After gaining promotion from division two last season, Salopian’s life in division one began with a bye, their first actual game being an away fixture against Devon who finished last season in the bottom three of the division, just avoiding relegation.
Debutant Laura Bebbington gave the away team the early lead when she won the opener against Katie Miller 3-1. Unfortunately the lead didn’t last long as the host’s reeled off three wins in a row with Karen Matthews beating Chloe Ames 3-0 followed by further 3-0 wins from both Anna Pearce and Hayley Brant who in turn defeated Emma O’Callaghan and Karen Weston.
Lady of the match Anna Peatroy stopped the Devon ladies charge when she won 3-2 against Zoe Lovell with a 15.31 average. The final game going to the host’s Heather Toney, her 3-2 win over Hayley McGuinness taking the final score to 4-2 to Devon.
The opening two games of the men’s ‘B’ match could easily have gone either way as despite Andy Evans having a 26.54 average and James Jenkins a 24.56 average they both lost 4-3 in turn to Dean Brown and Jack Goyne. The next three games all had 4-2 results, going to Devon’s Paul Palmer, Mark Turner and Shaun Hurrell who beat respective opponents Jake Elsey, Ben Bevan and Jake B. Smith, the final game of the first half produced Salopian’s first winner, Danny Humphries winning 4-2 against Flynn Jones.
The second half began with a second win for the visiting team, Scott Towers, not only winning 4-2 against Daniel Brazier but also clinching the match award for his 24.55 average. That alas was to be the last winner for Salopian as the host’s then sealed a 10-2 win with further wins from Danny Belsten, who beat Jack Darby 4-1, Luke Roberts and Darren (Tex) Pearce in turn won 4-0 against Ben Ellis Dean and Mick Unsworth, and with 4-1 wins over Glyn Thomas and Scott Dockerty by Steve Donohue and Junior Howard the hosts were home and dry.
After a 4-2 defeat for the ladies ‘B’, it got even worse on Sunday as the ladies ‘A’ suffered a 5-1 defeat, but it was Salopian that got the better start as Sue Lane beat Lisa White 3-2 and being as she turned out to be the sole winner for the visitors she got the match award for her 16.17 average. After trailing 1-0 Devon stormed to a 5-1 win thanks to wins from Cleo Trelease, Hayley Brant, Jodie Hawton, Nicole Goyne and Tracy Ware who in turn chalked up wins over Tracey Dean (3-1), Hayley McGuinness (3-0), Anna Peatroy (3-1), Emma Tapp (3-2) and Kate Titley (3-2).
The men’s ‘A’ team got off to a good start with Kacey Jones winning 4-1 against Lewis Dare and Jon Mansell beating Kieran Joy 4-0. Jon Bush pulled one back for the home side when he won 4-1 against Mark Crutchley before Salopian produced their man of the match Derek Coulson who was in terrific form beating Todd Woodberry 4-0 with an outstanding average of 33.40. From 3-1 up, by the halfway point it was level pegging as Mark Vellacott beat Dave Bayton 4-3 and Paul Milford won 4-1 against Ash Hilditch.
The away team took the lead once again as the second half got underway, Jamie Chaplin winning 4-1 against Mike Pearce but parity was restored in the eighth when Scott Andrews won 4-2 against Paul Rowley. From 4-4 Salopian then raced into a winning 7-4 lead with 4-1 wins from Ian Evans, Terry Nash and Gary Crowther who beat their respective opponents Charlie Wiles, Daniel Case and Simon Washington. Taking the final score to 7-5 was Owen Bates (Devon) who rounded off the weekend with a 4-0 win over Jamie Kynaston.
The overall result for the weekend was a 24-12 win for Devon, leaving Salopian bottom of the division but with a game in hand on all but Berkshire above them.
—–ENDS—-
Images: World Senior Darts
