Cleveland v Derbyshire
Derbyshire’s final game of the season in division three of the BDO Inter County Championships was a tough away game against Cleveland who were still in the hunt for promotion, nevertheless it was Derbyshire who had the better start to the weekend.
The ladies ‘B’ were given the ideal start when Sara-Jane Harrison opened up with a 3-1 win over Shirley Witten after Witten had won the first leg. As in the first encounter the following four games all went with the first throw advantage as Zoe Holland cancelled out Derbyshire’s lead with a 3-0 win against Dee Fenn before Terri Bellamy put the away side in front once again when she beat Ginny Whittaker 3-0.
For a second time the score was levelled, this time it was Cleveland’s Karen Jones with a 3-1 success against Jennifer McCormick but for a third time it was Derbyshire who took the lead as Dawn Buckley made short work of Rachel Bulmer with a straight 3-0 win.
With a narrow lead of 3-2 the visiting team required a win in the final game to secure victory and that was exactly what Louise Rawson gave them as she accounted for Vanessa Dickinson with a 3-2 scoreline and in the process secured the lady of the match award for her 18.89 average, her third award of the season as she had previously won two for the ‘A’ team.
The final score 4-2 to Derbyshire.
The men’s ‘B’ team could not have wished for a better start as Benjamin Holmes won 3-1 against John Watson, Steve Thompson beat Mathew Kelly 3-2 after Kelly had squared the game in the fourth, Connor Hodgkinson had a 3-1 win against Scott Chatterton and with Scott McCabe coming from 1-0 and 2-1 down against Jonny Gardner to go on to win 3-2 Derbyshire were 4-0 up.
John Elliott (Derbyshire) twice cancelled out Steve Scaife’s lead but eventually went down 3-2 and by the halfway stage the away team’s lead had been reduced to 4-2 after Michael Evans beat Timothy Rippon 3-1 after Rippon had won the first leg.
The running score was taken to 4-3 in the seventh when Cleveland’s Stephen Wray won 3-0 against Paul Williams but a similar 3-0 result for Andrew Houghton over Sean Spayne opened up a 5-3 lead for Derbyshire.
Game number nine between David Bell (Cleveland) and Richard Hughes swayed one way then the other as Spayne won the first then Hughes took the following two. The fourth leg saw Bell draw level, then the decider which could easily have gone either way went to the home player with a winning double seven.
Derbyshire were guaranteed a share of the points in the tenth when man of the match Matt Faulkner beat Anthony Liddell 3-1. Faulkner went one up in 17 darts, lost the second in 21 and then wrapped up his win with two 18 darts legs to give him an award winning average of 26.59.
Andrew Kelly kept the hosts in the hunt for a draw when in the penultimate encounter he won 3-0 against Dean Allsopp. A draw looked to be on the cards when David Greedy went one up against Dan Ford in the final game of the day, however Ford was not discouraged and stuck to the task, he levelled in 18 darts and in 21 and 17 darts won the tie 3-1 and put the 7-5 result in Derbyshire’s favour.
The ladies ‘A’ team had recorded just one win from their previous eight games but were set on their way with a 3-2 success provided by the lady who had made a welcome return to Derbyshire this season Jane Densley.
With three consecutive match awards under her belt Jane had a 3-2 win over Ann Marie Potts who had made her fight all the way as she had cancelled out her lead twice before she won the deciding leg in 21 darts giving her a superb 24.49 average.
Sammi Marshall was on at number two she won the first leg against Amy Thomas but then trailed 2-1. The fourth leg saw Marshall draw level but then lose the decider.
From 1-0 up Derbyshire found themselves 2-1 down in the third when Claire Stainsby added her 3-0 win over Rachel Ayres to Cleveland’s tally but Derbyshire were not behind for long as Rebecca Hoyland, in a tough game against Mandy Stephens went 1-0 up then 2-1 down then went on to win 3-2.
The visitors lead was restored in the fifth when Rachel Bird won 3-0 against Tonlee Bowstead and the 4-2 win secured in the final game when Jackie Sweet beat Carla Boyes 3-1.
The men’s ‘A’ team had a first half they will not wish to remember as the home team raced into a 5-0 lead all begun by a 4-2 win from Peter Frewer over Michael Ryall.
David Hunter made it 2-0 with his 4-1 success over Matt Faulkner then Barry Davies won 4-2 against Ian Allcock after Allcock had gone 2-0 up. Mark Bosuuil made it 4-0 with his 4-1 win against David Fritchley and completing the opening five wins was Allan Edwards who had a 4-2 victory over Tim Daniels after Daniels had levelled in the fourth.
Luke Etherington looked determined to make it a clean sweep for the half when he took the lead no fewer than three times against Richard Hanson, but it was Hanson who stopped the Cleveland charge as he sealed a 4-3 win with 15 and 18 darts in the last two legs after he had already won in 17 and 14 darts in the second and fourth legs to give him a man of the match average of 28.78.
The second half began with more misery as Gary Stephens won 4-0 against Henry Coates before Derbyshire had their best run of the match two wins in a row supplied by Connor Hodgkinson and Sean Lambert who with 4-2 results in turn accounted for Sean Jowers and Ray Hutchinson.
With the score at 6-3 to Cleveland the remaining three games all went to the home team as Graham Palmer beat Dean Allsopp 4-1, Mark Muckian won 4-2 against Stephen Paling and rounding off the 9-3 win for Cleveland was Brian Henderson with his 4-0 win over Lee Stanley.
After a promising start to the campaign with three wins and a draw in the opening four games the season promotion slipped away from Derbyshire in the second half as they chalked up just one win in the last five games. They may have missed out on promotion but should be encouraged by their best set of results since the 2014-2015 season and should take that fact into next season which hopefully will be rewarded with promotion.
Full Results:Division Three:Cleveland v Derbyshire (18-18):Cleveland names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Peter Frewer 4 Michael Ryall 2, David Hunter 4 Matt Faulkner 1, Barry Davies 4 Ian Allcock 2, Mark Bosuttil 4 David Fritchley 1, Allan Edwards 4 Tim Daniels 2, Luke Etherington 3 Richard Hanson 4, Gary Stephens 4 Henry Coates 0, Sean Jowers 2 Connor Hodgkinson 4, Ray Hutchinson 2 Sean Lambert 4, Graham Palmer 4 Dean Allsopp 1, Mark Muckian 4 Stephen Paling 2, Brain Henderson 4 Lee Stanley 0, Men’s ‘B’:- John Watson 1 Benjamin Holmes 3, Mathew Kelly 2 Steve Thompson 3, Scott Chatterton 1 Connor Hodgkinson 3, Jonny Gardner 2 Scott McCabe 3, Steve Scaife 3 John Elliott 2, Michael Evans 3 Timothy Rippon 1, Stephen Wray 3 Paul Williams 0, Sean Spayne 0 Andrew Houghton 3, David Bell 3 Richard Hughes 2, Anthony Luddell 1 Matt Faulkner 3, Andrew Kelly 3 Dean Allsopp 0, David Greedy 1 Dan Ford 3, Women’s ‘A’:- Ann Marie Potts 2 Jane Densley 3, Amy Thomas 3 Sammie Marshall 2, Claire Stainsby 3 Rachel Ayres 0, Mandy Stephens 2 Rebecca Hoyland 3, Tonlee Bowstead 0 Rachel Bird 3, Carla Boyes 1 Jackie Sweet 3, Women’s ‘B’:- Shirley Witten 1 Sara-Jane Harrison 3, Zoe Holland 3 Dee Fenn 0, Ginny Whittaker 0 Terri Bellamy 3, Karen Jones 3 Jennifer McCormick 1, Rachel Bulmer 0 Dawn Buckley 3, Vanessa Dickinson 1 Louise Rawson 3.
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