Salopian were hoping to make it three consecutive wins in the UKDA National League’s L-Style Division One in what would be their fourth game of the season, a home tie with Worcestershire. Going into the fixture Salopian were ninth in the league and Worcestershire fourth with respective points of sixty and seventy-three, the home side having played three games and the away four.
First throw advantage proved to be the winner in the opening three games as Worcestershire took the early lead with a 3-1 win for Claire Dicken over Emma Hayward Kate Titley cancelled out the win with her similar 3-1 success against Maggie Deakin. The away team took the lead again in the third when Chloe Luscott beat Anna Peatroy 3-1 and then opened up a 3-1 lead when Zena Grand beat Hayley McGuinness 3-2. Putting the result beyond Salopian’s reach was Jackie Mackenzie whose 3-0 win against Emma Tapp gave her team a 4-1 lead. The final score was 4-2 to Worcestershire as the last game produced Salopian’s lady of the match in the form of Sue Lane who defeated Lynne Arnold 3-0 with a 19.78 average.
Unlike the ladies ‘B’, the men’s ‘B’ saw all six of the first half games go against the first throw advantage with the home team taking the lead three times, first through man of the match Terry Nash who beat Ian Oliver 4-1 and averaged 29.73, then thanks to Dean Stokes who, like Nash had a 4-1 win in his game with Mark Smith. Cancelling out the host’s lead were Terence Webster with his 4-3 win over Jake B.Smith and Jack Higgins who beat Scott Towers, again by 4-3. For the third time Salopian went ahead this time thanks to the 4-2 win by Scott Dockerty who defeated Andy Pullen, but by the break it was all-square at 6-6 as Pat Sinnett closed the half with a 4-2 win over Ian Bride.
The pattern continued for the first three games of the second half, Glyn Thomas giving the home team a 4-3 lead with his straight 4-0 win over Paul Fackrell, Phil Rooney cancelling the lead with a 4-1 win against Paul Andrew and Eddie Price adding his 4-1 win over Eric Wadlow to take Salopian into a 5-4 lead. Increasing that lead to 6-4 was Ian Evans with his 4-2 win over Kev Mason and with a further 4-2 win for Dean Rogers against Peter Wright, the home team were in a 7-4 winning position. The final game of the day went to Worcestershire, George Connolly beating Danny Humphries 4-2 to give a final score of 7-5 to the home team.
The ladies ‘A’ turned out to be a game they would quickly want to forget as Worcestershire stormed to a 6- victory. Chalking up then whitewash wins were Sophie Hadley, Steph Konya, Zoe Jones, Jenny Shail, Mandy Morgan and Jenny Jones who had wins in turn against Tracey Dean (0-3), Rachael Williams (2-3), Kate Titley (0-3), Steph Clarke (2-3), Molly Atter (1-3) and Emma O’Callaghan (0-3).
Trailing 15-9 the men’s ‘A’ required a 9-3 win just to achieve a share of the points. Ash Hilditch got them off on the right foot with a 4-2 win over Tom Garfield, only to see Stewart Doughty and Matt Hildebrandt win 4-1 and 4-2 against respective opponents Tony Burton and Matt Elsey. Oscar Saxton kept hopes alive for Salopian winning 4-2 against Konnoll Webb but the visitors went 3-2 up when Dave Redding beat Dave Bayton 4-2. Rounding off the half was Kacey Jones who in his 4-3 win over Peter Hughes recorded a nine darts leg, the first in Salopian’s history, and took the man of the match award for his 29.34 average. The score at the midway point, level at 3-3.
Worcestershire were first to take the lead as the second session got underway, Ant Butler winning 4-3 against Paul Rowley before the home side chalked up four-in-a-row to go 7-4 up with wins from Jon Mansell, Gary Crowther, Jamie Kynaston and Terry Nash who in turn defeated Simon Power (4-2), Phil Whitlock (4-1), Lee Furneaux (4-3) and Ian Mackenzie (4-2). Neil Parsonage (Worcestershire) won the final game of the weekend as he beat Andy Gilbert 4-2 to give a final score of 7-5 to Salopian.
The overall result for the weekend was 20-16 to Worcestershire to see them move up the table one place to third with ninety-six points while Salopian remain ninth on seventy-six points but with a game in hand on the majority of teams above them.
———————————