2001-04-01

Speaking of jobs getting easier the West Midlands quest for division two survival does not get any easier as in their latest fixture away to Co Durham they again tasted defeat, their fifth in six matches. Saturdays games saw the Women’s ‘B’, for the third consecutive time lose 5-1. Ann Jones (15.30) was again the lone winner. She was first on against Doreen Fenwick and after trailing 1-0 fought back to earn a 3-1 win. Claire Downing won her opening leg against Anita Dawson but then went down 3-1, the same scoreline by which Claire Hobbs lost to Liz Tait.
Dawn Hamer put the hosts into an unassailable position when she beat Brenda Phillips in three straight legs opening up a 3-1 lead. Even at this point the West Midlands could still have salvaged a share of the spoils as Frances Allen twice took the lead against Margaret Stewart and in the final game Janet Hubbard took a 2-0 lead over Pauline Kerrigan, but unfortunately they both lost 3-2.
The men’s ‘B’, with a very impressive record of four wins and only one defeat were obviously keen to extend their wins total. However, despite a 3-2 win from Pete Hadley over John Cairns in the opening game not much more went right for them in the first half. Brian Dolman lost 3-1 to Andrew Ford, while both Vic Lloyd and Frank Johnson lost 3-2 in turn to Jeff Sneath and Keith Elmore. Joe Biggs reduced the arrears to 3-2 when he beat George Davison 3-1 after losing the first leg, but the home side went into the break 4-2 up when Dale Richardson, with a 3-1 scoreline beat Roger Kinsella.
Co Durham’s lead was extended as Keith Temple won 3-2 after going 2-1 down to Ron Johnson. Ron’s namesake, Paul Johnson then began the West Midlands revival with his 3-2 victory over Tim Richardson. A man of the match performance from Ian Hartland (28.34) earned him a 3-1 win over Phil Borthwick and put the West Midlands back into the game at 4-5. Continuing the fight back was Fred Parsons. Fred had a 3-1 success against Tony Nixon before Clive Francis gave the visitors a 6-5 lead, the first time they had had their noses in front since the opening game. 3-2 was the margin by which Francis beat Robert Southwaite after Southwaite had won the first with a 101 checkout. Kenneth Atkinson gave the home team a share of the points when he, in three straight legs beat Jamie Parsons 3-0.
Diane Tolley gave the women’s ‘A’ a winning start when she came back from one down to beat Sharon Haywood 3-2. Then Durham stormed to a 5-1 lead thanks to Nancy Robinson, Gail Abbott, Claire Stewart and Dawn Winn, who in turn defeated Janet Cox, Rose Mycock, Teresa Johnston and Sue Smith. West Midlands grabbed the final encounter when Gill Cook, for the second successive fixture took the lady of the match award. Gill averaged 20-04 in her 3-0 win against Shirley Bowden, her win putting the final score at 4-2 to the hosts.
9-3 was the result now required by West Midlands to ensure an overall victory. Man of the match from the previous day, Ian Hartland repeated his 3-1 win, this time Phil Clements on the receiving end. Unfortunately the winning sequence was soon broken when Phil Nixon rounded off a 3-1 win over Mick James with a 121 outshot. John Comerford’s 3-2 win over Colin Davies gave Durham a 2-1 advantage which, Steve Penwright promptly cancelled out with finely executed 3-0 win against Kevin Elliott.
Any hopes of an overall victory went out of the window by the end of the first half. Paul Knighton and Jimmy Ashett adding two more wins to the home side’s tally at the expense of Avtar Singh and Gary Taylor. But there was still hopes of a win for the ‘A’ team remaining and still plenty to play for in the second half.
Roy Brown piled on the misery for the Midlander’s when he chalked up a 3-1 win over Jonathon Platt giving Durham a 5-2 lead. Game eight produced the West Midlands top player, Ian Jones turned in a great 3-0 win over Tony Eccles in 17-16 and 15 darts to give him a tremendous 33.40 average. Gary Storey guaranteed at least half of the points for the Northerner’s with a 3-1 win over Nick Walters before the away team recorded their best sequence of the match, two wins in a row. Providing the wins were Adrian Arnold and Tom Aldridge, who beat respective opponents Doug McCarthy and Shaun Galloway.
Everything now depended on the last game of the day. Paddy Lenagh (Co Durham) squared up to Steve Brindley, the former winning the first leg in 15 darts. Brindley replied with a 19 darts game and followed that with a 21 darts leg to go 2-1 up. Lenagh’s nerve held fast as he won the penultimate leg in 16 darts and the decider in 18 to give him a 3-2 win, his team a7-5 win and Co Durham an over all 25-14 victory.
Three fixtures remaining and West Midlands are just seven points ahead of bottom team Gwent and three behind Norfolk. A win in their next tie with Gwent is now vital to have any chance of avoiding relegation.