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Tonight's game had absolutely everything - a 14 dart leg, a ton plus finish and surely one of the longest deciding legs ever witnessed. The good news is that The Vic followed up last weeks victory by completing a league double over The Albion, both by 4-3 scorelines.
Having walloped Mitchells of Seaham 6-1 last week, the Vic made the longest trip on the calendar to The Albion in Ryhope in good spirits. The return of Craig Greenfield and the likely inclusion of Captain Martyn Cooke gave the Vic the unusual dilemma of having to select a team rather than just fielding 7 players.
Martyn made a late withdrawal and last weeks victor Norman McKenna chose to rest himself meaning that the only change to last week's winning line up saw Greenfield replace McKenna.
The Albion had lost only 1 of their last 8 matches which had helped to propel them into joint 5th place in the table with the Vic down in a lowly 16th position.
Tommy Cummings played young Jordan "The Flame" Watson in the opening leg and Tommy barely had his darts out of his pocket by the time the game was over. Watson played a fantastic leg of darts and his 14 dart leg included scores of 85, 140, 76, 100 before he finished with a 100 checkout of treble 20 double top. Despite the surprise shown by his team mates by the manner of victory, Watson may well be one to watch out for in the future. Tommy plugged away gallantly but his inability to hit a single treble 20 put absolutely no pressure on his young opponent and Tom was still needing more than 200 by the time the leg was over.
Stevie Kell played M McClenan in the next leg and it was an even affair in the early stages and the home player threw a host of darts around the lipstick but narrowly missed on several occasions. This was to prove to be his undoing though and Steve got into the game with a 140 and a ton of his own to put daylight between the two players. The more consistent Kell hit his double with something to spare and levelled the game at 1 leg apiece.
Fresh from an unexpected victory last week, Stevie Burton took on B Gent in the 3rd leg. As usual Stevie stuttered with his opening salvo and a score of 24 was immediately eclipsed by Gent's 76. A 118 from Stevie and a 90 took him into the lead before 4 poor throws had both players needing similar scores. Burton waited on 124 as Gent needed 113 and it was over in a flash as the home player hit single 20, treble 19 and double 18.
Craig Greenfield then played the formidable John Redpath, who always seems to win against the Vic. At one stage this looked like being a formality as Craig struggled and it took a 125 from Redpath to go clear. Craig then responded magnificently and throws of 140 and a ton left him needing 33. Redpath was down to 80 himself and Craig was given his opportunity once Redpath failed to hit double top. Greenfield was desperately unlucky to see his effort at double 16 land in double 8 though and it was all over as Redpath clinically checked out next dart to make it 3-1 to the Albion.
Kev Cunningham took on P Ball in the next leg and Kev began poorly with an opening score of 24. Things didn't improve much though and Kev continued to suffer from some really poor scores but was helped out by his opponent throwing even worse. The highlight of Ball's scoring came with the assistance of a sneeze from one of his team-mates which shocked him into hitting a single 20. Kev eventually got into the game and a 140 helped his confidence before he took out 41 to bring the Vic back into contention.
Iggy and George were still to play and a slight hold up in proceedings occured as George was playing dominoes against Ian's last leg opponent. Eventually George got onto the oche and played M Defty, another regular big hitter for the Albion. Tonight saw Defty really struggle though and George played one of his better legs and could have taken out a 17 dart leg against the throw at one stage. A minor blip on the doubles wasn't enough to threaten George's dominance though and he took out double 1 to secure a 23 dart leg and send the match into a deciding leg.
The deciding leg was something of a marathon game of supreme stamina, endurance but as happens in many a decider precious little high scoring. Iggy took on J Ball and Ian started with 26 and things didn't improve much after that. However, scoring often means very little in some of these games and it often comes down to who can hold their nerve the most. In tonight's game neither player appeared to want to win the game and after 2 scrubs of the scoreboard Ian wanted double 1 and Ball needed double 2. The tension was unbearable and both players were put through the full range of emotions and thankfully it was Ian that emerged triumphant as he secured the victory by the narrowest of margins. And unlike what his dad normally does, Ian actually secured what was to prove to be a leg that helped the team to victory rather than seeking individual glory
The dominoes continued their sorry run of defeats and despite the Nonk being available he was once again overlooked with Captain Les opting to include Georgeous George Jennings in the starting line up rather than returning to the line up that had started the season in great form.
Iggy got things underway but lost out to T Pemberton and Ian was later to describe the bagman as being particularly poor. Or words to that effect.
Tucker Muncaster again lost, this time at the hands of R Croft and another loss for Geordie Jennings gave the scoreline a somewhat familiar 3-0 look to it. With the pressure off once again, Les Graham took what was expected to be another single leg for the Vic by defeating Sammy Smith (still remembered for being the last victim of the Dominator) before Bobby Balls got in on the act by taking the final chalk against K Ashton.
A great victory for the darts lads against a usually very strong side who were undoubtedly weakened by the loss of a few key players tonight.
The next league meeting takes place on Sunday and the Vic will be hoping for a good draw in the next and final cup competition which will start a week on Friday.
_________________
And if you're gonna flash.......FLASH HARD !!!!!
Having walloped Mitchells of Seaham 6-1 last week, the Vic made the longest trip on the calendar to The Albion in Ryhope in good spirits. The return of Craig Greenfield and the likely inclusion of Captain Martyn Cooke gave the Vic the unusual dilemma of having to select a team rather than just fielding 7 players.
Martyn made a late withdrawal and last weeks victor Norman McKenna chose to rest himself meaning that the only change to last week's winning line up saw Greenfield replace McKenna.
The Albion had lost only 1 of their last 8 matches which had helped to propel them into joint 5th place in the table with the Vic down in a lowly 16th position.
Tommy Cummings played young Jordan "The Flame" Watson in the opening leg and Tommy barely had his darts out of his pocket by the time the game was over. Watson played a fantastic leg of darts and his 14 dart leg included scores of 85, 140, 76, 100 before he finished with a 100 checkout of treble 20 double top. Despite the surprise shown by his team mates by the manner of victory, Watson may well be one to watch out for in the future. Tommy plugged away gallantly but his inability to hit a single treble 20 put absolutely no pressure on his young opponent and Tom was still needing more than 200 by the time the leg was over.
Stevie Kell played M McClenan in the next leg and it was an even affair in the early stages and the home player threw a host of darts around the lipstick but narrowly missed on several occasions. This was to prove to be his undoing though and Steve got into the game with a 140 and a ton of his own to put daylight between the two players. The more consistent Kell hit his double with something to spare and levelled the game at 1 leg apiece.
Fresh from an unexpected victory last week, Stevie Burton took on B Gent in the 3rd leg. As usual Stevie stuttered with his opening salvo and a score of 24 was immediately eclipsed by Gent's 76. A 118 from Stevie and a 90 took him into the lead before 4 poor throws had both players needing similar scores. Burton waited on 124 as Gent needed 113 and it was over in a flash as the home player hit single 20, treble 19 and double 18.
Craig Greenfield then played the formidable John Redpath, who always seems to win against the Vic. At one stage this looked like being a formality as Craig struggled and it took a 125 from Redpath to go clear. Craig then responded magnificently and throws of 140 and a ton left him needing 33. Redpath was down to 80 himself and Craig was given his opportunity once Redpath failed to hit double top. Greenfield was desperately unlucky to see his effort at double 16 land in double 8 though and it was all over as Redpath clinically checked out next dart to make it 3-1 to the Albion.
Kev Cunningham took on P Ball in the next leg and Kev began poorly with an opening score of 24. Things didn't improve much though and Kev continued to suffer from some really poor scores but was helped out by his opponent throwing even worse. The highlight of Ball's scoring came with the assistance of a sneeze from one of his team-mates which shocked him into hitting a single 20. Kev eventually got into the game and a 140 helped his confidence before he took out 41 to bring the Vic back into contention.
Iggy and George were still to play and a slight hold up in proceedings occured as George was playing dominoes against Ian's last leg opponent. Eventually George got onto the oche and played M Defty, another regular big hitter for the Albion. Tonight saw Defty really struggle though and George played one of his better legs and could have taken out a 17 dart leg against the throw at one stage. A minor blip on the doubles wasn't enough to threaten George's dominance though and he took out double 1 to secure a 23 dart leg and send the match into a deciding leg.
The deciding leg was something of a marathon game of supreme stamina, endurance but as happens in many a decider precious little high scoring. Iggy took on J Ball and Ian started with 26 and things didn't improve much after that. However, scoring often means very little in some of these games and it often comes down to who can hold their nerve the most. In tonight's game neither player appeared to want to win the game and after 2 scrubs of the scoreboard Ian wanted double 1 and Ball needed double 2. The tension was unbearable and both players were put through the full range of emotions and thankfully it was Ian that emerged triumphant as he secured the victory by the narrowest of margins. And unlike what his dad normally does, Ian actually secured what was to prove to be a leg that helped the team to victory rather than seeking individual glory
The dominoes continued their sorry run of defeats and despite the Nonk being available he was once again overlooked with Captain Les opting to include Georgeous George Jennings in the starting line up rather than returning to the line up that had started the season in great form.
Iggy got things underway but lost out to T Pemberton and Ian was later to describe the bagman as being particularly poor. Or words to that effect.
Tucker Muncaster again lost, this time at the hands of R Croft and another loss for Geordie Jennings gave the scoreline a somewhat familiar 3-0 look to it. With the pressure off once again, Les Graham took what was expected to be another single leg for the Vic by defeating Sammy Smith (still remembered for being the last victim of the Dominator) before Bobby Balls got in on the act by taking the final chalk against K Ashton.
A great victory for the darts lads against a usually very strong side who were undoubtedly weakened by the loss of a few key players tonight.
The next league meeting takes place on Sunday and the Vic will be hoping for a good draw in the next and final cup competition which will start a week on Friday.
_________________
And if you're gonna flash.......FLASH HARD !!!!!