2008-12-01

Played three and only one win, that’s West Midlands record after being newly promoted to division one of the Kaliber BDO Inter Counties Championships, and after those three fixtures they are already sixteen points adrift of leaders Gwent.
Fixture number three was an away game against Dorset, a game West Midlands must surely have thought they could get something out of, but it did not quite turn out like that.
Saturday’s encounters saw the ladies ‘B’ fall one behind to a straight 3-0 win by Lin Maple over Claire Ford. Lisa Astbury was quick to respond for the visitors as she recorded a similar 3-0 win over Sally Old to level the score. Wendy Lamb opened up a 2-1 lead for Dorset when she beat Gemma Poole 3-2. Gemma won the first and went 2-1 up in the third but it was Wendy who won the last two legs to clinch her victory. Beckie Dodman increased the hosts lead with a 3-1 success over Natalie Harris, ensuring at least a share of the spoils for her colleagues.
Claire Setterfield (Dorset) looked as if she would gain the vital fourth win for Dorset when she won the first leg against Jacqui Simmons. However, Jacqui hung on in there and went on to win 3-1 to give her team mate Sarah Robbins a fighting chance to earn a draw in the final game against Alison Dibden. Once more it was the Dorset player who won the first leg, but yet again it was the West Midlands player who went on to win 3-1, Sarah Robbins having a 17.72 average which also won her the lady of the match award. The ladies ‘B’ now having drawn two and lost one.
The men’s ‘B’ were looking to follow up their fantastic 10-2 win over Hertfordshire with another victory and Mark Lloyd got them off on the right foot as he beat Jason Murrell 3-2. Kevin Smith levelled for Dorset with his 3-2 win over Andy Forrester. Mathew Tedstone gave West Midlands the lead for a second time when he accounted for Richard Carter with a 3-1 verdict, but once again the advantage was short lived as on this occasion Marcus Moriatis beat Mathew Dicken 3-1 to put the score at 2-2. Game five saw the home team take the lead for the first time in the match, Nigel Lamb chalked up the third consecutive 3-1 result when he defeated Eddie Price. Now it was time for West Midlands to come from behind and that’s exactly what they did in the form of Ian Hartland. Ian won the first leg against Bryan Pearson in 19 darts, Pearson responded in 13 with top shots of 140, 140 and 171. Hartland then won the third leg in 20 and went on to seal yet another 3-1 win when he chalked up a fabulous twelve darts leg hitting 140, 100, 100 and finishing off with a tremendous 161 checkout, to level the match at the halfway stage.
The second half began well for the West Midlands Martin Angell starting a run of three consecutive wins when he beat Eddie White 3-1, then Paul Price won 3-2 against Terry Smith and Nicky Bache beating Steve Penny 3-0, Bache winning in 15, 13 and 16 darts for an award winning 34.16 average.
With the scoreline at 6-3 in West Midlands favour, Terry Prowse stepped up to the oche for Dorset against Ian Stanton. Prowse won in three straight legs to narrowly reduce the arrears, but only momentarily as Lol Frazer’s 3-2 win against Lee Young chalked up the vital seventh winning game to guarantee the ‘B’ teams win.
Steve Earley was Dorset’s anchor man and he made short work of his match with David Arnold, winning 3-0 to put the final score at 7-5 to the visitors.
The ladies ‘A’ had had a good start to the season, an opening 3-3 draw with County Durham followed by a 4-2 against Hertfordshire and were obviously full of confidence going into their latest challenge. That confidence shone through as Diane Tolley opened up with a 3-2 victory over Peri Blakeley and with a similar result Kim Fellows beat Trina Perry. Taking the score along to 3-0 was Lisa Astbury. Lisa had an award winning 3-1 win over Jan Sharpe and a 19.76 average, checking out her first two legs on 114 and 71.
Julie Boggust was Dorset’s first winner, playing against Kath Jenkins she went from 1-0 down to 2-1 up. Kath levelled in the fourth leg but it was Julie who got the verdict with double three in the deciding leg. Another Julie, this Frampton took the game to a decider when she came from 1-0 down to beat Leanne Jennings 3-1, Leanne’s first defeat of the season after winning two consecutive match awards.
The final tussle was between Lisa Prowse and Julie Aston and the result was hinging on the outcome. Both players struggled in the first leg, with Julie Prowse eventually winning it in 31 darts. She then went on to win the next two legs, both in 27 darts and win her game 3-0 and at the same time earn a 3-3 draw for her team mates.
With the overall score standing at 13-11 in West Midlands favour a 7-5 defeat would still be enough for them to share the points and on the oche to kick off the men’s ‘A’ match was Ian Jones, a man who has pulled West Midlands out of the fire on many occasions over the years, so who better to open up. This unfortunately was not to be Ian’s day as he squared up to what turned out to be Dorset’s man of the match Scott Mitchell. Scott showed his intentions in the first leg with a great 135 checkout in 15 darts. He followed that with a 15 darts leg and sealed his 3-0 win with another 15 darts leg for a 31.98 average.
Dennis Crane (Dorset) began his tie with Stuart Kendrick in style, a 15 darts leg with Kendrick way back on 238. Crane then went 2-0 up with a 98 game shot with Kendrick down to 52. Leg three saw the West Midlands player record his first winning leg and he followed that with another to level the tie. The decider was nip and tuck with Carne checking out on 5 with his opponent left on 40.
Mark Rollinson was the first to break the ice for the Midlander’s, but it took him three attempts. He won the first against Steve O’Marah, lost the second, won the third and lost the fourth. Either player could have won the decider but it was Rollinson who got the vital finishing double two first, with O’Marah left nursing double eight.
The home side restored their two games advantage again when John Clark won 3-0 against Peter Wyse taking the score along to 3-1. Richard Foster was West Midlands second winner. On at number five Foster faced up to Mark Stock and although pegged back to 2-1 he went on to win 3-1. At the midway point the score was 4-2 to Dorset, Dave Holt adding another win to their tally when he beat Chris Hickman 3-2 in the ‘A’ team’s sixth game.
The second half proved to be no much better for the away side despite an a good start as Tom Aldridge recorded his first win since returning to the West midlands from Warwickshire, a 3-2 success against Sam Sawyer. The came a straight 3-0 win from Jamie Hughes over mark Porter. Jamie won his first leg in fourteen darts in which he notched a maximum, he took the second in 17 darts and wrapped up the issue with a 19 darts leg to secure not only his 3-0 win but also the match award with his 30.06 average.
From there on in it was pretty much downhill, Dorset took the next two games through Tim Clothier and Richard Perry who both had 3-0 win in turn against Chris Plumpton and Mark Jones. Tim Poole secured the home win when he took the score along to 7-4 after beating Avtar Singh 3-1 and with a 3-2 by Graham Knight over Steve Farmer in the final game of the weekend the 19-17 overall win was also confirmed.
With only a third of the season gone there are still lots of points to play for and I’m sure that the West Midlands squad will bear that in mind and bounce back from this defeat in an all out effort to get up there with the promotion pack.