2013-07-01

West Midlands went into their final fixture in the Riley’s BDO Inter County Championships knowing that a win was vital if they were to have any chance of retaining their division one status. As the table stood prior to the season’s finale any of the bottom five teams were liable to get relegated, Derbyshire were bottom on 137 points, Staffordshire had 141, West Midlands were on 142, County Durham 144 and Dorset on 148, just eleven points separating all five of them.
The final fixtures had Staffordshire playing away to fourth in the table Hampshire, who were on 163 points, County Durham also had a tough away game against divisional leaders Gwent on 177 points and Dorset had a home tie with fifth placed Cornwall.
The real relegation decider was obviously going to be between the other two remaining candidates Derbyshire and West Midlands, who were to play each other in a last ditch do or die battle for survival, Derbyshire most certainly having the edge with home advantage.
Saturdays games got underway and it was not a good start for West Midlands. The ladies ‘B’, for the second consecutive game finished on the wrong side of a 5- 1 result. Rachel Bird opened up for the hosts with a straight 3-0 win over Doreen Kaye and with a 3-2 win from Sarah Quinn over Claire Hobbs the West Midlands already had their back’s to the wall. On at number three for the visitors was Shellbie Simmons, she struggled in the first leg to find any rhythm and went one down after 33 darts. With a top shot of 120 in the second leg she squared the game and then went 2-1 up with a 26 darts leg. The fourth leg was much of the same, another 26 darts giving her a 3-1 win and her average of 16.30, plus the fact that she was the sole winner giving her the lady of the match award.
Samantha Maiden (West Midlands) won the opening leg against Lynda Gilbert, but then lost her way on finishing doubles and eventually lost out 3-1, giving Derbyshire a 3-1 lead. Nicola Fletcher (Derbyshire) gave her team the points when she beat Heather Wright 3-1, Heathers having a consolation win in the second leg and rounding off the 5-1 result was Rachel Ayres, who twice came from behind against Kim Fellows to win 3-2 and in the process take the hosts match award with her 15.79 average.
So it was not a very good season for the ladies ‘B’, their record reading played nine, won none, drawn four and lost five.
The men’s ‘B’ really should have been riding on a high after winning the three matches leading up to the final encounter, but sadly the confidence didn’t show in the final result. First on for Derbyshire was Darran Sinfield and for West Midlands, Jordan Singh, Sinfield opened up a 2-0 lead and although Singh pulled one back in the third, three tons in the fourth saw the home player clinch a 3-1 win. Avtar Singh went one up against John Clifford only to see Clifford win the next two. Although Singh levelled in the fourth it was John Clifford who took the decider for a 3-2 win and a 2-0 lead for his team.
Glen Cullen was West Midlands first winner, but he was made to fight all the way. His opponent, Paul Jones won the first leg in 22 darts, Cullen the next in 21. Jones then went ahead again in 19 darts, Cullen adding another 22 darts leg to his tally to level the game. Glen Cullen took the initiative in the last leg when his counterpart failed to find any high scores, the first throw plus two tons giving Cullen a throw for double twenty, which he put away first dart leaving his opponent way back on 182.
Cullen’s win sparked off a series of five straight wins for the West Midlands, the next player on being Nick Fullwell, who with a 180, 2×140, 125, 121 and 3×100’s beat Robert Needham 3-2, who at one stage was 2-1 up. West Midlands then went into the lead for the first time in the game when Jonathon Platt, with eight three figure scores plus a maximum won 3-1 against Tony Cresswell, Platt averaging 27.21.
Taking the game to the halfway stage was Doug Thompson (West Midlands), who made short work of his task against Doug Walker. Thompson opened up with a 17 darts leg and followed that with a 16 darts game, before he produced the best leg of the encounter a twelve darts leg in which he hit 140, 134, 135 and checked out on 92 to give him a fantastic man of the match winning average of 33.40.
Taking the away teams lead to 5-2 was another three legs winner Richard Platt. Platt went 1-0 up against Alan Evans in 24 darts before recording and equalling the fastest leg of the day, another twelve darts affair. Scores for Platt were, 100, 96, 180 and a tremendous 125 outshot. He then rounded off his win with a 24 darts leg.
2-0 down to 5-2 up, that was how West Midlands game had gone so far, but then the rot set in and it all went disastrously wrong. Peter Slater (Derbyshire) beat Paul Price 3-2, the same scoreline by which Paul Bettney won against Mark Watkiss to bring the score along to 5-4, still in West Midlands favour.
Then came two 3-1 wins for Derbyshire, Robert Wood and Ricky Gray in turn defeating Christopher Stanley and Ian Stanton to set up a final encounter between Reece Spurr and Gary Watts (West Midlands) which would decide the outcome of the match.
A nineteen darts leg gave Gary Watts the early lead, but Reece Spur replied with 20 and 24 darts games to go 2-1 up. Watts levelled in 20 darts, but lost the next leg in 24 and the game 3-2 to give Derbyshire a 7-5 win and an overall lead after the first day of 12-6 leaving West Midlands with something of a mountain to climb.
The first ladies ‘A’ game saw Derbyshire’s Jane Densley hand out a 3-1 defeat to Sarah Thornbury, but that situation was quickly transformed as West Midlands chalked up a hat trick of wins. Gemma Barrett began the run with her 3-0 success against Joanne Oldershaw, Gemma was followed by Katharine Jenksins, who beat Dawn Buckley 3-1 and completing the trio was Jackie Crew, who not only won 3-1 in her game against Tracey Johnson but earned herself the match award with her 18.21average.
At 3-1 up West Midlands ladies looked all set to record their first and only victory of the season, alas it was not to be, Jackie Sweet won 3-0 against Diane Tolley and putting the final score all level at 3-3 was Stephanie Allerton, who had a 3-1 win over Lisa Astbury.
Trailing overall by 15-9 the men’s ‘A’ now required a 9-3 win to share the points and after the opening three games that was looking extremely doubtful. For the home side there were wins from Keith Cooper, Frank Davis and John Grace against respective opponents Peter Wyse, Nick Fullwell and Mark Rollinson. Michael Baker broke the ice for the West Midlands, a 4-1 win against Ian Hannah after Hannah had won the first leg. Dean Stewart added his 4-2 win over Melvyn Hopkins to the visitors tally, but the thought of even sharing the points was put beyond reach when Richard Rawding got the better of Doug Thompson with a 4-1 scoreline.
The away side then strung together three consecutive wins, John Roberts kicking it off with his 4-2 success against David Smith-Hayes. Roberts was followed by Jamie Hughes, who took on Nigel Daniels. The game included three ton plus finishes, Daniels checking out the third leg on156 and Hughes having a 102 finish in the second and a 106 game shot in the fourth, the more important 4-3 win went to Hughes to take the score along to 4-4. Then for the first time in the game the West Midlands got their noses in front, Neil Pointon recording a straight 4-0 win against Adrian Asprey. It took a man of the match performance from Gary Fenn to square the match, Gary beating Danny Coyle 4-3, highlights of the game were when Coyle checked out on 106 to make the score 3-3 and Fenn win the fourth leg in twelve darts with scores of 140, 100, 140 and a 121 finish.
Derbyshire’s lead was short lived as Andy Forrester got the better of Steve Pashley with a 4-1 result to leave the outcome resting on the final game between Matthew Padgett and Ian Jones (West Midlands). The home player had no chance in the opening two legs as Jones chalked up winning legs of 14 and 15 darts hitting top scores of 180, 2×140, 121 and 2×100 in the two legs.
Padgett reduced the deficit in the third only to see Jones bounce back with another 14 darts leg including another maximum. The fifth leg was another cracker Padgett hitting 134, 58, 100 and 139 to leave 70 after twelve darts. Jones meanwhile had scores of 140, 100, 140 and 93 to leave himself on double fourteen, a double he didn’t get a throw at as the Derby man wrapped up the leg in 15 darts with a 70 finish.
Padgett, apart from a 140 failed to find the big scores in the sixth leg, while Jones after 15 darts required 60, which he neatly disposed of to clinch a 4-2 win, a 7-5 win for his team plus a man of the match award for his tremendous 31.57 average.
Unfortunately for the West Midlands the men’s ‘A’ win was not enough to avoid an overall 20-16 defeat, which gave them a total points of 158 and saw them drop to the foot of the table. Derbyshire’s win lifted them off the bottom spot but not high enough to avoid relegation as they wound up their season with 160 points, the same amount as Staffordshire, whose draw with Hampshire saved them from the drop.
So it’s division two for both West Midlands and Derbyshire next season, let’s hope we see a quick return to division one for both teams.