West Midlands have been residing close to the bottom of the table in the L-Style Division One of the UKDA National League for most of the season so far and what was actually their fifth game, (as the opener against Worcestershire was postponed), was a tough home tie against divisional leaders Derbyshire.
The weekend began with a 4-2 defeat for the ladies ‘B’ despite the opening game being won by their Shellbie Simmons who beat Jenny McCormick 3-2 and in the process took the match award for her 15.52 average. Sammie Marshall then won 3-1 against Kelly Doleman and Emily Jones beat Katherine Jenkins 3-2 to give Derbyshire a 3-2 lead. Tara Simmons-Fullwood momentarily levelled the score when she won 3-1 against Nic Fletcher but in the final two games Louise Rawson and Claire Wheeler in turn won 3-0 against Debbie Davies and Jacqueline Simmons to give Derbyshire the 4-2 result.
The men’s ‘B’ found themselves trailing 3-0 after the opening three games as Gary Fenn won 3-1 against Ben Johnson then Gavin Ratcliffe and Domonic Harrison beat respective opponents Kieran O’Mahoney and Neil Pointon 3-2.
A 3-2 win over Dave Rogers by Glen McGrandle stopped the rot for the Midlands side and with further wins from Ian Stanton and John Morris who accounted for Ben Holmes (3-1) and Michael Ryall (3-2), the score was level at 3-3 by the midway point.
Derbyshire went ahead again as the second half began with Robert Smith winning 3-0 against Dean Simmons-Fullwood but only to see the home side draw level once again as Rob Thompson beat Mark Barlow 3-2 and then for the first time in the game West Midlands took the lead as Paul Price won 3-2 against Mark Thompson to put the hosts 5-4 up. The lead didn’t last long as Will North and Pete Hadfield in turn won 3-2 against Jay Woodhouse and Mark Maiden to leave the outcome resting on the final game of the day. The result was a 6-6 draw as West Midlands man of the match Mark Craddock (25.05) beat Jamie Waterfield 3-0.
It was a game to forget for the ladies ‘A’ as Derbyshire stormed to a 5-0 lead thanks to wins from Rebecca Hoyland, Jax Sweet, Jo Oldershaw, Rose Mort, and Steph Allerton who in turn accounted for Claire Hobbs (3-0), Sarah Maybury (3-0), Gemma Barrett (3-0), Jacqueline Maiden (3-1) and Jodie Rowlands (3-1).
The home team’s sole winner Kat McLean won the final game against Rach Bird 3-0 and collected the match award for her 16.34 average.
The men’s ‘A’ had a fine first half as Ian Jones kicked it off with a 4-2 win over Michael Haynes and although a 4-0 win over Gavin Baker by Nigel Daniels levelled the score the home team then went 3-1 up with a 4-0 win from Michael Baker over Paul Redfern and a 4-3 success by Richard Platt against Sean Lambert. Henry Coates reduced the arrears to 3-2 when he won 4-1 against Adam Johnson but a 4-2 lead was achieved by the West Midlands at the end of the first half when Ryan O’Connor won 4-3 against Paul Williams.
The hosts went further ahead as the second half began, the man of the match Shaun Carroll beating Ian Allcock 4-0 with a superb 32.32 average to take the score to 5-2. Dan Ford kept the divisional leaders in the game with a 4-2 win over Ash Khayat but Kevin Bambrick assured the Midlands men’s ‘A’ team of at least a draw when he won 4-2 against Paul Bettney. A 4-3 win from Pete Hadfield over Owen Maiden kept alive the chance of a draw for Derbyshire but a win from Darren Williams against Josh Gould eliminated that chance as West Midlands were then in an unassailable 7-4 lead.
The final game of the weekend went to Derbyshire’s Lee Stanley, a 4-3 win over Jon Platt to take the score for the men’s ‘A’ to 7-5 to West Midlands but the overall result was 20-16 to Derbyshire.
West Midlands Vs Worcestershire:
West Midlands also played their rearranged fixture against Worcestershire which was originally scheduled to be the opening game of the season.
In this bottom-of-the-division clash, Saturday’s games both went in favour of the away side Worcestershire as their ladies won 4-2 and the men 7-5. Taking the respective match awards were Claire Dicken (19.03) and Elliott Hancox (27.85). Top players for the West Midlands were Shellbie Simmons (17.42) and Rob Thompson (26.78).
There were mixed results for Sunday’s games as Worcestershire won the ladies match, once again by 4-2 with Zoe Jones their lady of the match with a 20.88 average and Jacqueline Maiden taking the same honour for the West Midlands for her 20.31 average. The top players for the men’s ‘A’ teams were Nick Evans (Worcestershire) 26.89 and for the West Midlands a great 32.85 average for their top man Scott Baker in what was a 9-3 win for the home side, West Midlands.
The overall result was an 18-18 draw with West Midlands moving up from a next to the bottom of the table position to fourth place on 116 points and Worcestershire moving up from their bottom position to sixth with 112 points.
—–ENDS—–
Alan Towe writes with the support of Red Dragon Darts
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