Warwickshire’s penultimate fixture in the Cosmo Darts Premier Division of the UKDA National League was a home tie against Essex. Going into the game Warwickshire were lying fourth in the table on 165 points and their visitors seventh on 148 points. A win, to move the home side further up the table was what was expected but it didn’t quite turn out like that.
The ladies ‘B’ got off to a good start when Chloe McKivett-Saunders twice came from behind against Kelly Salmon to go on and win 3-2 before Claire Greenwood began her game against Keeleigh White with a win in the opening leg but then fell to the 3-1 result to see Essex draw level. For a second time Warwickshire went ahead when in the third game Donna Pinch got the better of the 3-1 result over Rosie Balwin and with a further 3-2 win for Jodie Rigg against Chloe Hawkins the home side were in an unbeatable position. Nina Bolt took Karen Williams to a deciding leg but it was Essex player Williams who got the 3-2 win to leave the result hinging on the final game. Kayleigh Brown looked all set to earn a draw for Essex when she opened up a 2-0 lead on Courtney Hine, but the home player stuck to her task and went on to win 3-2 and take the match award in the process for her 18.24 average, the match result 4-2 to Warwickshire ladies ‘B’.
The men’s ‘B’ had a setback in their encounter as they quickly found themselves trailing 3-0 when Matt Garrett won 4-2 against Karl Reynolds, Darren Richardson won 4-2 against Adam Hancock and Brandon Western beat Zac Prince 4-3. Simon Monk (Essex) won the first leg against Jnr Joyce but the Warwickshire man went on to seal a 4-1 win to reduce the arrears to 3-1 and with a win in the fifth for man of the match Ryan Jackson who beat Paul Marsh 4-2 and averaged 24.58, Warwickshire were still in the game. Although Mark Strong won the first leg against Danny McIntyre in was McIntyre who went on to win 4-1 to put the score at the midway point at 4-2 to Essex.
Things got worse as the second session got underway, Martin Compton beating Mark Carter 4-1, Stuart Wicks winning 4-0 against Mark Martin and Matt Gordon having a 4-2 win against Lee Miller to take Essex into a match winning 7-2 lead. Martin Tonks twice came from behind against Liam Willis to go on and win 4-3 only to see James Wright make it 8-3 to the visitors when he won 4-1 against Mark Faulkner. The final game of the day saw Warwickshire get their fourth winner, Dave Hill after trailing 2-0 against Phil Brewster going on to win 4-3 to put the result at 8-4 to Essex.
Although going into Sunday’s ‘A’ games the hosts were trailing 10-8 all was still not lost as the arrears were halved in the very first encounter of the ladies ‘A’ match as Marian Conway added her 3-1 win over Karen Breen to the overall score. With the opening game going against the first throw advantage the next three games followed in the same vein, Jade Gifford levelling for the visitors when she won 3-1 against Kirsty Hinchliffe before Warwickshire went ahead again in the third thanks to a 3-1 win from Wendy Adams over Kerry Rudd, Wendy’s win plus her 19.54 average earning her the match award. Parity was restored for a second time in the fourth when Donna Scherer beat Hannah Meek 3-1and then for the first time in the game, Essex took the lead when their Wendy Collins won 3-2 against Caroline Pike. The first leg of the final game went to Leanne Halls (Essex) but her opponent, Natalie Gilbert did not give up the fight and went on to win 3-1 and give her team mates a share of the spoils in a 3-3 draw.
A 7-5 win was now the least required from the men’s ‘A’ to secure even a share of the spoils but with the opening five games all going with the first throw advantage, that left Warwickshire with somewhat of a mountain to climb. Kevin Dowling came from 3-0 down against Steve Haggerty to level at 3-3 but then lost the decider in the opening game. Matty Washbrooke’s 4-3 win over Phil Halls levelled the game at one each before the away team took the lead for a second time when Aaron Gill beat Jamie Hughes 4-2. Squaring the game for a second time for Warwickshire was Gareth Braham, his 4-2 win against Jamie Peetoom taking the score to 2-2. Game number five saw Keegan Brown give Essex the lead for a third time with his 4-0 win over Jack Wareing before the sequence was broken in the last game of the half when Essex went 4-2 up with a 4-0 win from Ben Adams over Steve Hine.
Warwickshire began the second half with a win supplied by Nigel Heydon who defeated Craig Vickers 4-1, Shaun Fox restoring the visitors three games buffer in the very next game when he accounted for Noel Grant with a 4-0 result. Sam Whittaker, Warwickshire’s man of the match reduced the arrears to 5-4 when he defeated Brad Halls 4-1 and averaged 30.15 and with a similar 4-1 win for Danny Lauby over Matt Good the score, with two games to play was level at 5-5. In the penultimate encounter Warwickshire took the lead for the very first time in the game when Wayne Mynard after leading 2-0 and then trailing 3-2 to Joe Russell went on to win 4-3. After losing the first three legs to Darren Peetoom in the final game of the weekend, Samuel Price came back to 3-2 down but lost the sixth leg and finished on the wrong side of the 4-2 result to put the final score at 6-6.
The overall 19-17 defeat sees Warwickshire still in fourth place with 182 points and with second and third placed Lincolnshire and Lancashire playing each other in the final fixtures of the season and Warwickshire playing away to bottom of the table London, they could still move further up the table.
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