Norfolk v Shropshire
Shropshire’s start to the new season in division four of the BDO Inter County Championships was a tough away game against Norfolk who were relegated from division three last season.
The fixture got underway and first blood in the ladies ‘B’ game went to the hosts as Sandra Page won 3-1 against Caroline Jones. The visitors were quick to respond as Lynne Watton turned on a lady of the match performance in a five legs affair with Jan Butters, Lynne going on to win 3-2 and average 14.72. The following two games also went the full distance with Jane Dearing beating Tyler Crook and Susan Brittain winning against sixteen year old Grace Angell, this being Angell’s first defeat in six outings.
Sophie Fawcett managed to reduce the arrears in the fifth when she won against Linda Varnon again the margin was 3-2 the win leaving the door open for Shropshire to snatch a 3-3 draw. Unfortunately the draw was not to be as Clair Broom (Norfolk) handed out a 3-0 defeat to Kirsty Jenks to give the home team a 4-2 win.
The men’s ‘B’ shared the first two games as Norfolk’s Glenn West won the first 3-1 against Robert Thompson and Nathan Storar levelled for the visitors when he beat Peter Taylor by the same 3-1 scoreline.
The hosts then forged a 3-1 lead with Kevin Walpole winning 3-0 against Royston Minton and Mark Easter getting the better of Tim Eley with a 3-1 result.
Shropshire’s second winner came in the fifth when Scott Meyrick beat Adrian Siddle 3-1 but with a further 3-0 win by Paul Daniels over Matthew Roberts Norfolk were 4-2 up by the halfway mark.
The first game of the second half saw another win for the visitors when Trevor Smith got the verdict against Terence Stanmore in a five legs affair but with a 3-0 win by Christopher Earll over Robert Trumper followed by a 3-2 win for Daniel Spence against Dan Boot Norfolk with a 6-3 lead required just one more winner to seal their victory.
Shropshire’s man of the match came in game ten Paul Bromley winning 3-1 against William Walpole and chalking up a 27.29 average to keep his team’s faint hopes of a draw still alive.
The penultimate game saw Shropshire’s Simon Pritchard put on a spirited performance against Adam White taking him to a fifth and deciding leg before losing out 3-2, the home side then effectively having won the tie.
Brian Matthews was Shropshire’s fifth winner when in the final game of the day he beat David Dearing in three straight legs to put the final score at 7-5 to Norfolk.
It was not a good start or weekend for the ladies ‘A’ as they were handed a 6-0 whitewash, the opening two games saw Stephanie Mudd and Dawn Standley win 3-0 against respective opponents Debbie Davies and Julie Griffiths, Kerry Jobson added her 3-1 success over Michele Pritchard to the home team’s tally before their last three players Mandy Gray, Nikki Goldsmith and Marie Stopher all won very close 3-2 games in turn against Marie Riggs, Sue Lane and Kat McLean.
David Wallace began a run of five wins for Norfolk men’s ‘A’ team when he beat Neil Christopher-Powell 4-0. Robert Ellis and Vinny Mudd added their 4-1 wins over respective counterparts Ian Pallett and John Cooper before Wayne Wall made it 4-0 when he won a tight 4-3 battle with Matt Williams. Another 4-1 result in favour of Norfolk came from Kevin Rudling when he defeated Neville Quinton to take the score to 5-0 before Danny James opened Shropshire’s account with his 4-3 victory over Jason Mold, the Shropshire man earning himself the match award with his 25.82 average.
It was as early as game seven that the hosts were assured of at the worst a draw as Darren Goldsmith beat Brian Hickman 4-0 to move the running total along to 6-1. The following encounter was another close seven legs affair with Martin Riggs adding another stripe to the away team’s tally when he won 4-3 against Hamish Varnon, but the win for Norfolk came in the very next game when their Donald Former fought off the challenge of Andre Knox to win 4-2 and put the result beyond Shropshire’s reach at 7-2.
The next two games could easily have gone either way as Norfolk’s Richard Waller and Charles Wilson recorded 4-3 wins over Richard Parker and Andrew Chatter and with a final 4-2 win for Derek Coulson (Shropshire) over Trevor Pearce the final result was 9-3 to the home team and an overall 26-10 win for the weekend.
It was always going to be a tough game for Shropshire against what basically was a third division team but there are and will be easier games to come and if determination can win games Shropshire will win more than they lose.
———————————