2014-04-01

West Midlands trip south to Kesgrave to take on Suffolk at the local social club saw them end a run of two defeats, however the 19-17 result in their favour, with only three fixtures remaining may not be enough to earn them promotion back to division one this season. With 119 points, west Midlands are 26 off top team Cleveland, who incidentally they take on in their last game of the season. Second placed Derbyshire are 16 points to the good, but they have a tough run in with away games against Berkshire and Cleveland then a final home match against Northamptonshire, whereas West Midlands will take on Northamptonshire and Cleveland at home and Wiltshire away, should be a very interesting last three games for the top six teams, who are all in with a chance of promotion.
West Midland ladies ‘B’ side, after winning the opening two games of the season had a draw then two defeats and needed to get back to winning ways. The game did not get off to the best start as Nicky Bradley and Leesa Woollard in turn defeated Claire Hobbs and Shellbie Simmons to give the home side a 2-0 lead.
Jacqueline Maiden (West Midlands) came back from 1-0 down to Jan Turner to lead 2-1 and despite being taken to a deciding leg went on to win 3-2, her 15.89average earning her the lady of the match award. The match was then levelled as Kim Fellows made short work of Mandy Reeves beating her 3-0.
The home team took the lead again when Samantha Watson won 3-0 against Lisa Maiden and although Gemma Barrett (West Midlands) clawed her way back to 2-2 after trailing 2-0 to Barbara Chenery, she eventually lost 3-2 and Suffolk won the game 4-2.
The men’s ‘B’ with one win and two draws from their previous five games were not enjoying the best of seasons, but against Suffolk they got off to a great start. Joe Taylor got the proceedings underway with a 3-1 win over Daren Wood. Paul Price had a bit of a topsy-turvy game when he two the first leg against Marc Patrick, then lost the next two, and went on to win the following two for a fine 3-2 victory. Gary Watts took the score along to 3-0 when he beat Phil Reeve 3-1 before the hosts chalked up their first winner. Providing that win was Tony Lincoln. The opening leg could have gone either way but it was Lincoln who won it. His opponent Mark Craddock, with a 110 outshot squared the game, only to see Lincoln win the next two to win 3-1.
The hosts cheers were short lived as Peter Wyse beat Kim Buckingham 3-1 before West Midlands man of the match Sean Carroll took the stage. Carroll lost the opener in 15 darts to Kevin Harris, but he was quick to respond as he won the second and third legs in 20 darts. He then rounded off a superb win with a 14 darts leg hitting scores of 140, 140, 41 and 140, then checking on 40 with his second dart.
From 5-1 up the score was taken to 6-1 up thanks to Robert Thompson, who won the first against Martin Totman, lost the next two and won the last two for a 3-2 win.
The home side then had their best run of the match John Attwater beat Mark Watkiss Allen 3-1 and Andrew Gilding won by the same margin against Jordan Singh to take the score to 6-3 in the visitors favour and keeping the hosts faint hopes of getting something out of the match alive.
The hopes were quickly dashed as Avtar Singh made short work of his opponent Jason Elvin, beating him 3-0 and wrapping up a terrific 9-3 win were Karl Hughes and John Mycock, who in turn had 3-2 and 3-1 win against Ian Randles and Jamie Collins.
Heather Wright was first on for the ladies ‘A’ team and gave them the ideal start a 3-0 straight win over Rossy Scriven. The feat was repeated by Suffolk’s Jean Prewitt in her game with Diane Tolley to level the score. West Midlands went ahead again in the third game when Jackie Crew produced a 109 game shot in the second leg to level against Laura Cooper and then went on to win 3-1.
Kath Jenkins went within an ace of adding to that running tally when she opened up a 2-1 lead over Sue Thompson, only to fail on her finishing doubles in the following to legs and see Thompson go on to win 3-2.
The penultimate game saw the home team take the lead for the first time in the match, Joanne Locke beating Lisa Astbury 3-2 in a game that could easily have gone either way.
West Midlands could not have hoped for anyone else other than this season’s star player Sarah Roberts to be on in the crucial number six spot, the result hinging on the outcome and West Midlands hopes of earning a share of the points dependant on her winning.
With five consecutive lady of the match awards this season Sarah found herself one down against Nicky Doidge, after three visits to the oche throwing for a finishing double and missing. She bounced back with an 85 outshot to get back on level terms, only to see Doidge go ahead again in the third. With 2×140 and 100 Sarah then won the last two legs to clinch a 3-2 victory and earn yet another lady of the match award with her 20.31 average and in the process give her team a share of the points in a 3-3 draw.
The men’s ‘A’ side was a little depleted as three of their players, Matt Dicken, Nick Fullwell and Mark Jones were all be involved in PDC games and so the task was going to be a tough one.
The first half of the match saw all six games go with the first throw advantage, man of the match from the previous day Sean Carroll once again recording a win as he accounted for Richard Watson with a straight 4-0 victory. Nick Bloom was Suffolk’s equaliser, a 4-1 win against John Platt. Andrew Noy looked all set to put the home team in from when he opened up a 2-0 lead against Richard Platt and then went 3-1 up. However, Platt stood his ground and stuck to the task going on to win the tie 4-3.
Then came two straight 4-0 wins, Wayne Hammond (Suffolk) beat Avtar Singh and Mark Rollinson (West Midlands) beat Dean Barker to take the running score to 3-2 to West Midlands.
David Ballard-Flatt was Suffolk’s third winner, a 4-1 result against Robert Thompson and then for the first time in the game the home team got their noses in front as Stephen Burton, with another 4-1 scoreline took out Michael Baker.
Ian Stanton restored parity for West Midlands when he won 4-3 against Andrew Meikle, Ian having to come back from 3-2 down.
Suffolk’s man of the match Dan Tatum (30.83) had a clear 4-0 win against Neil Pointon and with a 4-1 win from Lee Newson against Glen Cullen the West Midlands were now trailing 6-4 with only two to play.
As he has many, many times before Ian Jones kept the away side in the match. Another vintage man of the match performance from the long serving player in which he beat Duane Nessling 4-0 with winning legs of 15, 16, 18 and 16 darts in with top scores of 180,140,137,135,130,125,123 and 2×100 for a superb 30.83 average.
The last to players on the oche were, for Suffolk Jason Mold and West Midlands Danny Coyle. Coyle had the better start taking the first two legs in 21 and 20 darts and looked all set to win his side a share of the spoils. However, Mold then struck back with legs of 20,20 and 15 darts to go 3-2 up. Danny Coyle won the sixth leg to force a a seventh and deciding leg, but with scores of 85,140,100 and 100 Mold won the leg with a 76 outshot in 15 darts giving his team a hard fought 7-5 victory.
Nevertheless it was a good weekend for the West Midlands as the overall tally was 19-17 in their favour.
Full Results:(Suffolk names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Richard Watson 0 Sean Carroll 4, Nick Bloom 4 John Platt 1, Andrew Noy 3 Richard Platt 4, Wayne Hammond 4 Avtar Singh 0, Dean Barker 0 Mark Rollinson 4, David Ballard-Flatt 4 Robert Thompson 1, Stephen Burton 4 Michael Baker 1, Andrew Meikle 3 Ian Stanton 4, Dan Tatum 4 Neil Pointon 0, Lee Newson 4 Glen Cullen 1, Duane Nessling 0 Ian Jones 4, Jason Mold 4 Danny Coyle 3, Men’s ‘B’:- Daren Wood 1 Joe Taylor 3, Marc Patrick 2 Paul Price 3, Phil Reeve 1 Gary Watts 3, Tony Lincoln 3 Mark Craddock 1, Kim Buckingham 1 Peter Wyse 3, Kevin Harris 1 Sean Carroll 3, Martin Totman 2 Robert Thompson 3, John Attwater 3 Mark Watkiss Allen 1, Andrew Gilding 3 Jordan Singh 1, Jason Elvin 0 Avtar Singh 3, Ian Randles 2 Karl Hughes 3, Jamie Collins 1 John Mycock 3, Women’s ‘A’:- Rossy Scriven 0 Heather Wright 3, Jean Prewitt 3 Diane Tolley 0, Laura Cooper 1 Jackie Crew 3, Sue Thompson 3 Kath Jenkins 2, Joanne Locke 3 Lisa Astbury 2, Nicky Doidge 2 Sarah Roberts 3, Women’s ‘B’:- Nicky Bradley 3 Claire Hobbs 0, Leesa Woollard 3 Shellbie Simmons 1, Jan Turner 2 Jacqueline Maiden 3, Mandy Reeves 0 Kim Fellows 3, Samantha Watson 3 Lisa Maiden 0, Barbara Chenery 3 Gemma Barrett 2.