Derbyshire v Gwent
Derbyshire are finding life tough at present and their plight in division one of the BDO Inter County Championships goes from bad to worse as for the third consecutive fixture they lost. Newly promoted this season to division one Derbyshire, who had six wins, one draw and only two defeats in last season’s campaign to get promoted have now played three and lost three and will anxious to get a result against local rivals Nottinghamshire in their next fixture.
Playing at home against Gwent Samantha Clarke was first on for the ladies ‘B’ and recorded a 3-1 win over Cheryl Jones. Nicola Fletcher went two down to Tracey Hickey and although she pulled back to 2-2 lost the fifth and Gwent were back on level terms. The visitors then went ahead as Susan Bailey beat Louise Rawson-Lee 3-0.
Rachel Bird levelled for the home team when she added her 3-0 win over Stephanie James to the tally but it was Gwent who forged ahead again in the penultimate encounter when Natalie Tucker beat Dee Fenn 3-1. Kelly Dean was Derbyshire’s saviour as she took on Hannah Meek in the final game, Kelly won the first leg in 19 darts and although the Gwent player won the second it was Dean who took the following two for a 3-1 win and the match award for her 17.75 average, Kelly’s win putting the final score at three each.
Andrew Ashcroft put Gwent’s men’s ‘B’ team one up when he won the opener against Adrian Daniels 3-2, Paul Bettney responded in style for Derbyshire when he won the first leg against Viv Smith in 21 darts and followed that with a 13 darts leg in which he scored 100, 140 180, 41 and checked out on double twenty first dart. Bettney then sealed a straight 3-0 win with a 17 darts leg, the win giving him a man of the match award winning average of 29.47.
That really was all Derbyshire had to cheer in the first half as William Jeffries, Nathan Perry and Andrew Miller each recorded 3-0 wins for Gwent against respective opponents Adrian Asprey, Paul Williams and Ashley Spencer. Damon Osborne rounded off the half for Gwent and gave them a 5-1 lead with his 3-1 win over Darren Sinfield.
Tony Cresswell lost the opening leg of his game to Craig Lloyd but replied with three in a row in 20, 17 and 15 darts for a 3-1 win, however the cheers were short lived by the home crowd as Gwent came back again with two more 3-0 wins from Raymond Hardwick and Nathan Treadgold who in turn accounted for Keith Cooper and Alan Evans to open up an unassailable 7-2 lead for the visitors.
The last three games all went in favour of Derbyshire but all three players were made to fight for their wins. Mark Walker went two down to Daniel Cole but held on in there and went on to win 3-2, David Allcock lost the first to Ryan Quantick and won 3-1 and in the final game of the day Peter Slater went from one up against Patrick Aldoescu to 2-1 down and then won the tie 3-2 to give a more respectable look to the 7-5 result for Gwent but at the same time leaving the ‘B’ team without a win in their first three games.
Prior to the Gwent fixture the ladies ‘A’ team were unbeaten and Derbyshire’s shining light as they had won one and drawn the other, this latest fixture quickly put an end to that. Chris Savvery put Gwent one up with a 3-0 win over Jackie Sweet then there were three 3-1 results all going to the away team as in turn Kimberley Walker, Amanda Rosser and Jan Robbins defeated Jennifer McCormick, Sara-Jane Harrison and Sara Jukes to give Gwent a winning 4-0 margin in the first four games and things got worse as Kimberley Lewis beat Lauren Jackson 3-0 in the last but one game.
Jane Densley who had six match awards last season and has already claimed one of the first two this campaign was on at number six and true to form she came up trumps to avoid a complete whitewash. Jane won the first leg against Ceri Stephens with a super 17 darts leg hitting 100 and a maximum, she then went two up in 21 darts and cemented her win with a superb 16 darts leg hitting 100,100,100,85,100 and finishing on double four giving her a fantastic average of 27.83 and putting the final score at 5-1 to Gwent.
The men’s ‘A’ like the ‘B’ side were without a win this season they began brightly as Richard Hanson gave them the ideal start, a man of the match performance beating Adrian Rees 4-1. Hanson kicked off with 15 and 16 darts legs to go two up, Rees pulled one back in the third in 13 darts before Hanson added an 18 darts leg to his tally and then won the tie in style with a tremendous 12 darts leg scoring 180,45,140 and having a game shot of 136 for a cracking 31.63 average.
Derbyshire’s next two players Robert Wood and Andrew McCracken both found themselves trailing 2-0 to respective opponents Stephen Cake and Steven Challenger but Wood took the next four legs to win 4-2 and McCracken won the following three, stuttered in the sixth but won the tie 4-3 with a great 14 darts leg, his opponent left requiring 82.
The Derbyshire charge was halted momentarily when Peter Johns beat Gary Fenn 4-1 after Fenn had won the first leg, nevetheless the three games lead was restored when Paul Baker won 4-2 against William Hook, Hook having won first and fourth legs.
The half finished with a 4-2 lead for the hosts as Gwent’s Nick Kenny won the sixth game against Alan Statham 4-0.
The away team began the second half where they had left off Alan Walker beating Paul Mellor 4-2 and then Dale Riddler winning 4-3 against Tim Daniels who had come from 2-1 down to lead 3-2 before eventually losing.
With the score now level at four each the home team once again took control Robert Smith won 4-1 against Carl Lloyd, Nigel Daniels beat Andrew Hulbert 4-2 and chalking up the magical seventh win was Darron Brown with a straight 4-0 success over Jesse Heal.
Chris Harris (Gwent) took the final score to 7-5 when he beat Lee Stanley 4-1 in the last game but the win, the ‘A’ teams first of the campaign could well be the confidence booster required to get them going for the rest of the season.
Full Results:(Derbyshire names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Richard Hanson 4 Adrian Rees 1, Robert Wood 4 Stephen Cake 2, Andrew McCracken 4 Steven Challenger 3, Gary Fenn 1 Peter Jones 4, Paul Baker 4 William Hook 2, Alan Statham 0 Nick Kenny 4, Paul Mellor 2 Alan Walker 4, Tim Daniels 3 Dale Riddler 4, Robert Smith 4 Carl Lloyd 1, Nigel Daniels 4 Andrew Hulbert 2, Darron Brown 4 Jesse Heal 0, Lee Stanley 1 Chris Harris 4, Men’s ‘B’:- Adrian Daniels 2 Andrew Ashcroft 3, Paul Bettney 3 Viv Smith 0, Adrian Asprey 0 William Jeffries 3, Paul Williams 0 Nathan Perry 3, Ashley Spencer 0 Andrew Miller 3, Darren Sinfield 1 Damon Osborne 3, Tony Cresswell 3 Craig Lloyd 1, Keith Cooper 0 Raymond Hardwick 3, Alan Evans 0 Nathan Treadgold 3, Mark Walker 3 Daniel Cole 2, David Allcock 3 Ryan Quantick 1, Peter Slater 3 Patrick Aldoescu 2, Women’s ‘A’:- Kackie Sweet 0 Chris Savvery 3, Jennifer McCormick 1 Kimberley Walker 3, Sara-Jane Harrison 1 Amanda Rosser 3, Sara Jukes 1 Jan Robbins 3, Lauren Jackson 0 Kimberley Lewis 3, Jane Densley 3 Ceri Stephens 0, Women’s ‘B’:- Samantha Clarke 3 Cheryl Jones 1, Nicola Fletcher 2 Tracey Hickey 3, Louise Rawson-Lee 0 Susan Bailey 3, Rachel Bird 3 Stephanie James 0, Dee Fenn 1 Natalie Tucker 3, Kelly Dean 3 Hannah Meek 1.