Shropshire
Shropshire’s woe continues in division four of the BDO Inter County Championships as in their latest home game against high riding Wiltshire they suffered their heaviest defeat of the season going down 25-11.
In Saturday’s games the ladies ‘B’ had already lost the game before they claimed their one and only winner. Kirsty Jenks (Shropshire) lost the opener 3-0 to Tina Rowlands and then with 3-2 results Kayleigh Woolf and Linzi Holton in turn defeated Sophie Fawcett and Cally Jones to open up a 3-0 lead for the visitors.
Chalking up the all important fourth win for Wiltshire was Sue Lane with a 3-1 success against Pam Evans before April Polden made it 5-0 with her 3-0 win against Sue Lane.
Sharon Harrris was Shropshire’s only shining light on the day as she won the final game against Stacey Day 3-0 and being the only winner took the match award with her 15.66 average.
The men’s ‘B’ began with the first two games going to the away team as Josh McCarthy beat Robert Harris 3-0 and Nick Budgen won 3-1 against Martin Riggs.
Wiltshire’s lead was short lived as Trevor Smith won in straight legs against Kevin Barefoot and levelling the score at 2-2 was Nathan Storar with his close 3-2 win over Mark Motti. Shropshire’s revival was then halted as the away team, thanks to Nick Lewis, Dion Newman and Steve Lane rattled off another three wins at the expense of John Cooper, Rob Henderson and Dan Boot to put Wiltshire 5-2 up.
At number eight for Shropshire was Neil Powell who reduced the arrears to 5-3 with a 3-1 win over John Smithers but the visitors moved into an unassailable 6-3 lead when Scott Lee beat Peter Eley 3-0. Keeping the home side in the game was Matt Williams who despite being taken to a fifth and deciding leg by Richard Ettwell won the tie 3-2 and also the match award for his 26.42 average.
Unfortunately for the hosts that was to be their last stripe on the board as Matt Harris won 3-0 against Tim Eley and Martin Williams rounded off an 8-4 win for Wiltshire with his 3-1 success against Sean Flynn.
Sunday’s ‘A’ matches got off to better starts as the ladies began with a 3-2 win from Kat McLean over Julie Newman and followed that with a superb effort from Marie Riggs who won 3-0 against Debbie Hughes and took the team’s match award with a tremendous 23.48 average Shropshire ladies second best average in 25 years, the best coming from Katie Bellerby in the season of 2011/2012 when she recorded a 24.24 average against Merseyside.
After the fantastic performance from Marie Wiltshire reduced the deficit when Jaine Telling beat Sophie Fawcett 3-2 but a 3-0 win by Stephanie Clarke against Jo Hooke ensured the home team of at the worst a share of the points, and that was exactly what they got as the final score was taken to 3-3 when Tasha Barton won 3-1 against Julie Griffiths and Shirley Castle salvaged a draw for the away team with a final 3-0 win over Michel Pritchard.
The men’s ‘A’ got off to a good start when man of the match Danny James (27.20) opened up their account with a 4-1 win against Tony Moulden but the home team were made to wait until the final game of the first half before chalking up their next winner as Luke Yates beat Simon Pritchard 4-1, James Clifton beat Derek Coulson 4-2 then Gary Court and Dave Wicks had 3-0 wins in turn against Matt Williams and Andre Knox before Richard Parker added his straight 4-0 win over Ewan Hopkins to Shropshire’s tally.
The second half began with another run of four wins for the away side Scott Millin, Ryan Finess, Tony Clarke and Lee Evans in turn defeating Brian Hickman 4-2, Clive Lucking 4-3, Neville Quinton 4-1 and Scott Meyrick 4-0.
The penultimate game went to the hosts, Kevin Harris winning 4-1 against Sean Lippett before Paul Boulton took the final score to 9-3 to Wiltshire with a 4-1 win against Andi Chatter.
The overall result was 25-11 to Wiltshire which sees Shropshire once again drop into the bottom two with 83 points, just one adrift of Pembrokeshire who are just above them but 23 to the good on Isle of Wight who are bottom of the table.
Full Results:Shropshire v Wiltshire (11-25)🙁Shropshire names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Danny James 4 Tony Mouldon 1, Simon Pritchard 1 Luke Yates 4, Derek Coulson 2 James Clifton 4, Matt Williams 0 Gary Court 4, Andre Knox 0 Dave Wicks 4, Richard Parker 4 Ewan Hopkins 0, Brian Hickman 2 Scott Millin 4, Clive Lucking 3 Ryan Finess 4, Neville Quinton 1 Tony Clarke 4, Scott Meyrick 0 Lee Evans 4, Kevin Harris 4 Sean Lippett 1, Andi Chatter 1 Paul Boulton 4, Men’s ‘B’:- Robert Harris 0 Josh McCarthy 3, Martin Riggs 1 Nick Budgen 3, Trevor Smith 3 Kevin Barefoot 1, Nathan Storar 3 Mark Motti 2, John Cooper 0 Nick Lewis 3, Rob Henderson 1 Dion Newman 3, Dan Boot 0 Steve Lane 3, Neil Powell 3 John Smithers 1, Peter Eley 0 Scott Lee 3, Matt Williams 3 Richard Ettwell 2, Tim Eley 0 Matt Harris 3, Sean Flynn 1 Martin Williams 3, Women’s ‘A’:- Kat McLean 3 Julie Newman 2, Marie Riggs 3 Debbie Hughes 0, Sophie Fawcett 2 Jaine Telling 3, Stephanie Clarke 3 Jo Hooke 0, Julie Griffiths 1 Tasha Barton 3, Michele Pritchard 0 Shirley Castle 3, Women’s ‘B’:- Kirsty Jenks 0 Tina Rowlands 3, Sophie Fawcett 2 Kayleigh Woolf 3, Cally Jones 2 Linzi Holton 3, Pam Evans 1 Sue Lane 3, Sue Lane 0 April Polden 3, Sharon Harris 3 Stacey Day 0.
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An away game against Breconshire was next on the fixture card for Shropshire and with games fast running out and with only one win in their previous six games a win would not be unwelcome, however for Saturday’s ladies they were not going to get their second win of the campaign despite some encouraging play in the opening games as after the first four encounters the honours were shared. Sharon Harris gave Shropshire the early lead as she won 4-2 against Jane Smith after Smith had taken a 2-1 lead, Janthia Layton squared the game with her 3-1 win over Caron Minton. Becky Harris was another player to go 2-1 down and fight back for a 3-2 win as she beat her opponent Dawn Brandon to take the match award for her 14.82 average.
For a second time Breconshire levelled the game this time thanks to Donna Hilton who won 3-1 against Debbie Davies after Davies had won the opening leg and then for the first time in the game the home team took the lead, again it was the Shropshire player, this time Cal Jones who won the first and then the Breconshire player Louisa Fox who won the next three. The hosts chalked up the match wining fourth game in style as their Sue Price beat Carla Crook 3-0 to register not only a final 4-2 win for her team but the match award for herself for her 15.49 average.
The men’s ‘B’ team have had one win in the season so far and getting them off to a flyer was John Cooper with straight 3-0 win over Ian Evans. After checking out on 100 in the first leg Cooper recorded a 14 darts leg before sealing his win in the third in 20 darts to give him a man of the match award winning average of 26.37. Matt Williams won the first against namesake Dave Williams but then lost the next two, nevertheless he rallied and went on to win the last two legs and the game 3-2 to double Shropshire’s lead.
Robert Harris went one up against Stephen Hales but it was Hales who got the 3-1 verdict, however this appeared to be just a minor setback as Peter Eley and Sean Flynn both handed out 3-0 defeats to their respective counterparts Andrew Kerry and Richard Langlois to put the away side 4-1 up.
To round off the first half Shaun Davies pulled on back for the Welsh side when he beat Trevor Smith 3-2 after Smith had opened up leads of 1-0 and 2-1.
The second half began as promising as the first when Ron Henderson opened up with a 3-0 win against Derek Howells and was followed by two 3-2 wins from Neil Powell and Tim Eley in turn against Ray Procope and Richie Williams to give Shropshire a match wining lead of 7-2.
Nathan Storar with a 3-1 win over Dave Tinsley took the score to 8-2 before Leigh White (Breconshire) won the penultimate game against Dan Boot 3-2 after Boot had gone 2- 1 up. The game finished with another win for the home team as Wayne Dowding came from 2-0 down to Martin Riggs to win 3-2 and put the final score at 8-4 to Shropshire.
Despite having just two wins under their belts this season the ladies ‘A’ haven’t lost in their last three games and they certainly showed their confidence as they stormed to a 3-0 lead. Stephanie Clarke got the ball rolling with her 3-1 win over Sharon Hill, Stephanie was followed by lady of the match for a fantastic fourth consecutive time Marie Riggs who made short work of her counterpart Joy Toghill with a straight 3-0 win and a terrific 21.78 average. Taking the score along to 3-0 was Kat McLean who was twice pegged back to level terms by Kaye Hales before winning 3-2.
Game number four saw the hosts record their first win when Carol Bufton beat Julie Griffiths 3-0. Sophie Fawcett looked as though she had her game and the result all sorted for Shropshire when she went two up against Helen Thomas-Evans but it was the home player who won the next three legs to win 3-2.
In the final game Natalie Evans (Breconshire) hit top form winning her team’s award with a 17.28 average, beating Michele Pritchard 3-0 and securing a share of the spoils in what turned out to be a 3-3 draw.
Breconshire were first off the mark in the men’s ‘A’ game as their Christopher Austin- Hill won 4-2 against Andi Chatter after Chatter had opened up 1-0 and 2-1 leads. Dave Randall made it 2-0 when he won 4-3 against Richard Parker and although Neville Quinton (Shropshire) stemmed the tide when he beat Ewan Jones 4-3 it was the hosts who then opened up a 4-1 lead when Mike Rowlands won 4-3 against Danny James and Steve Perry had a straight 4-0 win over Clive Lucking.
To go into the midway point of the match Brian Hickman pulled one back for Shropshire with his 4-1 win over Jason Williams after Williams had won the first leg.
Scott Meyrick was unable to press home his 1-0 lead over Richie Boucher as Boucher went on to win the tie 4-2 and then in game number eight Breconshire produced their man of the match in the form of Mark Layton. Layton won the first leg against Simon Pritchard in 19 darts and against the throw Pritchard had narrowly missed out on taking the leg after hitting 119 to leave him on 15. The second leg saw Layton hit 180 and 140 to Pritchard’s 137 and 134 to once again leave him on a finish, this time 68 as his opponent checked out on 80. With a further leg of 18 darts Layton then rounded off his 4-0 win in 12 darts to put his team 6-2 up.
Derek Coulson put up a brave fight against Liam Addison to come from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 but the Shropshire man lost out in the last two legs and went down 4-3 to confirm the home team as winners with the score at 7-2.
With the game now lost Kevin Harris stepped up for Shropshire and although he lost the fourth leg to Martin Ashton after going 3-0 up he sealed a 4-1 win and the man of the match award with a 24.13 average and winning legs of 17,24,21 and 20 darts.
Kevin Holvey’s 4-2 win against Paul Bromley took the score along to 8-3 and with a final 4-0 win for Ben Watkins against Andre Knox Breconshire men’s ‘A’ won 9-3, incredibly yet another 9-3 result for Shropshire’s men’s ‘A’ making it six in seven games and only one in their favour.#
The overall result for the weekend was 20-16 to Breconshire leaving Shropshire next to bottom of the table on 99 points, 18 more than bottom team Isle of Wight who they play next and the same number as Pembrokeshire who are just above them.
Full Results:Breconshire v Shropshire (20-16)🙁Breconshire names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Christopher Austin-Hill 4 Andi Charrer 2, Dave Randall 4 Richard Parker 3, Ewan Jones 3 Neville Quinton 4, Mike Rowlands 4 Danny James 3, Steve Perry 4 Clive Lucking 0, Jason Williams 1 Brian Hickman 4, Richie Boucher 4 Scott Meyrick 2, Mark Layton 4 Simon Pritchard 0, Liam Addison 4 Derek Coulson 3, Martin Ashton 1 Kevin Harris 4, Kevin Holvey 4 Paul Bromley 2, Ben Watkins 4 Andre Knox 0, Men’s ‘B’:- Ian Evans 0 John Cooper 3, Dave Williams 2 Matt Williams 3, Stephen Hales 3 Robert Harris 1, Andrew Kerry 0 Peter Eley 3, Richard Langlois 0 Sean Flynn 3, Shaun Davies 3 Trevor Smith 2, Derek Howells 0 Rob Henderson 3, Ray Procope 2 Neil Powell 3, Richie Williams 2 Tim Eley 3, Dave Tinsley 1 Nathan Storar 3, Leigh White 3 Dan Boot 2, Wayne Dowding 3 Martin Riggs 2, Women’s ‘A’:- Sharon Hill 1 Stephanie Clarke 3, Joy Toghill 0 Marie Riggs 3, Kaye Hales 2 Kat McLean 3, Carol Bufton 3 Julie Griffiths 0, Helen Thomas-Evans 3 Sophie Fawcett 2, Natalie Evans 3 Michele Pritchard 0, Women’s ‘B’:- Jane Smith 2 Sharon Harris 3, Janthia Layton 3 Caron Minton 1, Dawn Brandon 2 Becky Harris 3, Donna Milton 3 Debbie Davies 1, Louisa Fox 3 Cal Jones 1, Sue Price 3 Carla Crook 0.
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