Week 11 Report

Report by Olly Nunn

After a seven-week break, league action resumed this week, with vital points on offer as the teams look to improve their standing in the table.

First up, Foxhill and District Club played host to the tie between the home side and Raging Bull. Yet it was not the start Foxhill would have wanted, as Martin Schimelds fell in a 3-0 loss to Liam Kent. A strong display from Mark Thomson, with 19, 14, and 20 darters on the way to a 3-0 win versus Dale Blackwell, then doubled the Bull’s advantage. And soon enough, two further whitewashes, from Bri Jones (who took out a 100 checkout) against Morgan Mullins and Adam Chadwick against Jack Walker, guaranteed a win for the visitors. Foxhill at least avoided a clean sweep of the singles with a 3-0 victory from Ben Cooper in his game against Matty Pierce, while the two teams split the pairs, with Kent and Jason Marsh taking the first for the Bulls and Cooper and Howden taking the second for Foxhill. With all games played, it was a 5-2 win for the Raging Bull.

It was the Warriors’ first week in their new venue, the Travellers Inn, and they marked it with a game against Woodbourne Vintage. Russ Simmons gave Vintage an early lead with a straight legs win against Colin Johnson, but in a close contest that went all the way to a decider Ian Webster levelled the scores, beating Chris Keane 3-2. The Warriors then went ahead, as, after dropping the first leg, Barry Brittle took the next three to win 3-1. The fourth game was between Paul Brittle and Mick Hulley, and it was Hulley who took the match with a whitewash. Short on players, Vintage had to concede the fifth game to Warriors, putting the hosts one away from an upset win. But the visitors would bounce back in the doubles, with two consecutive 2-0 wins clinching the tie. 4-3 to Vintage, then, was how the night ended.

Thorncliffe’s Finest were at home versus Station Railwaymen, with the first game between Dan Ashton for the hosts and Geoff Higgs for the visitors. The match would go to a decider, with Ashton (who hit an 18 darter in the fourth) and Higgs trading legs all the way to the last. Higgs had the throw in the fifth leg, and was able to hold his nerve to win 3-2. Up next was the Thorns’ Josh Hall against Station’s Pete Roebuck, and, although Hall took the first leg, Roebuck then reeled off three on the bounce to take the game 3-1. The third and fourth games also went to the Railwaymen, with Ryan Goffin and Gav Pilling both delivering 3-0 wins (beating Dylan Farmer and Lewis Wroe) and a 21 darter each along the way. Tom Sawford would then make it five from five for Station, starting his game against Oliver Parfrement with a 17 darter before going on to win 3-1. Sawford was up again in the first pairs with Pilling, and the two saw off Ashton and Farmer in straight legs, which Roebuck and Goffin then repeated in their win against Hall and Parfrement. So, with a 7-0 win, and 180s from Roebuck and Sawford, the defending champions continue to build up their lead at the top of the table.

It was the Understudies versus the Miners at the Uni Arms this week, and the Swallownest side got off to a good start with Kev Hatfield securing a whitewash victory against Jack Stoddard in the first game. The Understudies’ Elliot Hopkins went one up in the second game, but three successive legs from Rich Tingle meant it ended 3-1 to the Miners. With an 18 darter in the second leg, Tim Whiting beat Jimmy Knott 3-0 in the third game, and the Miners’ fourth win, by the same score, came in the next game as Tom Tingle saw off Damien Reed. The last singles game, between Jack Quinn for the Understudies and Kev Allison for the Miners, saw Allison go 2-0 up and one away from the match. But Quinn then reeled off three successive legs to produce a 3-2 comeback win and give the Understudies a point on the board. From there, momentum shifted back to the Miners, with 2-0 wins from Whiting and Rich Tingle and Hatfield and Tom Tingle in the pairs (versus Knott and Stoddard and Quinn and Hopkins) ending the tie 6-1 to the away side.

The Woodbourne Mouses were at home against the Uni Arms Academicals, and up first was Jordan Caley versus Jack Newton. Caley broke to take the first leg, before Newton broke back in the second and then took the third to go one away. Newton missed match darts in the third leg, which Caley would take to force a decider, but the Accy D’s man got the job done in the fifth to win 3-2. Joe Hopkins would lose to the Mouses in the second game, and then the hosts went ahead as Glynn Harris beat Jack Lewis 3-0 in the third. The game between Mouses captain James Thomas and the Accy D’s Olly Nunn saw four successive breaks of throw, before Tank (who hit a 19 darter in the second leg) held in the fifth to win 3-2. John Cartledge started well for the Mouses in the fifth singles, breaking in the first leg and then hitting a 180 in the second. Yet Dan Booth would come from behind in that leg to break back and level the scores at one all. Cartledge, though, was able to press on from there, producing another 180 and a 19 darter in the last leg to win 3-1. With both pairs games also going to the Mouses, each by 2-0, the home side completed a 6-1 victory, and a bad day in the office for the Accy D’s.

So, at the end of Week 11, the Railwaymen remain on top with 65 points, fourteen clear of the field. Another win for Raging Bull keeps them in the second with 51 points, while the Mouses remain third with 48. The Accy D’s are fourth with 44 and up to fifth are the Miners with 37. From there, the table goes Foxhill in sixth, Vintage in seventh, the Thorns in eighth, Understudies in ninth, and rounding out the table are the Warriors in tenth. A lot can still change though, and the teams will be back in Week 12 looking for more wins.