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After last weels unexpected away win the Vic were brought back down to earth tonight and stuttered to a 6-1 defeat against Dawdon Welfare. The absence of Cooke, Greenfield and Cunningham meant that the Vic were always going to struggle and that was to prove the case. To their credit, the Dawdon lads threw 3 excellent legs between them and would have been more than a match for a full strength Vic.
The absence of so many regular players meant that the Vic were looking for volunteers to play tonight and after a brief discussion between Les Graham, Gary Symonds and Dale Greenfield it was Gary that bravely put himself forward despite not playing a competitive game for years or throwing any practice darts all evening.
Gary was drawn out first and took on P Dunn in the opener. Both players were very evenly matched during the opening stages although the standard of darts was fairly poor. Dunn eventually found his form and hit a couple of ton's plus an 80 plus score as Gary struggled to keep in touch. Dunn completed a fine win by taking out 76, hitting double top at the first time of asking. Credit to Gary though for having the bottle to take to the oche.
Geordie Jennings was up next against S Wanless and an excellent leg of darts by George, including a 140, turned his oppponent into S Winless. George also hit his double at the first opportunity to level the match and give the Vic a glimmer of hope.
The glimmer of hope looked like it would be shining brighter as Tommy Cummings was up next and Tom took on the dangerous left armer P Turnbull. Tommy had been struggling to find any sort of form all evening and his game proved to be no exception. He was helped by Turnbull hitting several poor scores of his own though and regular 41's were in abundance. Tommy eventually hit a few back to back 60s and was down to 100 as Turnbull continued to struggle. Toms hatred of double top returned to haunt him again and he missed the chance to put the Vic ahead as Turnbull stole in to take the 3rd leg on double 16.
Stevie Burton played P Gustard in the 4th leg and Stevie started brightly with an 85 which was answered with a 45 from Gustard. Stevie led during the early stages of the game but once Gustard got his nose in front Burton struggled to put any pressure on his opponent. Despite Gustard missing a handful of darts to win on double 8, Stevie never looked like winning the leg and it was all over shortly afterwards as Gustard took out double 8 with Stevie back on 72.
That was that as far as the mediocre games were concerned and the away team then moved up a few gears during the next 3 legs.
Iggy played M Price in the 4th leg and Price was right up for it as he started with some steady darts. Ian, after his match winning heroics last week, was no match for an in-form opponent and Price then hit some high scores to leave himself on a 21 darter before Ian hit a ton to give him some hope. Sadly for Ian and the Vic the game was over as a spectacle as Price took out double top to take the match with an impressive 22 dart leg.
Even better was to come from the away team as A Skelton, another left armer, took on the mighty Norman McKenna in leg 6. Norman was quite simply blown away as Skelton hit a ton with his opening 3 darts which were then eclipsed as he thumped in a 180 with his next throw. Skelton could then afford the luxury of a few 40+ scores before rounding off victory on double 10 to take out an excellent 20 dart leg. Norman never gave in though and was down to just under 200 by the time the end came.
The final leg was played between home captain Stevie Kell who played J Slee. Stevie also struggled to get started and Slee was to prove as capable as the 2 lads who had just won and he took out an excellent 101 finish on double 12 to record a highly commendable 21 dart leg.
Very high standard of darts shown in the last 3 legs and with the opening 2 games being won with players hitting doubles at the first attempt this was a fairly good game to watch expecially as both teams are wallowing in the lower reaches of the league this season.
The Vic got off to a cracking start in the dominoes as Captain Les Graham continued his impressive recent run of victories by taking out P Turnbull 3-0 in the opening leg. The omens weren't good though as victory for Les usually means defeat for the team.
However, all looked good for the Vic as the returning Norman McKenna threw down his usual array of excellent/flukey/inspired/rubbish/quality/mesmerising/unusual/fucking amazing (delete as appropriate) dominoes and sent the Vic 2-0 ahead as he overcame J Slee by 3 legs to 1.
Hopes were now high of a long overdue home win for the dominoes but were briefly dashed as Ian went down at the expense of S Wanless who brushed Ian aside by a 3-0 margin.
Things got even worse for the Vic in the next as Bobby Balls lost the advantage of having the down and he went down 3-2 at the hands of D Miller to take the game into a deciding leg.
Any hopes of an unlikely home win were by now almost completely extinguished as the hopelessly out of form Tucker Muncaster took on M Price in the final chalk. Once again Tucker's luck was out as he was beaten by the narrowest of margins to complete an excellent fightback for the away team.
Friday night will be the start of the last Cup Competition of the season and the Vic have been drawn at home to the Duke of Seaham in the preliminary round. The competition will be 7 singles darts plus 4 single dominoes games with the first to 6 advancing to the next round which will be a home tie against the Conservative Club.
Keep an eye on the latest league tables on www.clubgb.co.uk as the darts league seems destined to go to the last few weeks of the season with any one of 3 sides still in the running. In the dominoes, the Vic have an outstanding chance of scooping the wooden spoon thanks to the incredible run of losses since the turn of the year. The final game of the season at home to The George, who are currently rock bottom of the dominoes league, could take on massive proportions, especially as their darts team could win the league that night.
_________________
And if you're gonna flash.......FLASH HARD !!!!!
The absence of so many regular players meant that the Vic were looking for volunteers to play tonight and after a brief discussion between Les Graham, Gary Symonds and Dale Greenfield it was Gary that bravely put himself forward despite not playing a competitive game for years or throwing any practice darts all evening.
Gary was drawn out first and took on P Dunn in the opener. Both players were very evenly matched during the opening stages although the standard of darts was fairly poor. Dunn eventually found his form and hit a couple of ton's plus an 80 plus score as Gary struggled to keep in touch. Dunn completed a fine win by taking out 76, hitting double top at the first time of asking. Credit to Gary though for having the bottle to take to the oche.
Geordie Jennings was up next against S Wanless and an excellent leg of darts by George, including a 140, turned his oppponent into S Winless. George also hit his double at the first opportunity to level the match and give the Vic a glimmer of hope.
The glimmer of hope looked like it would be shining brighter as Tommy Cummings was up next and Tom took on the dangerous left armer P Turnbull. Tommy had been struggling to find any sort of form all evening and his game proved to be no exception. He was helped by Turnbull hitting several poor scores of his own though and regular 41's were in abundance. Tommy eventually hit a few back to back 60s and was down to 100 as Turnbull continued to struggle. Toms hatred of double top returned to haunt him again and he missed the chance to put the Vic ahead as Turnbull stole in to take the 3rd leg on double 16.
Stevie Burton played P Gustard in the 4th leg and Stevie started brightly with an 85 which was answered with a 45 from Gustard. Stevie led during the early stages of the game but once Gustard got his nose in front Burton struggled to put any pressure on his opponent. Despite Gustard missing a handful of darts to win on double 8, Stevie never looked like winning the leg and it was all over shortly afterwards as Gustard took out double 8 with Stevie back on 72.
That was that as far as the mediocre games were concerned and the away team then moved up a few gears during the next 3 legs.
Iggy played M Price in the 4th leg and Price was right up for it as he started with some steady darts. Ian, after his match winning heroics last week, was no match for an in-form opponent and Price then hit some high scores to leave himself on a 21 darter before Ian hit a ton to give him some hope. Sadly for Ian and the Vic the game was over as a spectacle as Price took out double top to take the match with an impressive 22 dart leg.
Even better was to come from the away team as A Skelton, another left armer, took on the mighty Norman McKenna in leg 6. Norman was quite simply blown away as Skelton hit a ton with his opening 3 darts which were then eclipsed as he thumped in a 180 with his next throw. Skelton could then afford the luxury of a few 40+ scores before rounding off victory on double 10 to take out an excellent 20 dart leg. Norman never gave in though and was down to just under 200 by the time the end came.
The final leg was played between home captain Stevie Kell who played J Slee. Stevie also struggled to get started and Slee was to prove as capable as the 2 lads who had just won and he took out an excellent 101 finish on double 12 to record a highly commendable 21 dart leg.
Very high standard of darts shown in the last 3 legs and with the opening 2 games being won with players hitting doubles at the first attempt this was a fairly good game to watch expecially as both teams are wallowing in the lower reaches of the league this season.
The Vic got off to a cracking start in the dominoes as Captain Les Graham continued his impressive recent run of victories by taking out P Turnbull 3-0 in the opening leg. The omens weren't good though as victory for Les usually means defeat for the team.
However, all looked good for the Vic as the returning Norman McKenna threw down his usual array of excellent/flukey/inspired/rubbish/quality/mesmerising/unusual/fucking amazing (delete as appropriate) dominoes and sent the Vic 2-0 ahead as he overcame J Slee by 3 legs to 1.
Hopes were now high of a long overdue home win for the dominoes but were briefly dashed as Ian went down at the expense of S Wanless who brushed Ian aside by a 3-0 margin.
Things got even worse for the Vic in the next as Bobby Balls lost the advantage of having the down and he went down 3-2 at the hands of D Miller to take the game into a deciding leg.
Any hopes of an unlikely home win were by now almost completely extinguished as the hopelessly out of form Tucker Muncaster took on M Price in the final chalk. Once again Tucker's luck was out as he was beaten by the narrowest of margins to complete an excellent fightback for the away team.
Friday night will be the start of the last Cup Competition of the season and the Vic have been drawn at home to the Duke of Seaham in the preliminary round. The competition will be 7 singles darts plus 4 single dominoes games with the first to 6 advancing to the next round which will be a home tie against the Conservative Club.
Keep an eye on the latest league tables on www.clubgb.co.uk as the darts league seems destined to go to the last few weeks of the season with any one of 3 sides still in the running. In the dominoes, the Vic have an outstanding chance of scooping the wooden spoon thanks to the incredible run of losses since the turn of the year. The final game of the season at home to The George, who are currently rock bottom of the dominoes league, could take on massive proportions, especially as their darts team could win the league that night.
_________________
And if you're gonna flash.......FLASH HARD !!!!!
