Report: Brian Brighouse
The Bridge opened up an 8-point gap at the top of the Ormskirk and District Pool League after defeating one of their close rivals for the title, the Queen Inn, by 6 (7) points to 1 at the Liverpool Road North home.
This win gives them a total of 86 points from the 15 matches they have played and 12 points clear of the ‘Inn’ who sit in 4th spot. The ‘Inn’ do however, have a match in hand.La Cantina A jumped into second spot courtesy of beating Shaw Hall A by the odd frame at the Southport Road venue.
La Cantina now have 78 points from their 14 matches. Last weeks 2nd placed team, the Stanley Club slipped into 3rd place after losing away to last years champions, Bar 22, again by the odd game.This result sees the Stanley on 77 points but like La Cantina A (and the Queen Inn) they have a match in hand of the leaders.
These results see Bar 22 continue in 5th spot with 62 points, while Shaw Hall A sit in 9th place with 47 pointsElsewhere Shaw Hall Holiday Park overcame La Cantina 5(6) -2, this result puts the two teams on level points (34) but the Holiday Park have played a match more than their Southport Road opponents.
In the final match of the week Whittakers had a fine 5(6) win over the Bridge Dogs. This result sees Whittakers move into 6th spot with 58 points while the ‘Dogs’ remain in 8th place on 47 points.
The Stanley Club's Martin Gallego continues to lead the way in the quest to be crowned league Player of the Year although this week he suffered only his 2nd league singles defeat of the season. Martin has now won 11 (84.62%) of the 13 singles matches he has played. There are a number of players with an 80% success rate but at the moment they don’t meet the criteria required to become player of the year.
The player of the year must have played in at least 75% of the singles matches available, with either 7 or 8 matches still to play these players really need to think about getting playing time.
Next week is half term, when we revert to the singles knockout - next update in a fortnight.