As Shropshire went into their fourth fixture of the season in division three of the UKDA National League they were riding on the back of an encouraging 22-14 home win over Breconshire in their previous game and hoping to add to that win playing away against Isle of Wight.
There were mixed fortunes for the ladies as the ‘B’ side went down 4-2 and the ‘A’ won 5-1. Jane Downey put the ‘B’ team one up with her 3-0 win over Lyn Marshall. Jane’s straight victory and 14.05 average earning her the match award at the end of the day. Shropshire’s only other winner was third on Deana Sheldon who accounted for Anne Weldon, once again with a straight 3-0 result.
The ‘A’ team stormed into an unassailable 4-0 lead as Annmarie Williams, Marie Riggs and Jenna-Louise Ball assured them of at worst a draw before lady of the match Kelly Haverson put up the winning stripe with her 3-0 success over Kate Freeman, Kelly having a 20.04 average.
In the penultimate game, Fiona Pickin was the hosts first and what turned out to be their only winner as she beat Michele Pritchard 3-1, the final result taken to 5-1 with a 3-1 win from Dianne Newton over Ann Llewellyn.
It was a great weekend for the men’s teams as the ‘B’ won their Saturday game 9-3 and the following day the ‘A’ won 10-2.
The men’s ‘B’ dropped just one game in the first half as Martin Price got them off to a winning start when he took the match award for his 25.44 average and 3-1 win over David Spragg. Steve Lynch doubled the lead with his 3-0 success against Tony Parker and although Mark Edwards reduced the arrears with a 3-2 win over Luke Wildman it was only a temporary setback as Chris Evans, Shane Passey and Rushpal Bhogal took the score along to 5-1 by the break.
Chris Hill made it 6-1 when he won the second-half opener against Greg Hailes 3-2. Darren Andrews (Isle of Wight) 3-0 win over Brian Hickman only delayed the inevitable as the win was assured in the ninth when Stuart Kendrick beat Darren Winter 3-2.
A 3-1 win over Andy Vellender by Stephen Wilkes reduced the arrears to 7-3 but with wins from Paul Harrison and Will Roberts in the final two games gave Shropshire the 9-3 victory.
As in the ‘men’s ‘B’ game, the first encounter produced the man of the match in the ‘A’ game as Reece Cook-Lucas opened up with a 4-3 win over Christopher Blabey and a 26.08 average. From there on in it was all Shropshire in the first half as Jamie Webb, Andy Jervis, Richard Parker, Chris Fox and Kevin Harris all won to give the visiting team a massive 6-0 lead.
The run continued as the second half got underway with further wins from Simon Pritchard and Phil Clarke to confirm the win with a lead of 8-0.
With only four games remaining Isle of Wight had their best run as Graeme Dutton beat Dan Downey 4-3 and David Bourne won 4-2 against Jon Blakemore. The last two games of the match, day and weekend went to Shropshire, with wins from John Simms and Sam Aitkens taking the final men’s ‘A’ score to 10-2 and giving them an overall 26-10 win for the weekend.
The big win sees Shropshire move up from fourth in the promotion table to second, some 27 points short of leaders Middlesex but with this the middle of the season game there is a long way to go and lots could happen as it usually does before the promotion teams are finally found.
——ENDS—–
Alan Towe writes with the support of Red Dragon Darts
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