Norfolk v Derbyshire
Things are just not getting any better for Derbyshire in division three of the BDO Inter County Championships. After losing their opening game of the season at home against Merseyside 22-14 they then had to travel to take on Norfolk and the weekend did not have a good start as the ladies ‘B’ side suddenly found themselves trailing 3-0. Jan Butters was first on for the home team and after going 1-0 up with a 116 game shot found herself trailing 2-1 to Dee Fenn. However Butters got her second wind and with wins in the final two legs including a 108 checkout in the decider won the tie 3-2. Dawn Standley and Claire Broom in turn had 3-1 wins over Emily Jones and Dawn Buckley to guarantee their team at the worst a share of the points.
Derbyshire’s first winner came in game four when Sara-Jane Harrison came from 1-0 down to lead Amanda Moore 2-1 and although she was then taken to a fifth and final leg, with a 102 finish she won the tie 3-2. Samantha Marshal brought Derbyshire back into the game when she handed out a straight 3-0 defeat to Sandra Page and at the same time won herself the team’s match award for her 20.31 average.
With the game delicately poised at 3-2 to Norfolk everything depended on the final encounter between Susan Brittain (Norfolk) and Samantha Wood. Brittain won the first two legs, Wood won the third but with a win in the fourth Brittain gor the 3-1 verdict and gave her team a 4-2 victory.
With three wins last season Derbyshire’s men’s ‘B’ side were the best performers for the county and they began their game with three opening wins. Henry Coates started the trio of wins when he opened the visitors account with a straight 3-0 success over William Walpole. Following Coates was Andrew Baker who beat another Andrew, Andrew Botwright 3-1 and taking the score to 3-0 was Timothy Rippon who had a 3-2 win over Brad Burnett.
The next six games all went with the first throw advantage, Adrian Siddle recording Norfolk’s first win when he beat Paul Williams 3-1 only to see the away team’s three game lead restored by Stephen Paling who not only beat Kevin Walpole 3-0 but also won the man of the match award for his 26.84 average from his legs of 20,15 and 21 darts.
David Dearing reduced the arrears to 4-2 at the break when he won 3-2 against Benjamin Holmes who had twice gone in front.
With the results still going with the darts Ian Allcock made it 5-2 to Derbyshire when he defeated Glenn West 3-2. Once again Norfolk came back, this time it was Jonathan Sharp who kept their hopes alive when he won 3-0 against Ian Scobbie and with a similar 3-0 win for Derbyshire’s Andrew Gillott over Donny Forder the visiting team were then within an ace of victory with the score standing at 6-3..
Danny Sullivan (Derbyshire) broke the sequence in the tenth when he won 3-2 against Julian Ray. Sullivan had to twice come from behind to earn his victory but it was a vital win as at that point Derbyshire with a 7-3 lead had won the game.
The last two games of the day both went in Norfolk’s favour with Ian King beating Scott McCabe 3-0 and Peter Taylor winning 3-2 against Keith Cooper to give the away side a final 7-5 victory and taking the overall score to 9-9.
Surprisingly the first five games in the ladies ‘A’ match all went against the first throw advantage. Stephanie Mudd gave Norfolk the early lead when she beat Lauren Jackson 3-2, Jackson levelling in the fourth after trailing 2-0. Rebecca Hoyland was Derbyshire’s first “leveller” as she came from 2-0 down to beat Marie Stopher 3-2.
Norfolk went ahead again in the third when Nikki Goldsmith won 3-1 against Jennifer McCormick only to see the score levelled at 2-2 when Rachel Ayres laid on a lady of the match performance against Roz Bulmer. Ayres was made to fight all the way for her victory as Bulmer went 1-0 and then 2-1 up, but with wins in the last two legs which Ayres checked out in 23 and 17 darts she gained her 3-2 win and averaged 20.38.
Putting the hosts within a whisker of victory was Mandy Gray, a 3-0 win over Terri Bellamy and although Kerry Jobson lost the first leg to Louis Rawson in the final game she went on to win 3-1 and give Norfolk ladies ‘A’ team a 4-2 victory.
The men’s ‘A’ team have not recorded a win since the weekend of the 23rd and 24th April 2016 when they won 8-4 away to Surrey in division one and didn’t look like winning again when by the halfway mark of this latest game they trailed 5-1.
Jason Mold, Oliver King and Christopher Earll with wins over Ian Clarke, Peter Burgoyne and Richard Hanson gave the home side a 3-0 lead and despite a 3-1 win from Derbyshire’s Seam Lambert over Vinny Mudd Norfolk then added wins from Wayne Wall and Charlie Wilson at the expense of Ryan Hassell and Nigel Daniels to go into the break 5-1 up.
The deficit was reduced to 5-2 when Rob Hawker kicked off the second half with a man of the match performance against Jason Lovett, the Derbyshire man winning 4-0 in 21,19 and19 darts then rounding off his win with a tremendous thirteen darts leg hitting 140,100,140, 85 and checking out on double eighteen for a 27.83 average.
Unfortunately the comeback once again was short lived as Darren Goldsmith took the home side to within one game of victory when he beat Richard Hughes 4-0
Lee Stanley (Derbyshire) put Norfolk’s celebrations on hold when in game number nine, after going 1-0 down to Trevor Pearse fought back and went on to win 4-1. However the inevitable happened in the tenth when Norfolk’s Robbie Ellis won 4-1 against Brian Snell to chalk up the vital seventh and winning game with the score now at 7-3.
With the game now lost Derbyshire had their best run of the match two consecutive wins from Gary Fenn and Paul Baker who in turn won 4-1 against Hamish Varnon and 4-2 against Dave Wallace to put the final score at 7-5 to Norfolk giving them an overall victory of 20-16.
Full Results:Norfolk v Derbyshire (20-16)🙁Norfolk names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Jason Mold 4 Ian Clarke 1, Oliver King 4 Peter Burgoyne 2, Christopher Earll 4 Richard Hanson 2, Vinny Mudd 1 Sean Lambert 4, Wayne Wall 4 Ryan Hassell 1, Charlie Wilson 4 Nigel Daniels 3, Jason Lovett 0 Rob Hawker 4, Darren Goldsmith 4 Richard Hughes 0, Trevor Pearse 1 Lee Stanley 4, Robbie Ellis 4 Brian Snell 1, Hamish Varnon 1 Gary Fenn 4, Dave Wallace 2 Paul Baker 4, Men’s ‘B’:- William Walpole 0 Henry Coates 3, Andrew Botwright 1 Andrew Baker 3, Brad Burnett 2 Timothy Rippon 3, Adrian Siddle 3 Paul Williams 1, Kevin Walpole 0 Steven Paling 3, David Dearing 3 Benjamin Holmes 2, Glenn West 2 Ian Allcock 3, Jonathan Sharp 3 Ian Scobbie 0, Donny Forder 0 Andrew Gillott 3, Julian Ray 2 Darren Sullivan 3, Ian King 3 Scott McCabe 0, Peter Taylor 3 Keith Cooper 2, Women’s ‘A’:- Stephanie Mudd 3 Lauren Jackson 2, Marie Stopher 2 Rebecca Hoyland 3, Nikki Goldsmith 3 Jennifer McCormick 1, Roz Bulmer 2 Rachel Ayres 3, Mandy Gray 3 Terri Bellamy 0, Kerry Jobson 3 Louise Rawson 1, Women’s ‘B’:- Jan Butters 3 Dee Fenn 2, Dawn Standley 3 Emily Jones 1, Claire Broom 3 Dawn Buckley 1, Amanda Moore 2 Sara-Jane Harrison 3, Sandra Page 0 Samantha Marshall 3, Susan Brittain 3 Samantha Wood 1.
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Derbyshire’s third fixture and second home game of the season in division three of the BDO Inter County Championships was against Humberside, with the home side two places off the bottom and the away team two places off the top, without a win in the first two games it was never going to be an easy task for the hosts.
The ladies ‘B’ went one down when Sara-Jane Harrison lost 3-1 to Cheryl McCloughlin but they replied in superb style as lady of the match Samantha Marshall (17.68) with a straight 3-0 win over Dawn Williams began a run of three wins for the home team. Marshall was followed by Dee Fenn who despite losing the first leg to Rachel Harrison went on to win 3-1 and with a second 3-0 win supplied by Emily Jones over Valerie Skidmore Derbyshire were in an unbeatable 3-1 position.
The final game was the only one of the match to go the full five legs distance and although she twice had her lead cancelled out by Susan Balaban it was Lauren Jackson who got the 3-2 result to give the ‘B’ team a 4-2 win their first success of the season.
It was not such a bright start for the men’s ‘B’ game as Humberside opened up a 3-0 lead with wins from Shaun Rutter, Tommy Lishman and Andy Wheeler.
Andrew Gillott with a 3-1 scoreline accounted for Raymond Symington to reduce the arrears for Derbyshire only to see Gavin Lewis win 3-2 against Stephen Paling to restore the visitors three games buffer.
Richard Palmer (Derbyshire) lost the opener to Mark Howard but then went 2-1 up and despite being pegged back to 2-2 went on to win 3-2 and take the match award for his 25.80 average.
Game number seven once again went to Humberside, a 3-0 win from Matthew Green over Scott McCabe but their lead was reduced one more when Andrew Baker won a five legs affair against Lee Blakey, Baker going one up then 2-1 down before sealing his win.
With Derbyshire still in the chase although 5-3 down the match then turned into one way traffic as Richard Allen, Lee Parish, Rob Kerrison and Lee Smith in turn accounted for Henry Coates, Benjamin Holmes, Ian Scobbie and Darren Sullivan to give the away team a 9-3 victory.
The ladies ‘A’ team quickly found that after only the first three games a win was out of the question as they trailed 3-0 to wins from Wendy Dearing, Kim Fuller and Christine Readhead who in turn defeated Louise Rawson, Jenny McCormick and Samantha Marshall. However they then made a remarkable recovery as Rachel Ayres beat Karen Helmore 3-0, Jackie Sweet won 3-1 against Jessica Shakesby and in the final game Rebecca Hoyland salvaged a 3-3 draw with a lady of the match 3-1 win over Melanie Robinson, Rebecca recording a 17.79 average.
With only the men’s ‘A’ result to be added Humberside had a 14-10 lead and took that to 15-10 when David Ladley beat Tim Daniels 4-3 in the opener after Daniels had throws at a finishing double to win the game.
Although Derbyshire lost the first game that was going to be the only defeat for them in the first half as Paul Baker came from 2-0 and 3-2 down against Shaun Rutter to win 4-3 and then giving Derbyshire the lead for the first time Sean Lambert beat Trevor Holtby 4-1 in 22,15,20 and 17 darts to give him the match award for a 28.24 average.
Taking the score along to 3-1 was Richard Hanson who lost the first two legs to Joshua Lowthorpe and won the next four. Lee Stanley was another player who had to show true grit as he went 1-0 and 2-1 down to Neil Dobson then went on to win 4-2. Making it 5-1 to the hosts was Brian Snell who added his 4-3 win over Mike Atkinson to their tally. Snell won the first three legs lost the next three but won the vital seventh and deciding leg.
As the second half began Ian Clarke looked to be on his way to taking the advantage to 6-1 when he opened a 2-0 lead over Trevor Carlill only to see Carlill win the next four and beat him 4-2. Derbyshire did reach a milestone in the eighth when Ryan Hassell won 4-2 against Daryn Gray as they were then 6-2 up and couldn’t lose the game.
From there on in it was all change as the Humberside players made a clean sweep in the final four games, Reece Robinson kicked off the quartet of wins when he won 4-3 against Robert Hawker, Karl Corcoran added a 4-2 win over Gary Fenn and with the last two games of the weekend both going to seven legs there were 4-3 wins for both Craig Owens and Leon Bailey over Andrew Baker and Nigel Daniels to put the result all square at 6-6.
The overall result was 20-16 to Humberside to see them go one point clear at the top of the promotional table and leave Derbyshire where they began two places off the foot of the table.
Full Results:Derbyshire v Humberside (16-20)🙁Derbyshire names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Tim Daniels 3 David Ladley 4, Paul Baker 4 Shaun Rutter 3, Sean Lambert 4 Trevor Holtby 1, Richard Hanson 4 Joshua Lowthorpe 2, Lee Stanley 4 Neil Dobson 2, Brian Snell 4 Mike Atkinson 3, Ian Clarke 2 Trevor Carlill 4, Ryan Hassell 4 Daryn Gray 2, Robert Hawker 3 Reece Robinson 4, Gary Fenn 2 Karl Corcoran 4, Andrew Baker 3 Craig Owens 4, Nigel Daniels 3 Leon Bailey 4, Men’s ‘B’:- Paul Williams 0 Shaun Rutter 3, Ian Allcock 2 Tommy Lishman 3, Timothy Rippon 1 Andy Wheeler 3, Andrew Gillott 3 Raymond Symington 1, Stephen Paling 2 Gavin Lewis 3, Richard Palmer 3 Mark Howard 2, Scott McCabe 0 Matthew Green 3, Andrew Baker 3 Lee Blakey 2, Henry Coates 2 Richard Allen 3, Benjamin Holmes 1 Lee Parish 3, Ian Scobbie 0 Rob Kerrison 3, Darren Sullivan 1 Lee Smith 3, Women’s ‘A’:- Louise Rawson 1 Wendy Dearing 3, Jenny McCormick 2 Kim Fuller 3, Samantha Marshall 1 Christine Readhead 3, Rachel Ayres 3 Karen Helmore 0, Jackie Sweet 3 Jessica Shakesby 1, Rebecca Hoyland 3 Melanie Robinson 1, Women’s ’B’:- Sara-Jane Harrison 1 Cheryl McLoughlin 3, Samantha Marshall 3 Dawn Williams 0, Dee Fenn 3 Rachel Harrison 1, Emily Jones 3 Valerie Skidmore 0, Dawn Buckley 2 Susan Bilby 3, Lauren Jackson 3 Susan Balaban 2.
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