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Only 4 weeks have passed since the finish of last years season which the Vic were pleased to see the back of after seeing both the darts and dominoes teams finish in their lowest league positions since moving into the Seaham and District Charity League three seasons ago.
However, a new dawn for the darts team, missing many of last year's better performers, failed to inspire the lads as we went down to a crushing 6-1 defeat at home to the Times Inn with only Stevie Burton emerging victorious. The dominoes side got off to a flier and could afford to take victory even with defeats to last years' prolific pairing of Iggy and Nonka.
The darts team were handed a boost with the late arrival of Kev Cunningham, last years most consistent player, and he took on Peter Rutherford in what looked like being a cracking start to the new season. Peter threw some excellent darts and Kev never got out of first gear, still needing more than 300 by the time Peter checked out in around 23 darts.
This years captain, Stevie Kell, was up next and the pressure of captaining the team is the only excuse I can find to describe what was an absolute shocker for Stevie. Neil Harland was the beneficiary and in fairness he threw some decent darts but Steve's throw of 26 was massive in comparison to scores of 11 (twice), 10 and 7. Neil managed to wobble a bit toward the finish and even allowed Stevie to get below 200 but it was an easy victory for the Times player and he coasted to the win with plenty in hand.
David Jennings, returning after an encouraging pre-season, took on A Jordon in the 3rd leg. Davy, playing before leaving for nightshift, must have been focused on work more than his darts but he still out performed the previous two home players by scoring more than 60 in a visit and came up against a decent player in Jordon who put the Times 3-0 up in no time at all.
Norman McKenna, bedecked in his Action Man regalia, was up next and he played Peter Heckles in the 4th leg. Norman cranked up the quality by hitting 2 scores in excess of 60, including a ton, but was still no match for Heckles who romped to a 25(ish) dart leg with Norman at least on a 3 dart finish.
Stevie Burton, without a single home victory last season, was up against Colin Purvis in the 5th leg. Purvis got away with a 45 and Stevie responded with an 82 including a great cover shot into treble 19. Purvis struggled for consistency and Stevie stepped in with an 85, 80 and a ton to move well clear. The pressure of failing to win at home all of last season then took its toll on Burton who went from tops to double 1 before finally taking a win for the home side to avoid the whitewash.
Tommy Cummings, who tailed off after a great start to last season played skipper Steve Smith in the 6th leg and a ton from Tommy was all that separated both players in the opening 12 darts. Tommy's failure to close out games last season proved costly to his average though and it was again costly as he allowed Smith to get back into the match and he put Tom out of his misery to take the 6th leg to send the Times 5-1 up as both players went after double 1.
Ian Graham took on Les Pinder in the final leg and Les' initials could have stood for Long Play as this proved to be the longest leg of darts of the evening, almost resulting in both players missing out on the grub. Ian got off to a slow start as Pinder moved well ahead with some decent scores including a 121 and a couple of 60s before Ian got back into it with a ton of his own. Ian left himself his favourite double 1 but it wasn't his friend tonight as Pinder took out double 2 to give the away team a comprehensive victory.
The dominoes got off to an awful start as Ian Graham went down to D Smith and that was soon matched by Nonka as he also suffered a rare reverse as he lost out to P Usher. The old guard then took charge as Bobby Balls, a late arrival whose place almost went to Dale Greenfield, took the leg against G Coxon.
At 2-1 down the skipper, Les Graham, levelled matters by taking a heavyweight contest against Bob Smith Sr leaving Tucker Muncaster to play W Laybourn in the deciding leg.
With the pressure right on him, Tucker managed to show the Times lad why he's so revered by the Vic and feared by the opposition (
) and The Legend competed a fantastic comeback for the Vic to take the spoils in the opening gambit.
Rusty is the only way to describe the quality of the darts served up by some of the lads tonight and without naming and shaming anyone Captain Kell was absolutely minging. Kev has several mitigating factors going on at the minute but just having him turn out is a bonus for the rest of the lads (especially Dale as he didn't have to play). Hopefully George Jennings won't be sidelined too long and once Martyn Cooke, Craig Greenfield and Chris (The Comeback Kid) Fish are available the Vic should be able to field a stronger line up.
All credit tonight though to a steady performance by the TImes who put what was in front of them away with plenty to spare.
Next match for the Vic is away to the Top Club next Monday in the opening derby exchange of the season.
_________________
And if you're gonna flash.......FLASH HARD !!!!!
However, a new dawn for the darts team, missing many of last year's better performers, failed to inspire the lads as we went down to a crushing 6-1 defeat at home to the Times Inn with only Stevie Burton emerging victorious. The dominoes side got off to a flier and could afford to take victory even with defeats to last years' prolific pairing of Iggy and Nonka.
The darts team were handed a boost with the late arrival of Kev Cunningham, last years most consistent player, and he took on Peter Rutherford in what looked like being a cracking start to the new season. Peter threw some excellent darts and Kev never got out of first gear, still needing more than 300 by the time Peter checked out in around 23 darts.
This years captain, Stevie Kell, was up next and the pressure of captaining the team is the only excuse I can find to describe what was an absolute shocker for Stevie. Neil Harland was the beneficiary and in fairness he threw some decent darts but Steve's throw of 26 was massive in comparison to scores of 11 (twice), 10 and 7. Neil managed to wobble a bit toward the finish and even allowed Stevie to get below 200 but it was an easy victory for the Times player and he coasted to the win with plenty in hand.
David Jennings, returning after an encouraging pre-season, took on A Jordon in the 3rd leg. Davy, playing before leaving for nightshift, must have been focused on work more than his darts but he still out performed the previous two home players by scoring more than 60 in a visit and came up against a decent player in Jordon who put the Times 3-0 up in no time at all.
Norman McKenna, bedecked in his Action Man regalia, was up next and he played Peter Heckles in the 4th leg. Norman cranked up the quality by hitting 2 scores in excess of 60, including a ton, but was still no match for Heckles who romped to a 25(ish) dart leg with Norman at least on a 3 dart finish.
Stevie Burton, without a single home victory last season, was up against Colin Purvis in the 5th leg. Purvis got away with a 45 and Stevie responded with an 82 including a great cover shot into treble 19. Purvis struggled for consistency and Stevie stepped in with an 85, 80 and a ton to move well clear. The pressure of failing to win at home all of last season then took its toll on Burton who went from tops to double 1 before finally taking a win for the home side to avoid the whitewash.
Tommy Cummings, who tailed off after a great start to last season played skipper Steve Smith in the 6th leg and a ton from Tommy was all that separated both players in the opening 12 darts. Tommy's failure to close out games last season proved costly to his average though and it was again costly as he allowed Smith to get back into the match and he put Tom out of his misery to take the 6th leg to send the Times 5-1 up as both players went after double 1.
Ian Graham took on Les Pinder in the final leg and Les' initials could have stood for Long Play as this proved to be the longest leg of darts of the evening, almost resulting in both players missing out on the grub. Ian got off to a slow start as Pinder moved well ahead with some decent scores including a 121 and a couple of 60s before Ian got back into it with a ton of his own. Ian left himself his favourite double 1 but it wasn't his friend tonight as Pinder took out double 2 to give the away team a comprehensive victory.
The dominoes got off to an awful start as Ian Graham went down to D Smith and that was soon matched by Nonka as he also suffered a rare reverse as he lost out to P Usher. The old guard then took charge as Bobby Balls, a late arrival whose place almost went to Dale Greenfield, took the leg against G Coxon.
At 2-1 down the skipper, Les Graham, levelled matters by taking a heavyweight contest against Bob Smith Sr leaving Tucker Muncaster to play W Laybourn in the deciding leg.
With the pressure right on him, Tucker managed to show the Times lad why he's so revered by the Vic and feared by the opposition (
) and The Legend competed a fantastic comeback for the Vic to take the spoils in the opening gambit.
Rusty is the only way to describe the quality of the darts served up by some of the lads tonight and without naming and shaming anyone Captain Kell was absolutely minging. Kev has several mitigating factors going on at the minute but just having him turn out is a bonus for the rest of the lads (especially Dale as he didn't have to play). Hopefully George Jennings won't be sidelined too long and once Martyn Cooke, Craig Greenfield and Chris (The Comeback Kid) Fish are available the Vic should be able to field a stronger line up.
All credit tonight though to a steady performance by the TImes who put what was in front of them away with plenty to spare.
Next match for the Vic is away to the Top Club next Monday in the opening derby exchange of the season.
_________________
And if you're gonna flash.......FLASH HARD !!!!!