the team sitting second in the division. 

 

Tenth played eighth in the top division, as Rose Inn hosted Rugrats, with both sides looking to put their league woes to one side and put together a good cup run. 

 

As expected, it was a tight game, but it went true to form as Rugrats took it, 8-5 however, Rose Inn had Jack Wilson and Leighton Aston to thank for keeping them in the game, after they were unbeaten winning three and two frames respectively as their team’s only winners. 

 

Bull Tavern’s comeback against Hotshots was quite remarkable but arguably the performance of the round came from Sharks, who turned up short handed yet still beat New Eltham New Stars, 8-5. 

 

The first two sets mirrored each other, with Sharks winning the first three frames but losing the last two so, by the end of the second set Sharks were, 6-4 up. 

 

Rahat Munim won frame eleven, for his hat-trick, which included a break and dish to put Sharks on the hill, but they had to wait until frame thirteen to win the match, with Scott Reeves also completing three frame wins to give his team the, 8-5 triumph. 

 

Sharks will now go to Rugrats for the quarter-final, which will all be played on Thursday 13 February. 

 

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.