Darts News - Alan Towe’s The Line On Darts – West of England v Shropshire
The first four games in the ladies ‘B’ match all went against the first throw advantage Sarah Cook the first winner for West of England beating Shirley Reading 3-1 and Kirsty Jenks cancelling out the win with 3-0 success against Louise Ballantyne to level at 1-1.
The home side went ahead again, this time through Janet Ashton who won a close 3-2 encounter with Shropshire’s Lynne Watton, but again the hosts lead was short lived as Deana Worrall defeated Cathrine Rosser 3-1 to earn herself the match award with a 15.66 average.
It was the penultimate game before the sequence was broken and it was Shropshire’s Michele Pritchard who brought it to a halt as in double quick time she handed out a straight 3-0 defeat to Susie Brown. The final tussle between Lucy Connor (West of England) and Suzanne Lane could have gone either way but it was Connor who got the close 3-2 verdict to salvage a share of the points for her team in a final 3-3 draw.
Neil Powell gave the men’s ‘B’ the ideal start when he beat Josh Allen 3-0 and although Darren Purnell (West of England) negated Powell’s win when he won 3-2 against Darryl Sheldon the rest of the half was all Shropshire’s.
Robert Harris had a 3-1 win over Shaun Anstey before Michael O’Neill and Jacob Perrins in turn handed out 3-0 defeats to Dale Fitzgerald and Gary Pinker and taking the away teams lead to 5-1 was Martin Riggs with a 3-1 success against Liam Dawe.
The second half began in a similar manner as Wayne Speed made it 6-1 for Shropshire when he beat Karl Amos 3-2, but then it slipped away from the visitors slightly as Lee Ellison beat Robert Trumper 3-0 and with 3-2 and 3-1 wins from Mark Jones and Steve Long against respective opponents Adam Thackray and Chris Perrins West of England were back in the game although still trailing 6-4.
Peter Eley supplied the vital seventh win for the away team a 3-1 win over Davis Kiernan and taking the final score to 8-4 was man of the match Andre Knox (25.47) who recorded a straight 3-0 win over Michael O’Neill.
The ladies ‘A’ had a great start sailing to a 3-0 lead without dropping a single leg. Katharine McLean got them underway with her 3-0 win over Jackie Skinner, the lead was then doubled when Marie Riggs, produced a lady of the match average of 18.56 and beat Claire Iles 3-0 then chalking up the third straight win was Stephanie Clarke who accounted for Helen Jones.
Jayne Fitzgerald pulled one back for the hosts when she beat Julie Griffiths with a narrow 3-2 result, but the final score was taken to 5-1 to Shropshire with 3-1 wins from Mandy Morgan and Caroline Powell who in turn defeated Tracey Webb and Amanda Tyler.
The men’s ‘A’ team got off to a rather slow start but nevertheless won two of the first four games, Dan Lovell put the home team one up with a 4-1 win against Clive Lucking only to see John Cornmell beat Robbie Long 4-2 to wipe out Lovell’s win. The hosts went ahead again in the third when Andrew White beat Kevin Harris 4-2 again only to see the lead cancelled out as Derek Coulson won 4-3 against Martyn Noakes.
From 2-2 West of England moved the score along to 4-2 in their favour Alan Skinner beating Darryl Sheldon 4-1 and Wayne Allen winning 4-2 against John Cooper before the visiting team stepped up a gear to take three in a row Roger Taylor winning 4-2 against Gary Grimmitt, Andrew Chatter beating Adrian Williams 4-3 and giving Shropshire the lead for the first time in the game at number nine was Neville Quinton with a 4-2 win over Paul Fellows.
Putting the running score back to level terms at 5-5 was West of England’s Martin Smith who won 4-0 against Eddie Austin. The penultimate encounter produced Shropshire’s man of the match Danny James who was involved in a thrilling seven legs affair with Alan Thatcher but came through with a 4-3 win and an award winning average of 25.50.
Going into the final game the outcome was still uncertain as to whether it would be a 6-6 draw or a 7-5 win for Shropshire and fortunately for the away side it was the latter as Ian Pallett beat Bill Bird 4-2 for not only a men’s ‘A’ 7-5 win but also a well deserved and vital overall 23-13 victory for Shropshire to lift them up two places in the table to seventh.
Full Results:(West of England names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Dan Lovell 4 Clive Lucking 1, Robbie Long 2 John Cornmell 4, Andrew White 4 Kevin Harris 2, Martyn Noakes 3 Derek Coulson 4, Alan Skinner 4 Darryl Sheldon 1, Wayne Allen 4 John Cooper 2, Gary Grimmitt 2 Roger Taylor 4, Adrian Williams 3 Andrew Chatter 4, Paul Fellows 2 Neville Quinton 4, Martin Smith 4 Eddie Austin 0, Alan Thatcher 3 Danny James 4, Bill Bird 2 Ian Pallett 4, Men’s ‘B’:- Josh Allen 0 Neil Powell 3, Darren Purnell 3 Darryl Sheldon 2, Shaun Anstey 1 Robert Harris 3, Dale Fitzgerald 0 Michael O’Neill 3, Gary Pinker 0 Jacob Perrins 3, Liam Dawe 1 Martin Riggs 3, Karl Amos 2 Wayne Speed 3, Lee Ellison 3 Robert Trumper 0, Mark Jones 3 Adam Thackray 2, Steve Long 3 Chris Perrins 1, David Kiernan 1 Peter Eley 3, Michael O’Neill 0 Andre Knox 3, Women’s ‘A’:- Jackie Skinner 0 Katharine McLean 3, Claire Iles 0 Marie Riggs 3, Helen Jones 0 Stephanie Clarke 3, Jayne Fitzgerald 3 Julie Griffiths 2, Tracey Webb 1 Mandy Morgan 3, Amanda Tyler 1 Caroline Powell 3, Women’s ‘B’:- Sarah Cook 3 Shirley Reading 1, Louise Ballantyne 0 Kirsty Jenks 3, Janet Ashton 3 Lynne Watton 2, Cathrine Rosser 1 Deana Worrall 3, Susie Brown 0 Michele Pritchard 3, Lucy Connor 3 Suzanne Lane 2.