2000-04-01

With only three fixtures remaining and lying precariously close to the foot of the promotion table, West Midlands were desperate to achieve a win in their home tie against fellow relegation fighters Somerset.
Playing at Chubbs Sports and Social Club, Wolverhampton the ladies ‘B’ got the ball rolling. It was always going to be a tough match with the hosts bottom of the table after five consecutive defeats and the visitors fourth, only a handfull of points adrift of the leaders Cheshire.
Michaela Reid gave the away team the opening game with a straight 3-0 win over Rose Sanders. Caz Hill then went 1-0 up against Sue Smith and despite Smith making a fight of it and going into a 2-1 lead it was Hill who eventually got the 3-2 verdict and Somerset the 2-0 lead. Game three saw Teresa Johnston (West Midlands) win the first leg, only to see her counterpart, Tina Cooper reply by winning the following three legs to seal a 3-1 win and put Somerset within an ace of victory in just three games.
Rose Mycock, a name that goes back to my county playing days, put up a spirited performance against Kay Britton. But in the end had to concede to a 3-1 defeat, a similar scoreline by which Val Arnold lost to Linda Perry to give the travelling team a commanding 5-0 advantage. The last game was a repeat of the first a 3-0 win to Somerset, Lynn Denning beating Brenda Phillips to complete a 6-0 whitewash, the ‘B’ teams only other one coming in the season’s curtain raiser against Cornwall. Obviously the south-west does not agree with the Midlanders.
At 6-0 down already the men’s ‘B’ had something of a mountain to climb. Nevertheless, they got off to a good start. Frank Johnson lost the first leg to Dean Lewer, but came back to snatch a 3-1 win. Adrian Hammersley twice took the lead against Mike Knowles before he registered a 3-2 win, then Steve Brindley’s 3-1 success over Glyn Watts gave the home team a 3-0 lead.
Mark Watts was Somerset’s first winner. He won the opener against William Hadley. Hadley with a 180 took the second, then Watts in 17 and 19 darts wrapped up the game to keep his side in the match. The deficit was reduced even further when Andy Church beat Joe Biggs 3-2, despite Biggs checking out on 138 in the second leg. The last game of the half was a ding dong battle between Vic Lloyd (West Midlands) and Jamie Bown. Bown won the first, Lloyd the next two. With top shots of 121,100 and 119 Bown levelled the game, but was left on 120 in the decider when Lloyd finished on 83 to win 3-2.
Mark Wellings chalked up an encouraging 3-0 win over Neil Collis to get the second half underway and restore his team’s three games buffer. Clive Royce looked as though he was about to reduce that 5-2 advantage when he opened up a 2-1 lead against Alan Bradburn. However, Bradburn stuck to his task and finished a 3-2 winner.
Martin Tibbetts and Ron Johnson each dropped a leg against respective opponents Chris Butland and Allan Clarke, but their 3-1 victories put the West Midlands into an unassailable 8-2 lead. Despite a winning margin wins were still of the utmost importance in an effort to erase some of the ladies defeat. Steve Penwright twice came from behind against Jason Watkins, before he added his 3-2 win to the tally. Then in the final encounter, man of the match Jonathon Platt (25.49), with a 3-1 win, accounted for Wayne Allen to give the Midlanders a fine 10-2 win, their best of the season so far.
Sunday’s matches began with another tremendous setback when for the second day running the ladies team suffered a 6-0 whitewash. The first four games all ended 3-0, Merryl Jarman, Karen Littler, Rebecca Callow and Marie Geaney defeating in turn Claire Downing, Angie Perry, Diane Tolley and Dawn Holdcroft. In the penultimate encounter Frances Allen recorded West Midlands first winning leg. She went 2-0 down to Sally Smith and then, after Sally had failed on her doubles won the leg on double sixteen. It proved to only delay the inevitable as the Somerset player with 2×100 and 120 took the leg and the game in nineteen darts.
The sixth and final game saw Dawn Lingard follow her predecessor’s lead by going two up. She also lost the third leg as Gill Cook, with a 64 game shot kept herself in the game. Both players hit a three figure score in the fourth
leg before Gill, with her final throw of 96, left double sixteen. Requiring 45, Dawn did not give Gill an opportunity to finish as she, with just two darts finished the leg, the game and the match. The 6-0 scoreline was the ‘A’ team’s worst result of the season.
With the overall position standing at 14-10 in Somerset’s favour the away team could now lose 7-5 and still win the fixture. West Midlands meanwhile appeared at this stage to be requiring a miracle. But, miracles sometimes happen and on this occasion actually did.
Protecting an unbeaten record and a run of four consecutive wins Tony Walker began the proceedings taking on Simon Laws. Walker won the first in 19 darts. Then with scoes of 137,140,83 and a super 141 finish, Laws in spectacular style levelled in twelve darts. Amazingly he then produced another twelve darts leg to go in front. After scores of 180,140 and 137 he checked out on 44. The following two legs could easily have gone either way, but Walker with 3×100 won the fourth leg and with a similar 3×100 plus a 125 won the fifth to win 3-2.
The next two games were by no means anywhere near as close. David Robbins won 3-0 against Ray Byrd and Paul Johnson, again with a straight legs victory defeated Lionel Vining to put the home side into a 3-0 lead. Extending that lead was Adrian Arnold who won 3-1 against Brian Bond and easing West Midlands into a comfortable 5-0 advantage was Ian Jones who had to come back from 0-2 down against Kelvin Hart to win 3-2. To close the first half Somerset’s position was somewhat eased as Carl Evans inflicted a rare 3-1 defeat onto Steve Parkes, after Parkes had won the opening leg. However, that turned out to be the only relief that the visitors had as the whole of the second half went in West Midlands favour.
Tom Aldridge began the onslaught, a one sided 3-0 win over Steve Lewis, which included two fifteen darts legs. Colin Davies and David Platt also won without conceding a leg in their respective encounters with Gordon Jones and Simon Austin. It took three attempts for Avtar Singh to record his 3-2 win against Gordon Fitzpatrick, nevertheless he did and took the score to 9-1 which meant that the hosts had won the overall match.
3-1 wins by Gary Taylor and Mick James, at the expense of Steve Skinner and Ray Summers put the final score at 11-1. A remarkable comeback and a sweet 24-15 victory, which sees the West Midlands stay above Somerset and Humberside and at the same time take them over Worcestershire, which obviously helps to maintain their hopes of division two survival well and truly alive.