2010-04-01

Since last going to print West Midlands have completed two more of their fixtures in division two of the Rileys BDO Inter Counties Championships the first of which was an away tie against divisional leaders London and with West Midlands in second place it had all the ingredients for a cracking game.
In Saturday games it was the hosts who definitely got the better of the ladies result as they chalked up a convincing 5-1 victory. West Midlands sole winner was Tammy Chance (18.52) with Dee Belcher, Ged Carney, Susan Holt, Jacqueline Saunders and Kelly Bobby the winners for London.
In the men’s game the Midlands side got off to a good start when Peter Edmonds, Paul Price and Martin Angell in turn defeated Chris Copeland, Stephen Dolan and Rob Edwards, with Paul Price recording a man of the match average of 26.84 in his win.
Paul Killington pulled one back for the home team when he beat Ian Hartland 3-0, only to see the three games advantage restored when Ian Stanton defeated Lee Cocks 3-1. At the midway point of the men’s game West Midlands had a 4-2 lead after Stuart Pickles had beaten Trevor Carter 3-2 in the last game of the half.
London seemed inspired by Pickles win as they then recorded their best run of the match, four wins in a row. The next three players for London, Shane Edwards, Robbie Hain, Paul Rafferty and Jimmy Foster all registered 3-1 wins against respective opponents Neil Pointon, Viv Gould, and Richard Foster to take the running score along to 5-4 to London, the first time in the game they had taken the lead.
Richard Platt got the away side back on track when he, despite being taken the full five legs distance by Jimmy Foster, won 3-2 and in the penultimate game Matt Dicken gave West Midlands a 6-5 lead when he beat Paul Wright by the same 3-2 margin. The final game was yet another five legs affair this time with London coming out on top thanks to Stephen McHale and his win against Mark Watkiss to end the match all square at 6-6.
Sunday and the ladies ‘A’ didn’t fare much better than the ‘B’ as they slipped to their fourth successive defeat in five games. With only Kath Jenkins and Sarah Robbins (18.29 Lady of the match) winning, the result was 4-2 to London, Andrea Walker, Clare Bywaters, Kerry Simmons and Tara Deamer their winners.
The men’s ‘A’ emulated their ‘B’ side when they opened up a 4-2 lead after the first six games. London took the first through Steve Douglas but then they lost the following four when Ian Jones, Andy Forrester, Lol Frazer (29.59 Man of the match) and Dean Stewart had wins against Ross Smith, Jason Wiles, Conan Whitehead and Nicky Turner.
The 4-1 advantage was erased when Richie Bucknall, John Nelson and Chris Stevens fought off their opponents Matt Dicken, Danny Coyle and Nicky Bache to restore level terms at 4-4. Although Chris Plumpton’s 3-1 win against Paul Hackett saw the West Midlands get their noses in front again it was London who looked the more likely to win when first Wayne Brown beat Avtar Singh 3-2 and Daniel Day won 3-0 against Peter Wyse to open a 6-5 lead with one to play. Jamie Hughes (West Midlands) won the opener against Lewis McGurn in 17 darts. McGurn replied, also in 17 darts, but a further two seventeen darts legs from Hughes assured his 3-1 win and a share of the spoils for his team in a 6-6 draw.
The overall 21-15 win went to London and saw them increase their points in pole position to 124, but West Midlands dropped to third place on 100, four adrift of Lincolnshire who took over the number two spot.
The second fixture to complete two thirds of the allotted nine match season was a home tie with Sussex, a game the hosts really needed to win.
Once again the ladies were unable to produce the goods as both teams finished on the wrong side of 4-2 scorelines. The ‘B’ saw Kim Fellows (15.39 Lady of the match) beat Teresa Wier 3-2 after Heather Wright had lost the first game against Susan Sexton 3-1. Sussex took then next two with wins from Kelly Ryan and Rhonda West at the expense of Jaquie Simmons and Liz Arnold. Jayne Stubbs reduced the arrears to 3-2 with a 3-1 success over Brenda Sains, but a straight 3-0 win against Tammy Chance saw Glenys Laker give her team the 4-2 win.
For the ‘A’ side all but the final game went with the first throw darts advantage. Lisa Tanner (Sussex) won the first against namesake Lisa Astbury 3-0, then Diane Tolley levelled the score with her 3-2 win over Norma Self. Sussex went ahead again, this time thanks to a 3-1 win by Samantha Harding against Jacqui Simmons, only to see Claire Hobbs beat Elaine Chapman 3-0 to restore parity. The pattern continued when Donna Rainsley beat Tina Harris to give Sussex a 3-2 lead, with one more game to play. It was at this point that the sequence changed and Hayley Gatford (Sussex) was the player to change it. Playing against Sarah Robbins Hayley, although taken the full five legs distance won the game 3-2 putting the final score at 4-2 to the visitors.
The men’s ‘B’ kicked off with two winners, Peter Edmonds who won 3-0 against Craig Deeley and Martin Angell who had a 3-2 success against Dave Creasey. Sussex hit back in the form of Paul Russell and Mark Davis, in turn beating Viv Gould and Paul Price. Richard Platt opened up a 3-2 lead for the home side when he won in straight legs against Nathan Pearce, but again the visitors levelled when Graeme Dutton added his 3-1 victory over Mark Watkiss to the tally.
Six played and six to play and for the first time in the game Sussex forged ahead. Christopher Gatford beat Ian Hartland 3-1 and Darren Woolgar accounted for Trevor Carter in just three legs. It was now time for the West Midlands to respond and that is exactly what they did as Neil Pointon started the ball rolling with a 3-1 scorleine beat Andrew Sexton averaging 25.52, which also earned him the match award. Richard Foster took the score along to 5-5 with his 3-1 win against Greg Upton to leave the result hinging on the final two games.
The penultimate game brought together Shane Price (West Midlands) and Peter Stoner, the latter winning 3-0 and leaving the hosts requiring the final game to share the points. In the home corner was Ian Stanton and for Sussex Rob Metcalf. Stanton stuck well to his task chalking up a 3-1 win to put the result at 6-6.
The men’s ‘A’, like the ‘B’ had only lost one of their fixtures and were keen to carry on in that vein. They could not have asked for a much better start as in double quick time they had stormed into a 5-0 lead. Nicky Bache began the run with a neat 3-0 win over Ian Perkins and an average of 28.90, he was then followed up by man of the match Ian Jones who turned in a great performance against Rod Hawkins, winning 3-1 with a tremendous 30.68 average. The score moved quickly along to 5-0 with further 3-1 wins from Dean Stewart, Andy Forrester and Chris Plumpton beating Jason Yates, Michael Donegan and Michael Hammond.
It was game number six before Sussex chalked up their first winner, Andy Derrick beating Peter Wyse 3-1 and then came two more as James Withers and Geoffrey Taylor both recorded close 3-2 wins against Matt Dicken and Danny Coyle to take the score along to 5-3 to West Midlands.
From there on in it was home team wins, Mark Rollinson won 3-2 against Russell Vanner and it got better as Martin Angell and Jamie Hughes were 3-1 winners over their opponents Ken Sowerby and Paul Eves, the day being rounded off with a straight 3-0 win from Lol Frazer against Gary Edgar to give a final verdict of 9-3 to the West Midlands and an overall win of 19-17 after trailing at one stage by 14-10, a superb comeback.
The win has taken West Midlands back into second place on 122 points, 27 behind London who beat Suffolk 22-14 and one ahead of third placed Lincolnshire who suffered a 19-17 defeat at Berkshire.