It’s as-you-were at the top of the Senior British Clubs League, Championship division after the top two teams both picked up three points from a possible four at the ‘pivot’ weekend.

The third of five weekends sees just one day of action as Round 9 finishes off the first half of the season and Round 10 begins the return fixtures.

Hosts Nottingham held a three-point lead over BATTS II at the start of the weekend, and they still did at the end of a day marked by a succession of close matches.

Click here for table, full results and averages on TT Leagues.

Nottingham and BATTS started the weekend with matching 6-2 victories. Nottingham’s was against Finsbury and two wins apiece for Adam Dennison (pictured above, photo by Michael Loveder) and Adam Fuzes underpinned the result as Nottingham opened up a 4-0 lead. They were made to wait to confirm the victory as Munib Ahmed beat Maxim Stevens in five, but Dennison’s second guaranteed the two points.

BATTS met greater resistance from Ormesby II, who took the lead when Zac Greenhough defeated Jack Bennett. BATTS won the next three, including Ethan Walsh beating Josh Weatherby in five – somewhat of a flashback to battles in their Junior days. Thomas Rayner’s win over Bennett kept Ormesby interested at 2-3 down, but once Abraham Sellado had defeated Greenhough in five, the momentum stayed with BATTS.

Hurricane matched the 6-2 scoreline in their victory over Wymondham, with Joe Sawyer and Andrew Wilkinson each picking up two wins. Umair Mauthoor got one of Wymondham’s points, his fine 3-2 comeback win (10-12, 11-13, 11-4, 12-10, 11-7) making it 1-1.

Incredibly, those 6-2 scorelines were the most emphatic of the day, with all other matches finishing 5-3 or 4-4.

The last two in Round 9 were both 5-3. Urban, who had a disastrous Weekend 2 which saw them plunge down the table, got back to winning ways against Perry Dale, despit Mohammad Salameh’s double for the beaten side.

Alim Hirji got a brace of his own for Urban, but his team-mates Liam McTiernan and Mateusz Mikosz played an important role with 3-2 wins over Lloyd Gregory and Joe Marlor respectively in matches 3 and 4 as Urban opened a 4-1 lead having lost the first end.

In the other match, Woodford Wells came from 2-0 down to beat Ormeau II. Adam Faulkner and Sophie Earley put the Irish side in front, but Woodford Wells won the next four, including a double for Sinan Surensoy and a fine comeback by Aarav Parihar, who defeated Conor Nugent 3-2 (9-11, 1-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8) in Match 4.

Nugent had his own comeback to beat Rayan Ansari 3-2 (8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-7), but Parihar completed his double, against Thomas Earley, to seal the result.

Round 10 saw four of the five matches finish in 4-4 draws, with only Hurricane bucking the trend as they beat Ormesby 5-3. Sawyer and Yan Masa Hiko had doubles as Hurricanes led 3-0 and 4-1, though they did lose two of the four matches to go to a fifth game.

Leaders Nottingham faced a crisis when they trailed Perry Dale 2-0 and 4-2, but they rescued a point in a match in which the first five ties went to a decider.

Salameh beat Maxim Stevens 11-9 in the fifth, before Mircea Neagu came from 2-0 down to beat Adam Dennison. The younger Dennison, Joseph, then beat Gregory 11-9 in the fifth, and Adam Fuzes made it 2-2, edging Marlor 14-12 in the decider.

Neagu’s 3-2 (12-10, 6-11, 11-9, 13-15, 11-7) win over Stevens, and Salameh’s defeat of Joseph Dennison in three straight threatened an upset, but Adam Dennison beat Marlor in four and Fuzes saw off Gregory in three to get Nottingham out of trouble.

BATTS also had to come from behind in their draw against third-place Finsbury. They were 1-0 and 2-1 down but levelled both times – but Ahmed and Jonathan Lancry completed personal doubles to move Finsbury to within an end of victory.

Sellado completed his double with a three-game win over Hassan El Kaakour, but Finsbury were on the brink when Abdullah Ubaidullah led Walsh 2-0. However, Walsh roared back to take a 3-2 (5-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-6) victory as BATTS earned a point.

Wymondham came from 3-0 and 4-2 down to draw with Woodford Wells. Surensoy had a double for Woodford, including a 3-2 &-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 12-10) win over Oleh Biletskyi, while Dan Ives doubled up for Wymondham, including a 3-2 (5-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6) victory over Parihar. It was Ryan Holland who sealed the draw for Wymondham as he beat Parihar 11-9 in the fifth in the final tie.

Urban climbed up to fourth in the table on the back of their draw against Ormeau, who four times clawed back a one-match deficit. Gabriel Achampong got the only double of the match, including a fine 3-2 (9-11, 12-14, 11-6, 11-8, 16-14) win over Sophie Earley. It was Thomas Earley who edged the final match, 3-2 (11-8, 7-11, 13-11, 1-11, 11-6) over Mikosz.

James Hobson of Nottingham and Ormeau’s Paul McCreery still top the averages with 8/8 but were not active this weekend. Sellado won his four matches to join the 100% club. Of the more regular players, Fuzes has 14/16 and Adam Dennison 17/20.

The next weekend of action is on February 28 and March 1, with Nottingham and BATTS due to meet in the last round of matches on the Sunday afternoon. The final weekend is on 28-29 March.