Tyne and Wear v Shropshire
Following their relegation last season to division four of the BDO Inter County Championships Shropshire have had some mixed results having won three and lost three but an away tie against high riding Tyne and Wear was a fixture that was always going to be tough and tough it was, but it didn’t get off to a bad start as Kirsty Jenks gave the ladies a kick start with her 3-1 win over Elaine Wakeman, Kirsty’s 14.25 average proving to be Shropshire’s best for the ladies ‘B’. Ann Oxberry then turned on a similar award winning performance for the home team when she beat Julie Griffiths 3-0 with a 17.08 average
Shropshire forged ahead again when Caroline La-Ffin won 3-0 against Jean Brown only to see for a second time the lead cancelled out this time by Christine Shortland with her 3-0 success over Samantha Roberts.
The game continued to go with the first throw advantage when for a third time Shropshire took the lead, this time thanks to Pamela Evans with yet another 3-0 result as she accounted for Claire Bainbridge.
The final ladies game went the full five legs distance between Liz Scullion (Tyne and Wear) and Caroline Powell with the latter sealing the 3-2 win and a 4-2 victory for Shropshire’s ‘B’ team making it four wins in seven games.
The men’s ‘B’ had a somewhat shaky start as David Hatch (Tyne and Wear) with an award winning average of 28.90 began the proceedings beating an unlucky Philip Austin 3-0 who in turn had a 26-20 average. Scott Towers won the second 3-1 against Peter Duncan to level the game at one each before the home team won two in a row, Lee Walton and Neil Rose in turn defeating Neville Quinton and David Evans to go 3-1 up.
Neil Christopher Powell (Shropshire) stopped the rot when he beat Ryan Hanratty 3-1 Neil’s 24.46 average at the end of the game earned him the man of the match award.
Bringing the score back to level terms was Shropshire’s Martin Riggs, another 3-1 scoreline, this time John Kippen on the receiving end.
The second half of the match began with two in a row for Tyne and Wear, Lee Rump recording a 3-0 verdict over Brian Matthews and Robert McCluskey winning 3-1 against Simon Pritchard to open up a 5-3 lead. The following three games all went to the wire each one of them finishing with a 3-2 result and all of them in favour of Shropshire. Richard Parker, Derek Coulson and Paul Boddison beat respective counterparts Norman Purvis, Dave Thompson and Anthony Skelton to put the visitors 6-5 up and in the lead for the first time in the game.
The win unfortunately was not to be, Callum Stokell (Tyne and Wear) won the final tussle with Arthur Smart 3-1 to finish the game all square at 6-6, but on the day giving Shropshire a slight overall lead of 10-8.
Sunday’s games saw Tyne and Wear’s ladies begin with a match award win for Cheryl Roper in a very close encounter with Katharine McLean that ended 3-2 to the home player and giving her a 17.96 average. Marie Riggs made it 1-1 with a neat 3-0 win over Jean Stanley, but then the hosts opened up a 3-1 lead when Christine Sims won 3-1 against Leanne Quinton and Caroline Dorothy beat Suzanne Lane 3-0.
Lorna Wheatley (Shropshire) kept her team in the hunt her 3-0 win over Maureen Purvis giving her a 17.28 average and her third match award of the season reducing the deficit to 3-2.
Michele Pritchard (Shropshire) despite having the darts advantage against her pushed her opponent Holly Cooper all the way in a 3-2 battle which saw Cooper just get the verdict to give a final score of 4-2 to the home team.
The men’s ‘A’ could not have envisaged a worse start as the first half saw them lose all six games, chalking up the home teams lead were David Maitland, Gary Aspin, Paul Williams, Billy Todd, Ryan Joyce and David Stokell all at the expense of Neil Christopher Powell, Andrew Chatter, Les Marson, Martin Riggs, Roger Taylor and Glen McGrandle.
The first game of the second half went to Shropshire, their first winner being Clive Lucking (21.89) who won a seven legs affair with Paul McGowan 4-3, at the end of the day his average enough to win him the match award.
A winning margin was achieved by Tyne and Wear in the eighth game when Andy Chalmers beat John Cooper 4-1 and although Eddie Austin’s 4-3 win against Dean Kippen reduced the arrears to 7-2 it was the home side that won the final three games as Davis White beat Danny James 4-2 and Davy Richardson and Gary Dunn both won 4-1 in turn defeating Daniel Astbury and Antony Stoneman to give a final score of 10-2 to Tyne and Wear and an overall weekends victory of 22-14 for the home side.
Despite losing Shropshire hang on to their sixth place in the table and actually increased their lead over the bottom four teams from eight to fifteen points.
Full Results:Division Four:Tyne and Wear v Shropshire 22-14:Tyne and Wear names first):Men’s ‘A’:- David Maitland 4 Neil Christopher Powell 2, Gary Aspin 4 Andrew Chatter 0, Paul Williams 4 Les Marson 2, Billy Todd 4 Martin Riggs 1, Ryan Joyce 4 Roger Taylor 0, David Stokell 4 Glen McGrandle 3, PaulMcGowan 3 Clive Lucking 4, Andy Chalmers 4 John Cooper 1, Dean Kippen 3 Eddie Austin 4, David White 4 Danny James 2, David Richardson 4 Daniel Astbury 1, Gary Dunn 4 Antony Stoneman 1, Men’s ‘B’:- David Hatch 3 Philip Austin 0, Peter Duncan 1 Scott Towers 3, Lee Walton 3 Neville Quinton 1, Neil Rose 3 David Evans 2, Ryan Hanratty 1 Neil Christopher Powell 3, John Kippen 1 Martin Riggs 3, Lee Rump 3 Brian Matthews 0, Robert McCluskey 3 Simon Pritchard 1, Norman Purvis 2 Richard Parker 3, David Thompson 2 Derek Coulson 3, Anthony Skelton 2 Paul Boddison 3, Callum Stokell 3 Arthur Smart 1, Women’s ‘A’:- Cheryl Roper 3 Katharine McLean 2, Jean Stanley 0 Marie Riggs 3, Christine Sims 3 Leanne Quinton 1, Caroline Dorothy 3 Suzanne Lane 0, Maureen Purvis 0 Lorna Wheatley 3, Holly Cooper 3 Michele Pritchard 2, Women’s ‘B’:- Elaine Wakelam 1 Kirsty Jenks 3, Ann Oxberry 3 Julie Griffiths 0, Jean Brown 0 Caroline La-Ffin 3, Christine Shortland 3 Samantha Roberts 0, Claire Bainbridge 0 Pamela Evans 3, Liz Scullion 2 Caroline Powell 3.
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