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The Vic went into tonights game trying to stop a run of 4 successive defeats in the league and who better to come up against than the Navy Club who had never turned the Vic over in a league game. However, they'd already won 4 of the opening 6 games of the season compared to the Vics 2 from 7 so nothing was going to be a walkover.
Of more concern was the way that the Navy Club lads entered the club tonight with so many sticks between them that we thought they'd turned up for a hockey match
Added to that, the Vic fielded probably the weakest side we've ever fielded with key absentees due to holidays, shift patterns, other commitments or throwing rattles out of prams
The darts team lined up with Tomm Cummings, Stevie Burton, George Jennings, Ian Graham and Norman McKenna plus Eddie Williamson and Bobby Balls played to make sure we had at least a team of 7.
A complete makeover for the dominoes team saw the fall guy dropped by Bobby and the team of Ballsy, Ian Graham, George Jennings, Norman McKenna and Eddie Williamson challenged one of the strongest teams in recent years.
Norman McKenna got the darts off and running against Dick Stokell, a bit hit and missy at the best of times, but both players maintained a consistent lowly average at the early part of the game. Norman then upped the ante with a 92 and an 85 that were matched by Stokell's 81 and 85. The scoring was nothing compared to the length of time spent on the doubles though and both endured a torrid time trying to win the leg. Stokell had plenty of shots into double 17 and 19 whilst attempting double 2 and Nonka had several close calls into double 1 but eventually Dick spotted his opportunity and took out double 2 to take the opener.
The 2nd leg saw Eddie Williamson up against K Kennedy. Eddie started off well with a ton and Kennedy struggled in the early part of the match. Eddie kept plugging away as Kennedy seemed to lose a bit of confidence and another score of 81 by Eddie seemed to have finished the Seaham player off. However, in a carbon copy of leg 1, both players found doubling particularly difficult and endured the mother of all battles at double 1. Once again the away side came out on top and Kennedy took out double 1 to give the Navy Club a 2-0 lead.
Stevie Burton played D Punshen in the next leg and Stevie started brighly with a ton. Punshen peppered the 19s and took advantage of some slack follow up darts by Stevie to keep a slender lead. Scores of 81 and 66 plus a steady 60 should have given Burton the advantage but Punshen nailed a number of variable trebles to keep himself ahead with Burton left shaking his head. Punshen took out double 14 as Stevie waited on 66.
Bobby Balls, who desperately tried to get out of playing, took on Frank Lane in the next leg and a hefty defeat was now looking likely for the Vic. Both players threw moderately although Frank did hit a 95 and Bobby hit a late 87 to put a bit of pressure on his opponent. After missing darts at double 14 and double 4 Bobby allowed Lane to have another go at double 4 which he made no mistake with. 4-0 to the Navy Club.
Ian Graham took on away captain Neil Rooney in leg 5. Rooney got away with an 81 which Ian responded to with an 85. Rooney kept up the pressure and hit a treble 20 in 2 of his next 3 throws to give him a wide margin over Iggy. WIth Rooney down to 135 Ian roared back with a 140 of his own but Rooney wasn't ready to buckle and held his nerve to win a decent standard leg of darts to further increase the pain on the home side.
Tommy Cummings played N Weller in the next leg and an opening throw of 26 by TC wasn't what the Vic wanted to see. Weller wanted to see the Vic going underground but Tommy was anxious not to join the funeral pyre and start-ed a comeback for the Vic to show that he wasn't an absolute beginner when it came to winning. Victory for Tom gave Weller the job of swallowing the bitterest pill for the away team so far tonight as Tommy got the Vic out of a bit of a jam
George Jennings played Alan Dent in the final leg and George blasted away from the start witha ton, a 125 and a 132 to give him the chance of a 15 dart leg. Dent kept hanging in though and George found hitting doubles as hard as the rest of the Vic players tonight and gave Dent an outside chance of an unlikely win needing 53. Alan stepped up aiming for treble 13, hit the single and then plonked the 2nd dart right in the red bit to take out a bull finish.
It would be easy to blame the number of players missing for our defeat tonight but that wouldn't be fair on the Navy Club who have been on the end of plenty of similar one sided results in their time so tonight was payback time for them and helps to maintain their excellent early season form. The Vic look to be in a bit of a crisis at the moment and the fortnights break between now and the next game away to the Park couldn't have come at a better time.
The dominoes team lined up, somewhat unexpectedly, with a complete change in personnel with George Jennings and Eddie Williamson being selected at the expense of the Dominator (admittedly 1 leg from the last 9
) and Tucker Muncaster who was due to have been in Spain but has landed himself with a stay in the Freeman instead. Hopefully this is more precautionary and I'll start the good wishes off that Tucker makes a quick and full recovery.
Bobby Balls, stand in Captain, lost out to F Lazenby in leg 1 but Norman McKenna took yet another controversial win in leg 2 at the expense of N Rooney. Not sure what the controversy was about this time but Normans own captain said he hadn't won properly. Will try and tidy this up when I know more.
Ian Graham kept up his healthy average of losing on the count as he went down in the second leg and debut defeats for both Geordie Jennings and Eddie Williamson saw the skippers selection backfire on him as George lost to J Kilmartin and Eddie was eased out by Frank Lane.
The 4 lads who played in the 1001 team game darts on Friday night (G Jennings, S Burton, I Graham and C Greenfield) lost 3-0 to Dawdon Welfare. Apart from a fairly easy win for the home side in the first leg the Vic should have at least taken something from the game but once again inablilty to hit doubles was the main reason for our failure. 2 weeks of practice now to try and sort it out.
Thanks to Frank for taking the card down from tonights game which I'm sure will be framed for posterity
_________________
And if you're gonna flash.......FLASH HARD !!!!!
Of more concern was the way that the Navy Club lads entered the club tonight with so many sticks between them that we thought they'd turned up for a hockey match
Added to that, the Vic fielded probably the weakest side we've ever fielded with key absentees due to holidays, shift patterns, other commitments or throwing rattles out of prams
The darts team lined up with Tomm Cummings, Stevie Burton, George Jennings, Ian Graham and Norman McKenna plus Eddie Williamson and Bobby Balls played to make sure we had at least a team of 7.
A complete makeover for the dominoes team saw the fall guy dropped by Bobby and the team of Ballsy, Ian Graham, George Jennings, Norman McKenna and Eddie Williamson challenged one of the strongest teams in recent years.
Norman McKenna got the darts off and running against Dick Stokell, a bit hit and missy at the best of times, but both players maintained a consistent lowly average at the early part of the game. Norman then upped the ante with a 92 and an 85 that were matched by Stokell's 81 and 85. The scoring was nothing compared to the length of time spent on the doubles though and both endured a torrid time trying to win the leg. Stokell had plenty of shots into double 17 and 19 whilst attempting double 2 and Nonka had several close calls into double 1 but eventually Dick spotted his opportunity and took out double 2 to take the opener.
The 2nd leg saw Eddie Williamson up against K Kennedy. Eddie started off well with a ton and Kennedy struggled in the early part of the match. Eddie kept plugging away as Kennedy seemed to lose a bit of confidence and another score of 81 by Eddie seemed to have finished the Seaham player off. However, in a carbon copy of leg 1, both players found doubling particularly difficult and endured the mother of all battles at double 1. Once again the away side came out on top and Kennedy took out double 1 to give the Navy Club a 2-0 lead.
Stevie Burton played D Punshen in the next leg and Stevie started brighly with a ton. Punshen peppered the 19s and took advantage of some slack follow up darts by Stevie to keep a slender lead. Scores of 81 and 66 plus a steady 60 should have given Burton the advantage but Punshen nailed a number of variable trebles to keep himself ahead with Burton left shaking his head. Punshen took out double 14 as Stevie waited on 66.
Bobby Balls, who desperately tried to get out of playing, took on Frank Lane in the next leg and a hefty defeat was now looking likely for the Vic. Both players threw moderately although Frank did hit a 95 and Bobby hit a late 87 to put a bit of pressure on his opponent. After missing darts at double 14 and double 4 Bobby allowed Lane to have another go at double 4 which he made no mistake with. 4-0 to the Navy Club.
Ian Graham took on away captain Neil Rooney in leg 5. Rooney got away with an 81 which Ian responded to with an 85. Rooney kept up the pressure and hit a treble 20 in 2 of his next 3 throws to give him a wide margin over Iggy. WIth Rooney down to 135 Ian roared back with a 140 of his own but Rooney wasn't ready to buckle and held his nerve to win a decent standard leg of darts to further increase the pain on the home side.
Tommy Cummings played N Weller in the next leg and an opening throw of 26 by TC wasn't what the Vic wanted to see. Weller wanted to see the Vic going underground but Tommy was anxious not to join the funeral pyre and start-ed a comeback for the Vic to show that he wasn't an absolute beginner when it came to winning. Victory for Tom gave Weller the job of swallowing the bitterest pill for the away team so far tonight as Tommy got the Vic out of a bit of a jam
George Jennings played Alan Dent in the final leg and George blasted away from the start witha ton, a 125 and a 132 to give him the chance of a 15 dart leg. Dent kept hanging in though and George found hitting doubles as hard as the rest of the Vic players tonight and gave Dent an outside chance of an unlikely win needing 53. Alan stepped up aiming for treble 13, hit the single and then plonked the 2nd dart right in the red bit to take out a bull finish.
It would be easy to blame the number of players missing for our defeat tonight but that wouldn't be fair on the Navy Club who have been on the end of plenty of similar one sided results in their time so tonight was payback time for them and helps to maintain their excellent early season form. The Vic look to be in a bit of a crisis at the moment and the fortnights break between now and the next game away to the Park couldn't have come at a better time.
The dominoes team lined up, somewhat unexpectedly, with a complete change in personnel with George Jennings and Eddie Williamson being selected at the expense of the Dominator (admittedly 1 leg from the last 9
) and Tucker Muncaster who was due to have been in Spain but has landed himself with a stay in the Freeman instead. Hopefully this is more precautionary and I'll start the good wishes off that Tucker makes a quick and full recovery.
Bobby Balls, stand in Captain, lost out to F Lazenby in leg 1 but Norman McKenna took yet another controversial win in leg 2 at the expense of N Rooney. Not sure what the controversy was about this time but Normans own captain said he hadn't won properly. Will try and tidy this up when I know more.
Ian Graham kept up his healthy average of losing on the count as he went down in the second leg and debut defeats for both Geordie Jennings and Eddie Williamson saw the skippers selection backfire on him as George lost to J Kilmartin and Eddie was eased out by Frank Lane.
The 4 lads who played in the 1001 team game darts on Friday night (G Jennings, S Burton, I Graham and C Greenfield) lost 3-0 to Dawdon Welfare. Apart from a fairly easy win for the home side in the first leg the Vic should have at least taken something from the game but once again inablilty to hit doubles was the main reason for our failure. 2 weeks of practice now to try and sort it out.
Thanks to Frank for taking the card down from tonights game which I'm sure will be framed for posterity
_________________
And if you're gonna flash.......FLASH HARD !!!!!