2009-04-01

Two fixtures in 21 days, that’s what West Midlands have played in division one of the BDO Inter Counties Championships and the two games have seen them lift themselves from a very nervous third from bottom of the table to a more comfortable middle of the table position.
The first of the fixtures was a home tie with Middlesex, a vital game to both teams as the visitors were propping up the foot of the table and West Midlands were just two places above them. The ladies ‘B’ with three draws and two defeats were hoping to record their first win of the season and Julie Aston got them off to the best of starts when she beat Vanessa Thomas 3-0. Alexis Miller, Helen Wingate and Coreen Loffler put Middlesex into a 3-1 lead by defeating in turn Jacqui Simmons, Natalie Harrison and Claire Ford.
Liz Arnold (15.93) reduced the arrears with a lady of the match performance and a 3-2 win over Anita Daly, leaving the result hinging on the final game between Sarah Robbins (West Midlands) and Debbie Stevens. Sarah Robbins chalked up a 3-0 win to earn the hosts a share of the points in their fourth 3-3 draw.
The men’s ‘B’ were hoping to emulate their previous win Derbyshire and that’s exactly what they did in a great 8-4 victory. Middlesex took the first game when Terry Andrews beat Greg Parkes 3-1. Mark Lloyd’s 3-1 success against Roy Peacock levelled the match and then a similar win for Ian Hartland over Eddie Collinge saw the home team go 2-1 up.
The visitors took the lead again when Ben Stevenson and Mick Ward had 3-1 win’s over respective opponents Mathew Tedstone and Martin Tibbetts, but by the midway point it was all square as Richard Foster turned on the style against Brian Watts, beating him 3-0 in 15, 19 and 19 darts to average 28.36, which earned him the match award.
West Midlands began the second half better than the first, Mark Watkiss winning the opener against Gary Lewis by 3-2 after trailing 2-0, then came Eddie Price who also fought back from two down against Scott Robertson to win 3-2 and open up a 6-3 lead. Steve Salt (Middlesex) pulled one back for the away side when he defeated Ian Stanton 3-0, but it was a momentary lapse as further wins from Viv Gould and Mathew Dicken over respective opponents John McDermott and Chris Hill gave West Midlands a second in a row 8-4 win.
Sunday’s games began with the home team boasting an 11-7 lead and although there was an upset in the first game of the ladies ‘A’ when Claire Hobbs lost 3-2 to Deniece Lewis, it was not long before the home team were in control. Lady of the match Leanne Jennings (23.48) had a great 3-0 win over Lisa Norton rounding off her win with a 107 checkout in a 19 darts leg. Lisa Astbury moved the score along to 2-1 with her 3-1 win over Karen Daly and a share of the spoils was assured when Kath Jenkins won her game with Tina Moran 3-1.
In the penultimate game Middlesex gained their second winner in the shape of Margaret Sutton, a 3-1 win against Diane Tolley, but the win was confirmed for the West midlands when in the final tussle Kim Fellows, after going 1-0 down to Sharon Haeffey came back to win 3-1 and give her team a 4-2 win.
Middlesex won the first two games of the men’s ‘A’ encounter. Steve Hyatt and Vern Sheppard were the suppliers with Lol Frazer and Chris Plumpton on the receiving end. Jamie Hughes and Andy Forrester restored parity by defeating Jamie Sadler and Peter Barnes, but the visitors restored their two games lead and actually opened a three games buffer when Graham Inniss, Mick Seager and Mick Doabe beat in turn Nicky Bache, Martin Angell and Mark Rollinson.
Trailing now 5-2 the ‘A’ side needed to return to winning ways and the man that started that was Steve Farmer (29.67) with a match award winning 3-1 win against Mick Ward. Spurred on by Steve’s win Avatar Singh beat Mark Haggerty 3-0, Peter Wyse won 3-2 against Alan Taylor and Ian Jones beat Richie Davis 3-1 to give the home team a 6-5 advantage. Joe Stone (Middlesex) beat Tom Aldridge in the final encounter to put the result at 6-6 and an overall 21-15 scoreline in favour of the West Midlands.
The second fixture was a tough away game against Gwent, the Middlesex win being a massive victory taking the West Midlands to a respectable mid table position and providing a much need confidence booster for another test of the Midlanders nerves and skill.
The ladies ‘B’ forced another 3-3 draw, Sarah Robbins (18.98) wiping out the opening win of Debbie Ham when she beat Alison Bonas 3-2 and take the lady of the match award in the process. Gwent went 3-1 thanks to wins from Wendy Crowley and Hannah Price, but it was Jacqui Simmons and Claire Ford who cancelled out their wins to earn a share of the points.
The men’s ‘B’, after the first half dozen games were 4-2 up, Ian Stanton, Mark Lloyd, Ian Hartland and Dean Stewart beating their counterparts Carl Lloyd, Andrew Davis, Geoff Bladen and Geoff Dyer. The second half began well as Matt Tedstone (27.42) kicked it off with a match award winning 3-1 win over Paul Cosslett, but then came Gwent’s response as they took three in a row through John Heal, Nick Kenny and Jimmy Thompson to put the score at 5-5 with two to play.
Viv Gould gave the West Midlands the initiative when he won 3-1 against Andy Miller however, it finished at 6-6 when Frank Drury (Gwent) won the last game against Greg Parkes.
The ladies ‘A’ trailed 2-0 to wins from Linda Rogers Pickett and Jan Robbins, fought back to level terms thanks to Claire Hobbs and Kath Jenkins but then went behind again when Moe Collier beat Kim Fellows 3-0. Nevertheless, lady of the match Leanne Jennings (20.88) won the final game against Natalie Pyatt 3-0 to put the result all square at 3-3/
The men’s ‘A’ shared the first six games, Cliff Bull put the hosts one up before Tom Aldridge levelled. Adrian Rees and Andrew Hayward gave Gwent a 3-1 advantage, but again their lead was erased, when first Ian Jones, with a terrific 29.91 average and a 3-1 result beat Gareth Webb and Peter Wyse, with a similar margin beat Peter Johns.
The final six games were again shared, but not before there were a few heart felt tremors from the West Midlands team. From 3-3 Gwent moved into an unassailable 6-3 lead, thanks to wins from Andy Chappell, Brian Barne and Stephen Cake. Nicky Bache held his nerve and chalked up a vital 3-1 win over Clive Fielding to keep his team in the match. In the penultimate game it was another 3-1 verdict for the Midlanders when Mark Rollinson beat Chris Johns, leaving anchor man Steve Farmer to do battle with Chris Smart. The result was never in doubt as Steve romped to a straight 3-0 victory to make it four games over the weekend and four draws.
So it all finished dead level at 18-18, but what a great performance from the West Midlands to consolidate their mid table position and leave them just eleven points behind their hosts who are in second place.