Derbyshire v London
With six wins from seven games and only one defeat in the BDO Inter County Championships that is the sort of form that has seen Derbyshire top the division two promotion table for most of the season, however they did receive something of a setback in their penultimate fixture and last home game of the season against promotion rivals London.
It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for the hosts as the ladies ‘B’ kicked off with a 3-2 win by Dawn Buckley over Kelly Livett and despite Andrea Walker cancelling out the 1-0 lead with her 3-0 success against Samantha Clarke, lady of the match Dee Fenn restored the lead for the home team when she accounted for Nikki Patten with a 3-1 scoreline and a 19.15 average.
The hosts lead was extended to 3-1 with a further 3-1 win by Nicola Fletcher in her tie with Lynne Biondini. The match went to a final game when Jane Biggs (London) won 3-0 against Kelly Dean taking the score along to 3-2 in Derbyshire’s favour.
Carly Townsend (London) won the opening leg against Jennifer Whatmough, the Derbyshire player levelling with a win in the second. Townsend went ahead again in the third only to see Whatmough cancel her advantage for a second time and take the game to a deciding leg.
Both players struggled to find the big scores in the fifth leg but a score of 100 gave Carly Townsend the narrow lead she required to be first at a finishing double, checking out on 62 for a 3-2 win and at the same time giving her team a share of the points in a 3-3 draw, the draw extending Derbyshire ladies ‘B’ team’s unbeaten run for the season to eight games.
Opening up for the men’s ‘B’ was Lee Stanley playing against another Lee, Lee Clifford. The result was a straight 3-0 win for the home team’s Lee. Next on for Derbyshire was Paul Williams who looked all set to double the advantage when he won the first two legs against Nick Cocks, but then the all important finishing doubles deserted him and Cocks took the following three legs to win 3-2.
The win from Cocks seemed to inspire the visitors as they then stormed into a 6-1 lead, Matt Winzar had a 3-0 win over Dean Wilkins, Michael Artiss although twice pegged back to level terms by Stephen Pashley went on to win 3-2 and in a similar fashion Jason Mortimer (London) beat Jim Beardmore to open up a 4-1 lead.
Stuart Patt (London) came from 1-0 down to John Clifford to win 3-1 and with a 3-0 win by Liam Curran over Mark Walker the away team were within one game of victory at 6-1.
The eighth game saw David Allcock stop the rot when he beat Wayne Livett 3-1, but it was only a brief respite as Bradley Turrell after leading 1-0 and trailing 2-1 to Colin Rich went on to win 3-2 and seal London’s victory as they were then 7-2 to the good.
It was at this point that Derbyshire had their best run of the match Doug Walker won 3-1 against George Killington then in the penultimate encounter Alan Statham produced a man of the match performance against Scott Artiss, he lost the first leg in 15 darts then won the game 3-1 in 19, 16 and 17 darts for a 28.66 average.
The result ended at 7-5 to London when Drew Smith (Derbyshire) won the final game against Danny Winmill 3-1, Winmill having won the first leg.
Sunday’s ladies game produced a few surprises not least the 4-2 defeat which was only the second loss of the eight games season so far.
On first for Derbyshire was Rachel Bird who lost the first leg to Tammy Mackenzie fought back to lead 2-1 and then lost the next two to go down 3-2. At number two there was a very unusual defeat for Joanne Oldershaw, Joanne has been in tremendous form all season but on the day lady luck deserted her, and she lost 3-0 to Leanne Topper. Taking the lead to 3-0 was Deb Watling, her 3-1 win over Sara-Jane Harrison taking the visitors to within an ace of victory.
Delaying that win was Jane Densley who took her lady of the match awards for the season to six when she beat Su Holt in three straight legs which gave her a 19.27 average. Lauren Jackson not only reduced the arrears but also kept Derbyshire in the match when she won the fifth game against Dee Belcher 3-0 to put the running score at 3-2 to London with one to play.
Stephanie Stutley (London) could not have dreamed of a better start against Jackie Sweet as she went one up with a 143 game shot and although Jackie kept up with her opponent in the next two legs it was the London player that won them for a 3-0 win and a team win of 4-2.
Nothing less than a 9-3 win would be good enough for an overall win from the men’s ‘A’ and they began with great promise as Paul Mellor beat Steve Day 4-0 and another Paul this time Bettney won 4-2 against Graham Rackstraw, Bettney having a 132 checkout in the sixth leg.
Diogo Portelo (London) and Gary Fenn had a ding dong battle as Portelo won the first, Fenn the second and Portelo the third. Fenn then took two in a row to go 3-2 up but was unable to clinch the win as he missed his doubles in the last two legs and lost 4-3. Tony Hamit (London) levelled the game when he beat Tony Cresswell 4-3 after Cresswell had taken the lead no fewer than three times. Giving the visitors the lead for the first time in the game was Nicky Turner with his 4-1 success against Reece Spurr in game five.
Rounding off the first half of the match Tim Daniels made it 3-3 when he accounted for Lee Cocks with a 4-2 win, Cocks having taken a 2-1 lead.
It was London who got the early lead in the second half when Gene Hill beat Adrian Asprey 4-2, Robert Wood replying for Derbyshire with a 4-2 win over Lewis McGurn, Wood starting his game with two consecutive maximums to win the first leg in fourteen darts.
Once again the away team forged ahead this time thanks to a 4-2 win from Chris Stevens over Robin Woolery, however game number ten brought out the best for the hosts as Robert Smith with a 4-2 win over Tommy Sanwell with winning legs of 17, 20, 16 and 14 darts chalked up a man of the match award winning average of 29.24 to level the game at 5-5.
Richard Hanson then made it 6-5 to the home side with a 4-2 win over Spencer Ellis and rounding off a superb 7-5 win in style was Nigel Daniels who beat Matthew Wilson 4-0 in18, 17, 17 and 17 darts to give him an average of 29-04.
Unfortunately for Derbyshire the overall result was a 19-17 win for London but nevertheless they remain in pole position with 184 points, London have moved up into second place on 174 and third in the table Berkshire have 171.
With one foot in division one Derbyshire will bring the curtain down on their season with an away fixture against Northamptonshire, a result there would confirm their division one status for next season, something they narrowly missed out on last campaign.
Full Results:Division Two:(Derbyshire names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Paul Mellor 4 Steve Day 0, Oaul Bettney 4 Graham Rackstraw 3, Gary Fenn 3 Diogo Portela 4, Tony Creswell 3 Tony Hamit 4, Reece Spurr 1 Nicky Turner 4, Tim Daniels 4 Lee Cocks 2, Adrian Asprey 2 Gene Hill 4, Robert Wood 4 Lewis McGurn 2, Robin Woolery 2 Chris Stevens 4, Robert Smith 4 Tommy Sanwell 2, Richard Hanson 4 Spencer Ellis 2, Nigel Daniels 4 Matthew Wilson 0, Men’s ‘B’:- Lee Stanley 3 Lee Clifford 0, Paul Williams 2 Nick Cocks 3, Dean Wilkins 0 Matt Winzar 3, Stephen Pashley 2 Michael Artiss 3, Jim Beardmore 2 Jason Mortimer 3, John Clifford 1 Stuart Patt 3, Mark Walker 0 Liam Curran 3, David Allcock 3 Wayne Livett 1, Colin Rich 2 Bradley Turrell 3, Doug Walker 3 George Killington 1, Alan Statham 3 Scott Artiss 1, Drew Smith 3 Danny Winmill 1, Women’s ‘A’:- Rachel Bird 2 Tammy Mackenzie 3, Joanne Oldershaw 0 Leanne Topper 3, Sara-Jane Harrison 1 Deb Watling 3, Jane Densley 3 Su Holt 0, Lauren Jackson 3 Dee Belcher 0, Jackie Sweet 0 Stephanie Stutley 3, Women’s ‘B’:- Dawn Buckley 3 Kelly Livett 2, Samantha Clarke 0 Andrea Walker 3, Dee Fenn 3 Nikki Patten 1, Nicola Fletcher 3 Lynne Biondini 1, Kelly Dean 0 Jane Biggs 3, Jennifer Whatmough 2 Carly Townsend 3.
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