With London darts National League side were perilously close to being sucked into a relegation dogfight, a home win against Northamptonshire was imperative. However the visitors are always a tough nut to crack so London needed to be at their best in order to come away victorious.
As always, the festivities began with the Ladies B. London got off to the best possible start as Kelly Livett shrugged off the loss of the opening leg to take the next three on the spin in a dominant display, not giving her opponent a chance at the double and also claiming the match award in the process. Two defeats followed before Su Holt drew the sides level. But as before, Northants took the last two points of the session to take a 4-2 sectional win.
The Men’s B were tasked to ensure that parity was the bare minimum at the end of day 1, and to their credit that target was achieved. The hosts started well, with Dean Buckland and John Walters snaring the first two points of the session. Northants quickly restored their two point advantage. Rob Herbert reduced the arrears in a seven leg thriller but that seemed to be a temporary respite as another two points were swiftly collected by Northants.
London now had to dig deep with their opposition three points clear. Match award winner Pat Scurfield, Charlie Little and James Malcher only dropped three legs between them and swung the pendulum of momentum back in London’s favour. The last two points were shared, with Dave Cook having the last word to leave it all to play for on day two.
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Jo Deamer and Mandy Solomons gave London a flying start, with Deamer taking the match award after a fine display. The third match went to the visitors, but Debs Watling and Kath Meneer came back victorious in the second half of the session to give the men a vital two point cushion.
The Men’s A made full use of the advantage which the Ladies had done so well to provide. Jamie Tilley set the tone for what was to follow. He won in five and his defeated opponent, “Rapid” Ricky Evans later bade farewell to the County scene. Although London couldn’t take the next point on offer, they promptly reeled off the next four to put themselves well in command. Tommy Sanwell, Lewis McGurn, Wayne Clark and Freddie Box all left the oche with the spoils. With six matches left, London only need to get one more win and the full compliment of bonus points were theirs.
They couldn’t get it in the seventh match but didn’t have to wait much longer as Alan Slater took the match award and ensured the Capital arrowsmiths would end the weekend on top. Nick Cocks soon deposited another point in the London win column, but in the last three games only one more was added, courtesy of Graham Rackstraw with a straight legs stroll.
The 21-15 win pushed London up to eighth, ten points clear of the dreaded drop zone. Next up sees London travel to Gwent. Another ten points separates London from Northamptonshire, who have played a game more so another good result should put them in good heart for the season’s run in.
London’s youth put up their best performance in quite some time with a narrow 9-8 loss at Essex. Alfie McNelis, Henry Meheux, Freddie Herbert and Josh Morris all came away with a point in the Under 18s. Lilly Cook prevented a whitewash in the Ladies, before the Under 21s took the sectional win courtesy of Alfie Jenner, Alfie Beattie and Harvey Harris.
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Welling B have clocked up a century of points and have only tasted defeat once in their first 15 games in the Men’s Super League. They hold a 16 point lead over Footscray Eagles, who themselves are 7 clear of Footscray Falcons who sit in third place. There is clear daylight between them and Bellingham who are a further 19 points back in fourth. Footscray Phoenixs and Footscray Hawks occupy fifth and sixth, with Greenwich, Viking Arrows and Vauxhall rounding out the table.
Armed and Hammered are currently at the summit in the Ladies Super League, with their nearest challengers Buzzballs 7 points in arrears. Boozy Booshes (39) round out the top three. Wonky Booshes are fourth, Motley Crew occupy fifth spot and Thirsty Booshes look to be in fairly secure possession of the dreaded wooden spoon.
—–ENDS—–
“The Pearly King”
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