Two Weeks

This blog now rests for two weeks. When it restarts I hope to have a great darting story to blog on here, so be sure to drop by after Tuesday 7th November.

Castleside 6 – 4 Chelmsford

I didn’t get dropped this week, but that is surely only because we were so short of available players on the night!

Despite the narrow defeat we had a great night. All of us did well, and nobody got hammered in their games.

We lost the opening team game, but Roger and I equalised in our Doubles game, with me sinking the D1. Roger and I also won our Singles games, and our only other point came from Man Of The Match Peter, who finished his Singles game against their strongest player in just 20 darts, averaging 75 per throw including the finish. A special mention also goes to Roger’s 71 finish in his Singles game.

The trailing leg problem is virtually gone for me now, and I’m starting to reap the benefits. This was the first competitive match I’ve played with the new stance, and despite the odd wayward shot this is definitely the way to go for me. The crate on my practice oche has done the job, and I’ll leave it there to stop me getting into bad habits.

Chelmsford 1 – 9 Castleside

Pictured : Something I couldn't do last night!
What a total disaster for the team last night – me in particular! This was my worst performance in memory, averaging a pathetic 30 points per throw in the Team Game, and things didn't get much better for me in the Doubles and Singles games.

My bad habit of raising my trailing leg when throwing was at it's worst – more of that later.

The task of picking Man Of The Match is an absolute no brainer this week, and it goes to Peter for scoring our only point in his Singles game. Roger had another good game and was unlucky not to win a match. Alan too deserved something.

Anyway, I'm dropped from the return leg next week, and rightly so. I now have two weeks to sort out this trailing leg problem. I'm going to put a portable TV just behind the oche's throwing line on my practice board. Hopefully this will stop my trailing leg from going too far back, and this in turn will prevent the unwanted lift just as I release the dart. For any of you who know the throw we have in The Chelmsford I'm told that last night my trailing leg was on the carpeted section at some points in the games! I have to break this habit, as it has seen my form plummet, and I'm now a worse player than I was before I started the practice and blogging over a year ago.

My practice for the next two weeks (both pub games and home practice) is totally geared towards getting rid of the trailing leg problem. I need to be able to keep it in check even when there is no portable TV behind me to stop it. It could raise eyebrows if I used it in League games, but strangely I don't think there'd be anything in the rules to stop me ;o)

Chelmsford 3 – 7 Delves Club

There are 2 match reports in 1 this week. Last week's game was so disappointing I could hardly bear to blog it!

Anyway, last week's Away leg at Delves Club was a major disappointment for us. We were beaten 8-2, and we played really badly against a team who were having an off day but still managed to cruise to an easy victory. Despite most of them being league champions from last season at the Steel Club (now paying for a different venue) we were weren't happy with our play

We won the opening Team game, but after that only Roger and Alan were able to score a point in their Doubles game, and this was a real low point for me. Why bother practicing, when you go out and hit a load of "less than 40" junk shots?
Tonight's Home game was far different though. I was really happy with my play, and far more importantly I was really enjoying the game for once. My disasters were a few 45's etc, but the good shots were 80+.

No wins for me personally, but Delves Club really hit a comfortable level of form, and showed us why three of them are Super League players. Our statistician (Roger) noted that they won three of their points in 19, 20, and 21 darts. Not bad going or what!

Man of the Match for both legs was Roger, who has come back from sickness to notch some really important points ; He's had a hand in 4 of the 5 points we've won over these two legs.