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The Vic claimed their first double of the season tonight in an absorbing contest at home to Deneside Club. The darts started off in fine style by romping into a 3-0 lead before a valiant fightback from the Deneside lads threatened to make it an interesting final few games. Thankfully, stand in skipper Stevie Kell, managed to hit a double to win the match. The dominoes team coasted to an easy 4-1 success despite losing the opening chalk on a night that saw the return of The Dominator to the side.
When I walked into the club at half 7 last week only Tommy Cummings was throwing darts at the board so it was a welcome sight as I got there at the same time this week to see Tommy, Kev, Iggy and Davy Jennings all practicing hard. After another 10 minutes both Iggy, Steve Kell and George Jennings, back after his DVT experience, actually gave us a team to pick from.
A late entrance from last week's winner Norman McKenna wasn't enough to give him a place in the starting line up though as controversial Kell decided to bench him. Probably for not looking like an Action Man.
Kev Cunningham, as he'd done a fortnight ago, got the game underway against Dean Ruddock. In practice Kev was a completely different person to the one who turned up for the opening game of the season and he took this into his match as an excellent 20 darter was more than enough to take the opener. Ruddock, kept digging away and although he hit a score of 3 on his way down still left himself on a 3 dart finish by the time Kev checked out.
Leg 2 saw the welcome return of George Jennings, sidelined due to a bout of DVT, blood clots and a lengthy stay in hospital after his holiday in Mexico. The fat lazy bastard might actually get off his lazy arse and walk around the plane for a bit the next time he embarks on a 12 hour flight
He was up against G Banks who found beating a pop sipping George to be a bit of a mountain to climb and the returning hero took out double 10 to take the Vic into a 3-0 lead with some good darts along the way.
David " Chutney" Jennings, one of Friday night's heroes, played E Gallagher in the 3rd leg and after 15 darts it looked like Deneside would narrow the lead as Gallagher was down to a double and Davy still needed more than 300. However, Gallagher showed why he isn't nicknamed "The Calculator" as his rhythmn went when he needed to count his scores. Davy never gave up and even with an abundance of sub 60 scores somehow managed to get down to a finish. Gallagher blew a stack of chances on double 1 to allow Chutney back to hit double 10 and send Deneside into a proper pickle.
Ian Graham played T Head in leg 4. Ian hit a steady 60 in the opening leg which Head replied to with a 22. A couple of low scores were then traded before Head hit some big scores to leave Ian well behind and Head wrapped up a convincing 20 dart leg with Ian back on a 2 dart finish in what was a decent leg of darts.
Tommy Cummings faced Kevin Breeze, the away team captain, in the 5th leg and Tommy was desperate to avoid a hat trick of defeats. Breeze started slowly with a 41 and Tommy's reply of 60 gave him the lead but it was short lived as Breeze then created more of a storm with a ton and a few 80+ scores, Once again, Tommy struggled to find treble 20 and Kevin brought the scores closer by taking out double 10 to make it squeaky bum time for the Vic.
Captain Kell, a huge disappointment so far this season played I Thirlwell in the 6th leg. Steve hit a ton with his opening 3 darts but then struggled to maintain consistency which enabled Thirlwell to keep in touch. Both players had plenty of chances to win the game and it was Steve who eventually hit double 6 to nick the win and give him and the Vic their first wins of the season.
Stevie Burton, victorious in his opening 2 games of the season, played R Punshon in what was now a dead leg of darts but Stevie was desperate to preserve his unbeaten run. Both players started slowly though and Punshon moved ahead with a shot of 121 which Stevie replied to with a ton. A few more mediocre scores were hit before Punshon hit a 138 to leave him on 54. Stevie needed 152 and a brilliant 140 left him needing double 6 as Punshon went to the oche. Punshon hit double 1 instead of double top to give Stevie a chance but Stevie missed his opportunity and Punshon made no mistake with his next dart hitting double 19.
The dominoes team were short of Bobby Balls who is crisping himself in Benidorm and after losses for both Tommy Cummings and George Jennings in Fridays Cup game, tonight saw the unlikely return of Stevie "The Dominator" Burton after nearly 2 seasons in the self-enforced dom wilderness.
Iggy got matters underway against P Appleby and Ian retained his 100% unwinning start to the season as he cruised to defeat. Norman McKenna, no doubt seething after being dropped in the darts, took out his anger on H Dormand in the next leg and Nonk did what he does best and took an easy victory.
At 1-1 Tucker Muncaster carried on from where Norman left off by defeating R Playle and the match was over as Les (Captain Fantastic) Graham thrashed D Atkinson by 3 legs to 1 to take the pressure of Burton.
Burton went to the board having been told that the score was actually 2-2 and having no reason to think otherwise went about his business against A Wood, a player of vintage years and plenty of experience. However, it was Burton produced the special vintage dominoes and Wood was left broken and confused as he was tied up in knots and left mumbling to himself as The Dominator returned in style to dole out a 3-1 battering.
So you can image my dismay as I came bounding into the snooker end having thought I'd won the game only to be told that we were already 3-1 ahead
Anyway, a win is a win is a win as they say and that's all that matters at the end of the night. The darts team had slumped to 3rd bottom of the table before tonights win so hopefully we'll have gained some confidence to take into the next few games. Having said that we always struggle in the opening 5 weeks due to playing some good teams and having players missing so this might be the kickstart we needed. The dominoes team have had a decent start, recording 2 wins from 3 and a narrow 3-2 loss at the hands of the Top Club, is the only blip so far.
Last Friday was the preliminary round of the Olive Rooney Trophy against Mitchells of Seaham and the Vic almost failed to field a team. The last minute availability of Adrian Jennings and the unexpected return of George Jennings saw us field the requisite number of players. Wins in the 1001 team game darts (T Cummings, A Jennings, D Jennings, G Jennings) plus 1001 pairs victories for G Jennings & T Cummings and A Jennings & D Jennings plus doms wins for T Muncaster and D Jennings gave the Vic the victory by the narrowest of margins.
The prize for that win is a home tie against Deneside Club this Friday and the line up of D Jennings, C Fish, I Graham, G Jennings, T Cummings and N McKenna plus T Muncaster should at least give us a decent enough team to pick from. We'll probably be missing M Cooke, A Jennings and Kev Cunningham and Stevie Burton is in Germany and Bobby Balls in Benidorm but Eddie Williamson and D Carver should also be on standby so we should be able to field a decent line up.
I came across the Mill Inn darts website and message board last week which you can access via the www.clubgb.co.uk website which contains some really good match reports. But as we all know, if Carlsberg did darts match reports they'd probably be as good as those on the murtonvic website
_________________
And if you're gonna flash.......FLASH HARD !!!!!
When I walked into the club at half 7 last week only Tommy Cummings was throwing darts at the board so it was a welcome sight as I got there at the same time this week to see Tommy, Kev, Iggy and Davy Jennings all practicing hard. After another 10 minutes both Iggy, Steve Kell and George Jennings, back after his DVT experience, actually gave us a team to pick from.
A late entrance from last week's winner Norman McKenna wasn't enough to give him a place in the starting line up though as controversial Kell decided to bench him. Probably for not looking like an Action Man.
Kev Cunningham, as he'd done a fortnight ago, got the game underway against Dean Ruddock. In practice Kev was a completely different person to the one who turned up for the opening game of the season and he took this into his match as an excellent 20 darter was more than enough to take the opener. Ruddock, kept digging away and although he hit a score of 3 on his way down still left himself on a 3 dart finish by the time Kev checked out.
Leg 2 saw the welcome return of George Jennings, sidelined due to a bout of DVT, blood clots and a lengthy stay in hospital after his holiday in Mexico. The fat lazy bastard might actually get off his lazy arse and walk around the plane for a bit the next time he embarks on a 12 hour flight
He was up against G Banks who found beating a pop sipping George to be a bit of a mountain to climb and the returning hero took out double 10 to take the Vic into a 3-0 lead with some good darts along the way.
David " Chutney" Jennings, one of Friday night's heroes, played E Gallagher in the 3rd leg and after 15 darts it looked like Deneside would narrow the lead as Gallagher was down to a double and Davy still needed more than 300. However, Gallagher showed why he isn't nicknamed "The Calculator" as his rhythmn went when he needed to count his scores. Davy never gave up and even with an abundance of sub 60 scores somehow managed to get down to a finish. Gallagher blew a stack of chances on double 1 to allow Chutney back to hit double 10 and send Deneside into a proper pickle.
Ian Graham played T Head in leg 4. Ian hit a steady 60 in the opening leg which Head replied to with a 22. A couple of low scores were then traded before Head hit some big scores to leave Ian well behind and Head wrapped up a convincing 20 dart leg with Ian back on a 2 dart finish in what was a decent leg of darts.
Tommy Cummings faced Kevin Breeze, the away team captain, in the 5th leg and Tommy was desperate to avoid a hat trick of defeats. Breeze started slowly with a 41 and Tommy's reply of 60 gave him the lead but it was short lived as Breeze then created more of a storm with a ton and a few 80+ scores, Once again, Tommy struggled to find treble 20 and Kevin brought the scores closer by taking out double 10 to make it squeaky bum time for the Vic.
Captain Kell, a huge disappointment so far this season played I Thirlwell in the 6th leg. Steve hit a ton with his opening 3 darts but then struggled to maintain consistency which enabled Thirlwell to keep in touch. Both players had plenty of chances to win the game and it was Steve who eventually hit double 6 to nick the win and give him and the Vic their first wins of the season.
Stevie Burton, victorious in his opening 2 games of the season, played R Punshon in what was now a dead leg of darts but Stevie was desperate to preserve his unbeaten run. Both players started slowly though and Punshon moved ahead with a shot of 121 which Stevie replied to with a ton. A few more mediocre scores were hit before Punshon hit a 138 to leave him on 54. Stevie needed 152 and a brilliant 140 left him needing double 6 as Punshon went to the oche. Punshon hit double 1 instead of double top to give Stevie a chance but Stevie missed his opportunity and Punshon made no mistake with his next dart hitting double 19.
The dominoes team were short of Bobby Balls who is crisping himself in Benidorm and after losses for both Tommy Cummings and George Jennings in Fridays Cup game, tonight saw the unlikely return of Stevie "The Dominator" Burton after nearly 2 seasons in the self-enforced dom wilderness.
Iggy got matters underway against P Appleby and Ian retained his 100% unwinning start to the season as he cruised to defeat. Norman McKenna, no doubt seething after being dropped in the darts, took out his anger on H Dormand in the next leg and Nonk did what he does best and took an easy victory.
At 1-1 Tucker Muncaster carried on from where Norman left off by defeating R Playle and the match was over as Les (Captain Fantastic) Graham thrashed D Atkinson by 3 legs to 1 to take the pressure of Burton.
Burton went to the board having been told that the score was actually 2-2 and having no reason to think otherwise went about his business against A Wood, a player of vintage years and plenty of experience. However, it was Burton produced the special vintage dominoes and Wood was left broken and confused as he was tied up in knots and left mumbling to himself as The Dominator returned in style to dole out a 3-1 battering.
So you can image my dismay as I came bounding into the snooker end having thought I'd won the game only to be told that we were already 3-1 ahead
Anyway, a win is a win is a win as they say and that's all that matters at the end of the night. The darts team had slumped to 3rd bottom of the table before tonights win so hopefully we'll have gained some confidence to take into the next few games. Having said that we always struggle in the opening 5 weeks due to playing some good teams and having players missing so this might be the kickstart we needed. The dominoes team have had a decent start, recording 2 wins from 3 and a narrow 3-2 loss at the hands of the Top Club, is the only blip so far.
Last Friday was the preliminary round of the Olive Rooney Trophy against Mitchells of Seaham and the Vic almost failed to field a team. The last minute availability of Adrian Jennings and the unexpected return of George Jennings saw us field the requisite number of players. Wins in the 1001 team game darts (T Cummings, A Jennings, D Jennings, G Jennings) plus 1001 pairs victories for G Jennings & T Cummings and A Jennings & D Jennings plus doms wins for T Muncaster and D Jennings gave the Vic the victory by the narrowest of margins.
The prize for that win is a home tie against Deneside Club this Friday and the line up of D Jennings, C Fish, I Graham, G Jennings, T Cummings and N McKenna plus T Muncaster should at least give us a decent enough team to pick from. We'll probably be missing M Cooke, A Jennings and Kev Cunningham and Stevie Burton is in Germany and Bobby Balls in Benidorm but Eddie Williamson and D Carver should also be on standby so we should be able to field a decent line up.
I came across the Mill Inn darts website and message board last week which you can access via the www.clubgb.co.uk website which contains some really good match reports. But as we all know, if Carlsberg did darts match reports they'd probably be as good as those on the murtonvic website
_________________
And if you're gonna flash.......FLASH HARD !!!!!