After winning promotion last season, Black Country are enjoying a great start to their season in division two, consolidating their top-of-the-table position after their most recent fixture away to Nottinghamshire.
After losing the first of the ladies ‘B’ games when Jenny White won 3-0 against Sarah Tromans, Black Country moved up a gear and with a 3-2 win from Stella Sims against Maggie Bamford followed by a 3-1 success for Grace Angell over Julie Wilson, Grace taking the match award for her 17.56 average. A further 3-1 win from Amy-Leigh Tolley against Ronnie Johnson extended Black Country’s lead to 3-1 before Nicola Wing pulled one back for Nottinghamshire when she beat Doreen Hunt 3-1. The final score finished all square at 3-3 when Jan Schofield won her game against Lacey Hughes 3-2.
The men’s ‘B’ found themselves trailing 3-1 when Mat Tedstone lost the opener 3-1 to Steve Johnson and Cayden Smith went down 3-0 to Aaron Gormley and although Mark Rollinson (Black Country) won the third 3-0 against Rob Flinders, a similar 3-0 result for Paul Harvey over Gavin Smith made it 3-1 to the home team. Despite this by the halfway mark it was level pegging as Jamie Barrowman won 3-1 against Richard Bloomfield and Shaun Hill beat Josh Hamilton 3-2.
The second half began well as Black Country took three in a row thanks to Ali Hickinbottom and Martyn Harper winning 3-0 against Jack Kerr and Paul Green and Jamie Rollinson winning 3-1 against Wes Deane to open up a 6-3 lead for the away team.
Nottinghamshire then fought hard in an effort to earn a draw as their Chris Scott won 3-0 against Luke Jones and Jay Foreman beat Rich Bowen 3-2 to put the onus on the last two players of the day. Up to the oche stepped James Hewitt for Nottinghamshire and for Black Country Connor Whitehouse. The visitors could not have wished for a better anchor man as Whitehouse romped to a 3-1 win and in the process earned himself not only the man of the match award for his 26.61 average but also the 7-5 victory for his teammates.
Sunday got off to a good start as the ladies ‘A’ roared to an unassailable 4-0 lead and setting them on their way was Heather Wright who beat Rebecca Collins 3-1, then came three consecutive wins, first lady of the match Chez Allcock (19.71) then Angie Carroll and Tammy Chance who in turn defeated Julie Pitchford, Helen Harvey and Kaylea Riley. The last two games both went to Nottinghamshire as Sue Esswood won 3-1 against Shannon Hall and Sarah Brent beat Maxine Prosser 3-0 to see Black Country win the game 4-2.
Black Country were 4-2 up at the midway point of the men’s ‘A’ game as Rob Smith won the opener against Pete McConville 4-3 and Paul Wells doubled the advantage with his 4-1 win over Steve Stanbridge. A 4-3 win for Paul Harvey against Dan Homer saw the hosts chalk up their first winner before Graham Hall restored Black Country’s two games buffer with his straight 4-0 win over Connor Beasley. 4-0 was the margin by which Chris Scott (Nottinghamshire) beat Stephen Jones but with a 4-2 win for Tom Bissell against Micky Stocks the 4-2 lead was achieved by the visiting team.
The away side’s lead was extended to 5-2 as the second session got underway, Dan Nicholls accounting for Chris Cooper with a 4-3 result. Charlie Stocks pulled one back for the home side as he won 4-2 against Reece Colley but a share of the points was achieved in the ninth when Trevor Brennon won 4-3 against Darren Layden. Keeping Nottinghamshire in the game was Tom Allies with a 4-0 success over Gaz Johnson but it was all in vane as the win was attained for the Black Country in the penultimate game when Alex Howells beat Jason Holmes 4-1. Saving the best till last the away side produced their man of the match in the shape of Shane Price who with a 29.58 average and a 4-2 result over Mark Wilson took the final score to 8-4 in Black Country’s favour.
The overall 22-14 win for Black Country keeps them top of division two with a total of 146 points, a lead of eighteen over their nearest rivals Tyne and Wear.
—–ENDS——
Alan Towe writes with the support of Red Dragon Darts
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