The Sheldon and District Winter League have got their new season underway with a healthy starting line-up of twenty-five teams made up of three divisions, two with eight teams and one with nine. Topping the premier division with an opening 9-0 whitewash over visiting Sheldon Dukes are current reigning champions Langley Arrows who’s Bob Nixon checked out on 141 and Paul Nixon chalked up a 10 darts game. Close on the heels of the leaders are last season’s runners-up Sheldon Marlborough Arrows who won their first game at Kingshurst Labour Club 8-1.
With an 8-1 win at The Dingle, Shirley Misfits lead the way in division one having a two legs advantage over second placed Langley Flights who won their away game at Hornet 6-3.
Hampton and Solihull Cricket Club are setting the pace in division two kicking off their season with an 8-1 win at Castle Bromwich WMC to give them a slender one leg lead on second in the division Iron Horse Rebels who were 7-2 winners at The Irish Centre.
Beginning the new season with a maximum in the very first games were Neil Parsonage (Sheldon Marlborough Arrows) and Nathan Fields (Hollywood Social) while Mick Bown of Shirley Misfits had a 160 game shot and a nine darts leg.
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Copper Fox kept their title hopes on track in the Kings Norton League with a 6-1 win at Cock Inn to make it thirteen wins in fourteen games. Rubery Social lost ground as they went down 4-3 at home to sixth in the league Bourneville and as a result drop from second to third in the table with Thurlestone taking over in second place following their 5-2 win at Kings Heath. Both Thurlestone and Rubery Social are on 22 points, four behind Copper Fox. Fourth placed Bournebrook were the week’s biggest winners handing out a 7-0 whitewash to their hosts Grant Arms to leave them six points off the top of the table.
Finding the three treble twenties were T.Hamilton (Copper Fox) and A.Chidley (Coppice).
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A 7-2 win at Copper Fox ‘R’ keeps Bugle Horn top of the Harborne and District League with a perfect fourteen points from their first seven games. However Bugle Horn are currently only top on average as second in the league Northfield Conservative Club won their away game against Cock Inn 9-0 to put them on the same fourteen points as Bugle Horn but from eight games and with an inferior average. Northfield Town are placed third with a game in hand on the Conservative Club, they kept within two points of the Club with their 8-1 home win over Weoley Castle WMC.
At the other end of the table bottom team Avenue Social took on the team directly above them Quinton RBL The result was a 5-4 win for Avenue their first win of the season to put them level on both points and average with their opponents.
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The Stourbridge and District Wednesday Night League played their Singles Knockout down to the last thirty-two players and winning through to the next round were, C.Moreton, A.Marson, J.Harper, A.Moreton, K.Safe, M.Jones, G.Churchill, S.Skidmore, J.Churchill, A.Smith, D.Hand, J.Moule, B.Bishop, M.Halliday, J.Poole, A.Nicholls, A.Dimmock, K.Aspinall, R.Rubery, J.Bristow, C.J.Smith, M.Hall, K.Bambrick, C.Hipkiss, I.Kelly, K.James, L.Williams, I.Bishop, L.Zirra, C.R.Simpson, G.Jones, S.Perry.
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The Silver End Sunday Morning League have completed their domestic fixtures and taking the league title with a convincing final 8-0 win over bottom of the table Kings Head ‘B’ were Dudley Ex Serviceman’s Club. The Ex Serviceman’s Club won the league with a total of 59 points four more than runners-up Dudley Sports who ended their campaign being held to a 4-4 home draw by Bell ‘B’ who finished the season in sixth place sixteen points short of their hosts. Third in the league Old Star finished on a high with a 6-2 win at Bell ‘A’ which left them on the same 55 points as Dudley Sports but well behind them on average. Fourth in the table Tenth Lock were further nine points behind Dudley Sports and Old Star, their last game of the season seeing them win 8-0 at Black Horse ‘A’.
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With the majority of teams still having another five fixtures to play in the Hilltop Friendly Tuesday Night League Waggon and Horses by handing out a 7-0 whitewash to their visitors Horseley Tavern now have one hand on the winners silverware as they have a massive ten points lead on second placed Dewdrop ‘A’ who had a bye this week. Third in the league Miners Arms ‘B’ fell another two points short of Waggon as they lost 4-3 at home to fifth in the league Vine ‘A’.
Sow and Pigs moved further away from the foot of the table as they won 4-3 at Albion who replace their victors in a next to bottom position.
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The Rowley Monday Night League played their doubles knockout down to the last eight pairs and lining up on finals night battling for the title will be C.Whitehouse & A.Lynch, O.Ghaley & M.Hadley, Connor Allen & James Allen, I.Hartland & M.Redding, B.Gillies & E.Price, S.Slim & D.Timmins, S.Bullimore & S.Thompson and S.Siviter & T.Barr.
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As early as week two in the Netherton Thursday Night League and just two teams Dudley Ex Serviceman’s Club ‘A’ and The Clock remain undefeated. Dudley Ex Serviceman’s Club ‘A’ top the table following up their opening 7-2 win at Bulls Head with a similar 7-2 result at home against Spring Meadow Social Club. This second victory gives Ex Serviceman’s ‘A’ a one leg of average lead over The Clock who after their opening 5-4 win at Netherton Sports and Social ‘A’ they beat Netherton Sports and Social ‘B’ 8-1.
After the top two come four teams Netherton Sports and Social ‘A’, Townsend Social Club, Spring Meadow Social Club and Bulls Head all on two points, Netherton Sports and Social ‘B’ and Dudley Ex Serviceman’s Club ‘B’ are both still seeking their first win.
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Dunky’s Boys, leaders of division one of the Shirley and District Monday Night League gained a vital win when they won 6-3 at Tippetts Bar who are their nearest rivals in the division.
Division two leaders Leo’s Vikings were also 6-3 winners beating bottom of the division Saracens Slingers to keep them two points ahead of Legion Royals who had a closer 5-4 win at Saracens Misfits.
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Quarry Bank Labour Club made it three straight 7-0 wins in the Stourbridge and District Monday Night League when they beat Netherton Conservative Club in their third fixture. Second in the league Cross (Oldswinford), Gate Hangs Well and Ten Arches are all on the same six points as the two teams above them and the three teams are all level on the same average after Cross (Oldswinford) won 5-2 at home against Raven, Gate Hangs Well won their home tie with Britannia 6-1 and Ten Arches had a 5-2 win at home against Bird in Hand.
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Last season in the Sedgley and Gornal Tuesday Night League Old Bulls Head went through the whole twenty-two fixtures without losing to clinch the league title, but as early as the sixth fixture in the new season they lost 5-4 at Seven Stars to see them now having to share pole position with Gornal Labour Club who have moved up from third place to joint top after winning 8-1 at The Cabin. With the two top teams level on ten points and average third and fourth placed Five Ways and Seven Stars also have ten points and in turn are two and seven legs of average short of the leading duo.
With Cabin losing to Gornal Labour Club, Meadow Lark have moved off the foot of the table despite losing 6-3 at Red Cow, neither of the bottom two teams have a single point so far but Meadow Lark have one leg of average more than Cabin.
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The Ashwood Premier League have completed their 52 games season and winning the season three title is Nick Fullwell who ended the campaign with 334 points which was a massive amount of 49 over runner-up Tom Stockton. Fullwell had already finished his fixtures before the final night but Stockton, who began the last round of games in fifth position added a 5-2 win over Gaz Cartwright before losing 4-3 to Jayden Harper. He then recovered to round off the season with a final 5-2 success against Chris Fox to seal his place at number two. Five points behind Stockton is Adam Edgar whose 6-1 win over Jon Underhill helped him hold on to third place while Geoff Marson who began the night in second place but had played all of his games finished the season in fourth place with 278 points.
With season 3 now ended, presentation night will be on Monday the 31st October. Season 4 will get underway on the 7th November and there are already some 33 confirmed players for the new season which is six upon last season.
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The latest round of fixtures in the Black Country Men’s Super League saw no change whatsoever in the top six place but the main question is, is any team going to stop the Allens Bar ‘A’ charge in the league as in game sixteen they added a further 5-0 win over The Maverick to their total to give them 106 points from a perfect sixteen games won. Railway Tavern are in second place they were also 5-0 winners as they accounted for their visitors Bell, Kingswinford ‘B’ to put them on 92 points, fourteen short of the leaders but ten more than third placed Yeltz Bar who had a narrow 3-2 victory over their local rivals Yeltz Bar ‘A’ who with 80 points are fourth.
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The finals of the doubles knockout was on the agenda for the Cradley Tuesday Night League and lifting the title were Mark Archer and Steve Siviter (Plough) who defeated Lee Banner and Keith Morris (Netherton Sports and Social) in the final.
Losing out in the semi-finals were two Chop House pairings Grant Jackson and John Jasper and Adule Galeb and Nick Browne.
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The big question in the Gilbert’s Bar Monday Night Singles League is can Scott Baker go through the season undefeated? So far Baker has played twenty-eight games, won twenty-seven and drawn one the latest fixture seeing him win 7-1 against Adam Teasdale who is fifth in the league on 203 points from 31 games.
John Simms is Baker’s nearest rival he suffered a surprising 5-3 defeat at the hands of Mal Pugh in the latest round of fixtures, surprising as Pugh is currently seventeenth in the table on 136 points from the same 31 games as Simms. However Simms did recover and went on to win 6-2 against Sandra Beardsmore.
Ben Johnson in third place has only played 26 games, his latest 8-0 win over Gemma Barrett Jenkins taking his points to 213 which is just two short of Simms and he has a huge five games in hand.
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A 4-3 defeat at Hurst Hill has cost Gilbert’s Bar their number two spot in the singles division of the Wolverhampton Tuesday Night League as they dropped two places to fourth but they are on the same 26 points and have a game in hand on ECC the team who have replaced them in the number two spot. ECC had a convincing 6-1 win at home over Wednesfield Legion to leave them six points fewer and from one game more than leaders Railway who went one better with a 7-0 win at Cleveland Arms to make it sixteen wins from seventeen games. Third placed Woodfield who are on the same 26 points as ECC and Gilbert’s Bar won 4-3 at home against Dog and Partridge. Fifth placed Hurst Hill are on 24 points and have played 18 games.
And it’s Hurst Hill who top the doubles division, despite losing 2-1 to Gilbert’s Bar they lead the division by a single leg of average over ECC whose 2-1 win over Wednesfield Legion put them on the same 30 points as Hurst Hill. Third in the division Railway have a game in hand on the top two teams but are a huge ten points behind them even after their 2-1 win at Cleveland Arms.
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