2012-04-01

Since last going to print West Midlands have completed two more of their scheduled nine fixtures in division one of the Riley’s BDO Inter County Championships, the two games were a home tie with Bedfordshire and an away game against London, both teams, like West Midlands hovering around the wrong end of the table and points at a premium for all three.
West Midlands were anxious to get back to winning ways after two consecutive defeats at the hands of Cornwall and County Durham. The Saturday games saw the ladies take a lead through Lisa Maiden, a close 3-2 verdict over Michelle Meadwell, but the lead was short lived as Jackie Hampshire and Louisa Chamberlain in turn accounted for Jacqueline Maiden and Samantha Maiden, both results 3-1.
Shelbie Simmons restored parity with a neat 3-0 win over Janice Lee, Shelbie’s 16.70 average earning her the match award. Heather Wright was another 3-0 winner for the hosts, beating Charlotte Tyler to leave the result hinging on the final game between Jacqui Simmons and Hayley Jordan.
Both players struggled on finishing doubles in the first leg, but it was the Bedfordshire player who claimed the leg finishing with a 4 outshot. Jacqui Simmons then never really found her form to get her back into the game and finished a 3-0 loser, putting the final score all square at 3-3, leaving the home side still without a win since the opening day of the season when they beat Surrey away 4-2.
The men’s ‘B’ began with real promise, Doug Thompson, after losing the first leg to Dean Taylor went on to win the game 3-1 with legs of 20, 17 and 15 darts, giving him a man of the match average of 27.42. The following two games went pretty much the same way as Lance Hackett beat Lee Rose and Ryan Herrington won against Robert Lee to open a 3-0 lead.
Suddenly the mood changed as Harry Lovell and Lloyd Wintle (Bedfordshire) recorded straight wins over Louis Burley and Glen Cullen and with a 3-2 win from Roger Hillyer, after trailing 2-1 to Viv Gould, the match was levelled at 3-3.
The pattern didn’t change, West Midlands had won three, lost three and now they were going to win the next three. Mark Watkiss began the trio of wins with his success over Richard Wood, Avtar Singh then defeated Ronald Grant and Paul Price added his victory over Colin Neale to make it 6-3 in favour of the hosts.
It then appeared as though this win three lose three would carry on as Bedfordshire’s Pete Kenny won a close game with Greg Parkes 3-2 and Carl Yeowell did the same in his game with Martin Angell to take the match to the final game.
The first leg of the twelfth game could have gone to either player, John Platt (West Midlands) down to 51 after 18 darts and his opponent Tony Croxford requiring 64 after the same amount of darts. The eventual winner was Platt. With a maximum in the second leg Platt went out on double top with his sixteenth dart leaving Croxford nursing 64. In the third leg Platt always had his nose in front and checked out on 16 as the Bedfordshire man had left himself on 40.
So a 7-5 win, the ‘B’ teams fourth win in six games.
After a 6-0 defeat in their previous outing anything would be an improvement for the ladies ‘A’. The game got underway with a 3-1 win for Kerry King (Bedfordshire) over Lisa Astbury and then came a string of four 3-2 results…………all in favour of the visitors.
Wins for Maria Perrin, Jane Judges, Lisa Perkins and Shirley Williams against their counterparts Kim Fellows, Sarah Robbins, Diane Tolley and Kath Jenkins swiftly moved the scoreline along to 5-0 for Bedfordshire. Hope’s were lifted of avoiding another 6-0 whitewash for the home team when Jackie Crew took the first leg off her opponent Diane Nash, unfortunately at that point finishing doubles deserted Jackie and Diane Nash went on to win 3-1, giving her team a 6-0 win.
The men’s ‘A’ results so far this season were looking good, four had finished 7-5, with three of those wins and in the other they had won 8-4. The game got off to a confident start as Peter Wyse made short work of his counterpart Harry Lovell to win 4-0. Lionel Sams then did the same for Bedfordshire as he beat Richard Platt in straight legs and with a 4-3 success for Steven O’Donoghue over Danny Coyle, the away side were 2-1 up.
Ian Stanton and Dean Stewart got the better of their opposite numbers Trevor Ellacott and Kelly Corcoran, each of them winning 4-1 to restore a 3-2 lead for the home team, but as before, once again it was short lived. James Simpson’s 4-1 win against Matt Dicken squared the game, then a rare occurrence for the hosts as Ian Jones lost 4-3 to Matthew Castle in what was a real nail biter and giving Bedfordshire the lead once more.
At number eight Andy Forrester could not have wished for a better three darts opener against his namesake Andy Moser as he rattled off three treble twenties. He then went on to win the leg in sixteen darts with Moser left way back on 235. With further wins in 18, 19 and 20 darts Forrester won 4-0 and averaged 27.45, which at the end of the day earned him the match award.
Continuing the success story was Jake Jones, a 4-1 win over Stephen Norton, then came Neil Pointon, who with his 4-1 win over Micky Reed assured his team mates of at least a share of the spoils. A share however, was not to be enough as Mark Rollinson , with yet another 4-1 result beat Andy Keen to wrap up a winning margin for the West Midlands, but to snatch an overall draw they still needed the final game.
Adam King drew first blood for Bedfordshire, winning the first leg against Jamie Hughes in 17 darts. Hughes was quick to respond taking the next two legs in 17 and 14 darts. King levelled in 20, only to see Hughes forge ahead again in the fifth leg. Then it all went pear shaped, Hughes was unable to find any big scores, hitting just three tons in his last two legs and King sealed a 4-3 win in 20 and 16 darts. The result 7-5 to the West Midlands, but the all important overall score of 19-17 went to Bedfordshire.
Then came the away game against London. London, never an easy game and on the back of three consecutive defeats West Midlands really had their work cut out. The ladies ‘B’ began with what turned out to be a lady of the match game for Lisa Maiden (15.55) this was heightened by the fact that Lisa at the end of the day was the ‘B’ teams only winner. She opened up against Lynda Biondini and despite being pegged back to 2-1 in the third leg won the contest 3-1. Then came two consecutive 3-0 wins for London’s Susan Holt and Dee Belcher, accounting for Doreen Kaye and Jacqui Simmons.
Ged Carney made it 3-1 to the hosts when she beat Heather Wright 3-1 and with a further 3-0 win from Kelly Bobby over Samantha Maiden all West Midlands hopes of getting anything from the game had disappeared. Rounding off a 5-1 win was Tina Hamilton, who was taken the full five legs distance by Shelbie Simmons before claiming her win.
In the ’B’ side previous six outings they had won four and lost two, not making a draw in any of them, this was soon to change.
West Midlands Viv Gould got the ball rolling with his 3-1 win against Lee Clifford, but that joy didn’t last too long as Steve Woodside beat Ryan Herrington 3-1, John Nelson won 3-0 against Avtar Singh, Gene Hill got the better of Paul Price with a 3-2 result, a further 3-2 win from Kevin Hastie over Mark Watkiss, after Watkiss had twice taken the lead and a 3-1 verdict over Greg Parkes by Lee Cocks saw West Mids trailing 5-1.
With a mountain to climb Doug Thompson stopped the rot. He won the first leg against Robbie Hain in 16 darts, then with two more winning legs of 23 and 15 won 3-0, his 27.83 winning him the match award.
Glen Cullen made it 5-3 with a similar 3-0 win against Ricky Mitchell and when John Platt beat Tom Burns 3-1, all of a sudden the visitors were back in the game at 5-4. The tenth game was a five legs affair, Viv Gould (West Midlands) won the first, then his opponent Wayne Livett took the next two. Gould levelled the game in the fourth in 17 darts, with Livett left way back on 240. Both players fought hard for the lead in the decider and it was Livett who first left a double, hitting 105 to leave himself on 30 after 18 darts. Gould stepped up to the oche requiring 130, three dart were all he had and three darts were all he required as he checked out to win the leg, win the game 3-2 and level the overall score at 5-5 with two to play.
It appeared to be going West Midlands way when in the penultimate encounter Lance Hackett opened a 2-0 lead on Jason Wiles, but it was Wiles who ran out the 3-2 winner. As on many occasions before the result now was down to the last two players, Mick baker for the Midlands and Jason Gallagher for London. Gallagher won the first, taking just 16 darts with a top score of 140. The second leg went to Baker, 2×100 and 140 seeing him clinch the 15 darts leg with a 78 checkout. The London player came back once more to win the third leg which really could have gone either way. The fourth leg was the best contest of the game, Mick Baker kicked off with scores of 100, 180, 54 and 60 to leave 107 after 12 darts. Gallagher’s response was 81, 100, 100, 180 to leave him on double top, a double he did not get to throw for as Baker had a game shot of 107 to make it 2-2.
Gallagher had first throw in the last leg, but it was Baker who edged ahead to finally check out on 41 with Gallagher on 74. A great 3-2 win and a good 6-6 result.
To restore a little confidence into the ladies ‘A’ a decent result was required to erase the two previous 6-0 defeats. The game did not got off too good as Sarah Robbins went down 3-0 to Claire Bywaters, but with the same scoreline Kath Jenkins beat Casey Gallagher to level the score and record the Midlanders first winner in three games. Doubling their total was Jackie Crew. Jackie came up against Trica Wright and won a close contest, despite the scoreline of 3-0 which gave her a match award winning 17.48 average.
The game was put back to level terms again in the fourth when Kerry Simmons had a 3-0 win over Lisa Astbury, but for the first time since the opening day of the season, way back in September, West Midlands ladies ‘A’ were guaranteed to get something out of the game in the penultimate encounter when long serving Diane Tolley beat Lisa Dunford 3-2. Diane won the first with a superb 136 outshot, fell 2-1 behind then roared back to win 3-2
The final score was 3-3 when Jacqueline Saunders won 3-0 against Kim Fellows in the last of the ladies games.
It was looking good for the men’s ‘A’ side from the word go. Danny Coyle was first to the oche and beat Alan Hardy 4-0, then came a minor setback as Paul Wright (London) and team mate Chris Stevens beat Richard Platt (4-3) and Matt Dicken (4-2).
From 2-1 down the men’s ‘A’ then stormed into 7-2 lead. Andy Forrester started the onslaught, coming from 2-1 down against Richard Angelo to win 4-2, before man of the match Ian Jones stepped on the stage to give a truly majestic performance against Nicky Turner. Turner with game shots of 140 and 80 took a 2-0 lead before Jones turned the screws. He won the third in 16 darts, 85, 100, 140, 81 and 95 game shot, the fourth in 13 darts, with throws of 59, 135, 180, 93 and double seventeen, the fifth hitting 180, 100, 60, 100 and 61 game shot and rounded off a brilliant 4-2 win with shots of 140, 123, 60, 100 and 78 outshot for a magnificent average of 31.34, which earned the match award.
From 3-2 up, wins from Nick Fullwell, Neil Pointon, Peter Wyse and Jamie Hughes against Matt Winzar, Robe Edwards, Lewis McGurn and Paul Killington moved the Midlands outfit nicely along to 7-2. Tony Hamit delayed the actual win when he beat Jake Jones 4-1, but in the very next game Mark Rollinson, who was pegged back no fewer than three times by Graham Rackstraw, added his 3-2 win for an unbeatable 8-3 running tally.
George Killington won the last game of the weekend against Dean Stewart 4-2, putting the final result at 8-4 to the West Midlands and an overall weekend’s result all square at 18-18.
Overall not a bad result for the West Midlands but with only two remaining fixtures, away to Dorset, who have 141 points and the last of the season at home to Derbyshire, who are on 124, West Midlands with 127 and London 132, it is vital they get a result from both of the final two games.