Shropshire, with two defeats in their opening two fixtures in the Darts for Windows Division Three of the National League were hoping to chalk up their first win when in game three they played away against Breconshire.
The Ladies ‘B’ lost the opener when Sian Harris Beat Dianne Newton 3-0, however, the host’s lead lasted only until the following game as Deana Sheldon won 3-1 against Lynne Layton and at the end of the day Deana received the match award for her 11.06 average.
From one each Breconshire stormed into a winning 4-1 lead with Sue Price beating Lisa Rea 3-0, Helen Thomas-Evans winning 3-1 against Kelly Haverson and Louisa Fox adding her 3-0 win over Kimberley Hewitt.
The final game saw Sophie Fawcett win 3-1 against Jayne Hossack to make the score a little more respectable at 4-2 in favour of the home team.
The men’s ‘B’ had the better start to their game as Rob Thompson started it all with his man of the match-winning 3-1 victory over Joseph Salmon. Thompson won the first leg in 17 darts and although he lost the second he then went on to win in 18 and 26 darts to give him an award-winning average of 24.24.
Brett Cooper doubled Shropshire’s lead when he accounted for John Brandon with a similar 3-1 success. However, from 2-0 up the score went to 2-2 as Zak Griffiths beat Melvin Roberts 3-1 and Stuart Hossack with a similar result won against Nathan Storar.
The last two games of the first half went with the first throw advantage as Dave Robbins gave Shropshire a 3-2 lead with his 3-1 win over Geriant Goode and making all square at three each at the break was Steve Hales who beat Andi Chatter 3-0.
As did the first half, the second also began well for the away team as Brian Hickman won 3-2 against Jason Parnell and taking the score to 5-3 to Shropshire was Chris Hill with a 3-1 success against Darren Evans. Rob Price momentarily reduced the arrears for Breconshire when he won 3-0 against Jon Blakemore only to see the visitors then take the final three games for a sweet 8-4 victory, their first of the campaign. Chalking up the last three wins were Dave Bayton, Simon Mountford and Paul Bromley who in turn won 3-2 against Nathan Jenkins, 3-0 against John Gibson-Lapper and 3-2 against Chris Carey.
It all went a little pear-shaped for the ladies ‘A’ team as in all of the six games they only recorded one single winning leg.
Joy Toghill, Sharon Hill and Natalie Evans gave Breconshire a 3-0 lead without dropping a leg as they defeated Marie Riggs, Jayne Downey and Claire Cunnington-Butler.
Becky Harris won the second leg against Carol Bufton but lost 3-1 and Shropshire’s final two players Jenna Ball and Michele Pritchard in turn lost 3-0 to Kaye Hales and Chris Sheen to give the home team a clean sweep with a 6-0 victory
The men’s ‘A’, like their ‘B’ side won the opening two games and again like the ‘B’ had their man of the match in the opening game. Martin East was first on and although taken to a deciding leg by Mark Salmon won 4-3 with winning legs of 22,20,19 and 14 darts to give him a 24.14 award-winning average.
Andy Jervis made it 2-0 when he beat Kevin Holvey with a straight 4-0 result and that was the margin by which Mark Layton reduced the deficit when he won against Justin Evans.
The two games buffer was restored for Shropshire in the fourth when Sam Aitkens came from 2-0 down against Wayne Glover to win 4-2.
Although Richard Parker (Shropshire) checked out on 129 in his first leg against Stuart Owens and then went 2-1 up in the third he finally lost 4-2, then with a 4-1 win for Andrew Kerry over Reece Cook-Lucas the score at the midway point was level at 3-3.
For the first time in the game Breconshire went ahead in the seventh as Richard Langlois beat Ben Johnson 4-1. Chris Williams (Shropshire) went one down against Ian Evans and although he then went 2-1 up was pegged back to level terms in the fourth, but with wins in the next two legs won the encounter 4-2.
The home side went ahead again in the ninth when Zak Turner handed Chris Fox a 4-0 defeat and although it was level pegging again in the tenth when Martin Riggs added his 4-2 win over Ralph Heaven-Richards, this was to be Shropshire’s final winner as Craig Lewis beat Andy Vellender 4-2 and Stephen Davidson won 4-0 against Dan Rickwood to give Breconshire men’s ‘A’ a 7-5 win and an overall victory of 21-15.
Despite three defeats in their first three games Shropshire, with a total of 48 points are in a respectable mid-table position.
—–ENDS—–
Words: Alan Towe
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