2010-10-01

A new season and a new division that was what the West Midlands squad faced up to in the Rileys BDO Inter Counties Championships when they kick started their programme with a home tie at Gilberts Bar, WIllenhall against Middlesex.
Saturday’s games did not see the ladies get the start they would have wished for as Lisa Norton (Middlesex) opened up with a narrow 3-2 victory over Christine Banks, Helen Wingate doubled the visitors lead with her 3-1 success against Jackie Simmons and with another close 3-2 verdict Vanessa Thomas beat Heather Wright increasing the away teams advantage to 3-0.
Gemma Poole (13.72) stopped the rot in the fourth game when she won 3-1 against Christina Moran, but the fight back was short lived as Coreen Loffler, in three legs beat Liz Arnold and in the final game Hayleigh Shaw came back from 2-1 down to Claire Ford to win 3-2 putting the final score at 5-1 to Middlesex.
As the sole winner Gemma Poole took the match award.
The men got off to better start as Viv Gould opened their account, twice coming from behind against EDWIN Collinge to win 3-2. New man Gavin Baker also trailed against Alan Taylor producing a 118 outshot to level at 1-1 then going 2-1 up and finishing as the 3-2 winner. A man of the match performance from Richard Platt (27.11) moved the score along to 3-0 in West Midlands favour. Richard went 2-0 up against Joe Stone in 21 and 16 darts and although Stone won the third in 20 darts Platt took the fourth and the match 3-1 in 17 darts.
Peter Edmonds looked as if he would increase the lead to 4-0 when he took the first leg off Andrew Turnbull, but Turnbull levelled at one each. Edmonds went ahead again in the third, only to see his counterpart wipe out his lead again. In the deciding leg Edmonds left himself on 95, with Turnbull throwing for 130, which he kindly obliged his team with a three darts finish to win the game 3-2. Paul Wright, another new name for the West Midlands again appeared to be on his way to a win when he went 2-0 up against David Goodchild, but then lost the following three legs to go down 3-2. The six game took exactly the same pattern, Trevor Carter went 2-0 up against John McDermott, but McDermott ran out the 3-2 winner and put the score level at 3-3 after the home side had opened up a 3-0 lead.
Things got worse as Paul Price (West Midlands) lost 3-0 to Roy Peacock and Danny Coyle lost 3-1 to Steve Salt giving the visitors a 5-3 lead. Ian Hartland reduced the arrears with a very close 3-2 success over Paul Andrews, after Andrews had twice taken the lead. Martin Angell made short work of Nikash Patel as he stormed to a 3-0 win to level the game at 5-5.
In the penultimate game West Midlands took the lead again when Ian Stanton beat Gary Lewis 3-1 to leave the result hinging on the final game between Neil Pointon (West Midlands) and David Everley. Sharper finishing gave the West Midlands man the edge as he went on to win the encounter 3-0, Everley having throws at a finishing double in two of the three legs, but nevertheless, Pointon’s win gave the hosts a much needed 7-5 victory, but still leaving them on the day trailing 10-8.
Everything now rested on the Sunday’s ‘A’ team performances. Margaret Sutton (Middlesex) won the opening leg against Kath Jenkins, Kath turned it around winning the next two legs to lead 2-1, but Sutton wrapped up the game winning the last two legs for a 3-2 win. The cheers were short lived as West Midlands Sarah Robbins beat Lisa Brosnan in just three legs to level the match. Unfortunately for the home team Middlesex then turned the screws and with wins from Sharon Heaffey, Alexis Miller and Karen Daly, who in turn defeated Claire Hobbs, Kim Fellows and Tammy Chance went into an unassailable 4-1 lead.
Rounding off the ladies match, for the home team Lisa Astbury squared up to Deniece Lewis. The first leg could have gone either way, but it was Lisa Astbury who got the vital double one to go one up. In the following two legs Lisa checked out without her opponent reaching a double for a clear cut 3-0 win, her 18.56 earning the lady of the match award, final score 4-2 to Middlesex.
Chris Hickman, apart from the first leg did not give his opponent, Ian McNeill a chance to reach a finishing double as he raced to a 3-0 win. The Midlander’s went 2-0 up as Darrell Thorpe beat Steven Hyatt 3-2. Thorpe went one up with a 130 game shot then trailed 2-1, but two 17 darts legs gave him his win. Chris Plumpton won the first leg against John Scott, lost the next two and levelled in the fourth, he then, after hitting 121 to leave double eighteen but did ot get a chance for it as Scott with two further darts went out on 40 for a 3-2 win.
Game number three saw normal service resumed as Ian “Mr Reliable” Jones chalked up a 3-1 win over John Maudesley, Jones averaging 28.28. Avatar Singh (28.08) added his 3-2 win over Michael Ward to the tally to make it 4-1 to West Midlands and a 3-0 success from Jamie Hughes against Liam Saxon took the running score along nicely to 5-1.
By the eighth game the men’s ‘A’ result was decided as Dean Stewart beat Mark Tiller 3-1 and Andy Forrester won by the same margin against Michael Doabe, to take the score along to 7-1. Still looking to the overall result, both teams needed as many wins as they could get and Middlesex added two more as Roy Peacock won 3-2 against Matt Dicken and Mark Haggerty beat Nicky Bache 3-0, both Midlands players missing out on their finishing doubles.
The last but one game of the weekend and without doubt the very best game of the weekend as Mark Rollinson (West Midlands) took on Jamie Sadler. With top scores of 2×140 and 100 Rollinson won the first leg in 15 darts, with Sadler way back on 215. The second leg saw Rollinson hit a maximum plus 100 and 112 for a 16 darts leg, his opponent this time still requiring 145 and to wind up the proceedings Mark Rollinson recorded a superb 13 darts leg hitting 100, 180, 100, 95 and checking out on double thirteen, leaving Sadler nursing 145 again. Rollinson average, a magnificent 34.16 for a well deserved man of the match award.
The final game saw another West Midlands win when Peter Wyse beat Vernon Sheppard 3-1 to give the ‘A’ team a cracking 9-3 victory and an overall 19-17 win for the weekend. That’s a fantastic start to the new campaign and hopefully one of many wins to come this season, alright the two ladies teams may have lost and the two men’s teams won but at the end of the day it is a squad affair and every single winner counts for the overall success of the side and hopefully promotion again at the end of the season.