Derbyshire v Nottinghamshire
In their inaugural fixture in League One of the UKDA National League Derbyshire had a home tie with neighbouring Nottinghamshire although the ladies ‘B’ game on the Saturday didn’t get the best of starts as the visitors Hayley Martin-Underwood beat Marie Leahy 3-0, Wendy Chick won 3-2 against Sara-Jane Harrison after she had trailed 1-0 and 2-1 and making up the trio of wins was Nottinghamshire’s lady of the match Julie Pitchford, who took the award for her 3-0 win over Jenny McCormick and her 20.31 average.
Rachel Ayres (Derbyshire) was pegged back to level terms twice before beating Sue Esswood 3-2 and with a further 3-1 success for Carol Western over Jan Schofield the hosts were back in the game, a draw however was not to be as Julie Wilson beat Emily Jones 3-1 in the final game to give the away team a 4-2 win.
The Nottinghamshire men’s ‘B’ side like their ladies were first off the mark as Chris Scott won 3-2 against Pete Hadfield and Aden Kirk got the better of Charlie Marshall with a straight 3-0 victory.
Will North managed to halve the deficit for the hosts as he recorded a 3-1 win over Christian Shepherd, only to see the score taken to 5-1 in favour of the visitors when Micky Stocks won a five legs affair against Ben Homes, Josh Hamilton beat Christian Bradshaw 3-1 and Marc Dewsbury made it 5-1 at the midway point with his 3-2 win over Mick Smith, after Smith had come from 1-0 down to lead 2-1.
It turned out to be a game of two halves as the second one began with a complete turn-around as Owen Thomas and Dan Ford both come from one down against respective opponents Jack Ryder and Chris Cooper to win 3-1, Ford having winning legs of 18,18 and 11 to give him a man of the match award winning average of 27.90.
There was a slight hiccup in the ninth when James Bunyan (Nottinghamshire) won against Jay Witham but the final three games all went to Derbyshire as Matt Faulkner won 3-1 against Steve Stanbridge and rounding off a brilliant comeback to earn a 6-6 draw Allen Hurt and Alan Clegg in turn won 3-2 against Charlie Stocks and James Watson.
Derbyshire’s ladies ‘A’ side were in terrific form as they stormed into a match winning 5-0 lead. Starting the quintet of wins was Jo Oldershaw with a 3-1 win over Julie Pitchford. Jackie Sweet doubled the advantage with a straight 3-0 success over Maggie Bamford and guaranteeing a least a draw in style was the ever-reliable Jane Densley who not only won 3-0 against Sarah Brent but also took the match award for her 21.78 average, going out in 21,19 and 29 darts.
The win was not long awaited as Rebecca Hoyland made it 4-0 with a 3-1 victory over Hayley Martin-Underwood and the five successive wins was then achieved as Rose Mort won 3-0 against Kaylea Riley.
Nottinghamshire got a small consolation in the final game when their Helen Harvey won 3-1 against Rachel Bird to give a result of 5-1 to Derbyshire.
Nottinghamshire took first blood in the men’s ‘A’ match as Mark Wilson beat Michael Ryall 4-3 after trailing 1-0 and 3-2. Nevertheless the away team’s lead was short lived as Pete Burgoyne produced a man of the match performance against Jay Foreman winning 4-1 in 18,15,12 and 21 darts to give him a super 29.37 average.
Derbyshire took the lead for the first time in game three as Paul Williams added his 4-2 success over Wes Deane to their tally and with a similar 4-1 win for Sean Lambert against Micky Stocks and a straight 4-0 victory for Nigel Daniels over Rich Bloomfield the home team had a 4-1 lead.
The first half ended as it began with a win for Nottinghamshire Aden Kirk was their second winner when he closed the half with his 4-2 win over Gary Fenn.
Paul Harvey took the away side within one game of their opponents when he kicked off the second half with his 4-1 victory over Andy Houghton before Derbyshire strung together another three consecutive wins. James Parkin beat Rich Cooper 4-2, Henry Coates won 4-1 against Pete McConville and chalking up the magical seventh winning game was Paul Redfern with his 4-1 victory over namesake Paul Green.
With the game won the last two results both went to Nottinghamshire as Jason Holmes beat Lee Stanley 4-0 and Marc Dewsbury won 4-1 against Ian Allcock rounding off a 7-5 win for Derbyshire men’s ‘A’ side.
The overall score for the weekend saw Derbyshire win 20-16.
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