Norfolk played hosts to the West of England ( on 26th/27th Feb) knowing the visitors had a strong team and were flying high in Division 2. We knew this was going to be a tough weekend, but Norfolk had the squad on both days to bring home a result.
The ladies started the day and with West of England not missing much scoring-wise and outshots Norfolk’s ladies battled well and managed a 3 all draw, wins for Norfolk came from Sandra Page(14.23), Lucy Hoddy ( 14.27) and once again Lady of the match Julia Virgoe(17.30) .
The Men then took to the stage and again with a strong Men’s away team Norfolk narrowly missed doubles where West of England didn’t and came out 9.3 winners, victories for Norfolk came from Jack Holmes(22.77), Dan Taylor(20.63), and Man of the Match Terry Redhead winning 3.0 hitting a 116 out shot and a tidy (25.91) average, this leaving Norfolk trailing 6.12 overnight and a bit of a mountain to climb on Sunday.
The Ladies from Norfolk started the mountain climb well by winning 5.1 wins from Mandy Gray(15.44), Marie Stopher(13.78), Kerry Mason(16.34), Nikki Goldsmith(16.25) and taking Lady of the match again Captain Steph Potter (20.88), this result giving Norfolk hope as the score was now 11.13, and all to play for.
West of England Men started off strong as we knew they would, taking the first 4 games, but Norfolk showed great fighting spirit and fought with a lion’s heart and wins started to come our way, James Cole was the first to stop the rot by winning 4.0(22.77), then Chris Earll beat Mark Dudbridge 4.2(20.57),W,O,E then took the next game but then Andrew Hircock got back to winning ways winning the first game in the Sunday team 4.2(25.69),Man of the Match Ollie King then won 4.1 hitting 2 maximums and a nice (28.60)Ave.
Evan Wilson was the next winner taking a 4.2 and a (25.24). Although West of England’s Men won 7.5 Norfolk held their head high and played with pride and a fight that made Men’s Captain Kevin Rudling very proud .
Overall Result: Norfolk 16:20 West of England
Match awards were handed out after the game and a wonderful testament was made to Norfolk from Mike Norton saying they were overwhelmed by the support and fight by Norfolk over the weekend and that we made them all feel very welcome.
Good luck to West of England in their remaining games.
Ollie King, Steph Potter, Julia Virgoe, Terry Redhead.
Also, Congratulations went to Nikki Goldsmith who got her Welsh International call up.
Norfolk travel to Middlesex..5th/6th March and are at home to Bedfordshire in their final game on the 26th/27th March>
—–ENDS—–
Words: Mandy Gray Image: Norfolk Darts
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