It was cheers all round for the Shropshire County Darts Organisation players, officials and supporters as in game four of the Windows for Darts Division Three UKDA National League they chalked up their first victory of the four games season so far.
Carrying a narrow but hard-fought 7-5 lead from day one The ladies ‘A’ were seeking their first win of the campaign but it didn’t look as though this was going to be the day they got it when Brenda Dyer beat Jenna Ball 3-0 and Bonnie Bentley won 3-1 against Jayne Downey to give Isle of Wight a 2-0 lead.
The home team’s Sophie Fawcett had her lead cancelled out twice by Mandy Weldon before going on to win the fifth and final leg for her 3-2 win and at the same time stop the visitors charge.
Restoring parity was Shropshire’s lady of the match Becky Harris. Becky chalked up a convincing 3-0 win over Annie Weldon with her award-winning average of 19.03.
After the straight win by Becky Harris Shropshire’s last two players Marie Riggs and Michele Pritchard emulated Becky’s result with wins in turn over Donna Hall and Angie Cotton to complete a fantastic fightback from 2-0 down to win 4-2.
With two draws and one defeat the men’s ‘A’, like the ladies ‘A’ were looking for their first win but once again it was Isle of Wight who got the better start as their Jason Collins came from 2-1 and 3-2 down against Richard Parker to go on and win 4-3. Fortunately for the home team the lead didn’t last long as Sam Aitkens, after losing the first leg to Mark Whates went on to win 4-1. Paul Bromley gave Shropshire the lead but his opponent Lee Marsh won the first two legs and then drew level in the sixth to force a decider which Bromley won in 20 darts.
1-0 and 3-2 leads were not enough for Martin East to avoid a 4-3 defeat by Chris Jafkins or to stop the away team drawing level at 2-2 but it only took the next game to see the home side forge ahead again as Andy Vellender accounted for Greame Dutson with a 4-2 result.
By the midway point Shropshire had opened up a 4-2 lead as Ben Johnson after coming from 2-0 and 3-1 down won 4-3 against Jason Waites.
A 4-2 win from Andy Jervis over Michael White extend Shropshire’s lead to 5-2 as the second session got underway, that lead momentarily reduced as Pete Collins won 4-2 against Rob Thompson.
The hosts were assured of at least a share of the spoils in game number nine when Reece Cook-Lucas added his straight 4-0 win over Mark Breakspear to their tally and with Chris Williams following up with his 4-2 win over Darren Andrew the match was won.
The penultimate game of the day and the weekend produced the man of the match for Shropshire’s men’s ‘A’ team as Chris Fox, after losing the first leg in 21 darts to Dale Grove then went on to win 4-1 with wining legs in 19,17,17 and 17 darts to give him a 27.13 average.
The final score was taken to 9-3 in Shropshire’s favour when anchorman Martin Riggs won 4-2 against David Bourne.
The 9-3 win by the men’s ‘A’ took the overall score to 21-15 to Shropshire and saw them move up one place in the divisional table to a very respectable fourth position.
