Steel Club Preparation

Pictured : Pigs do fly?
My practice has been quite average this week, but I have still managed to make February my best month to date on DartPro, averaging just short of 60 per throw including the finishes. The doubles have been hit with far greater precision, and I’ll be practising hard on doubles in the final few sessions before Tuesday’s baptism of fire at the Steel Club.

I’m still not happy with my scoring though, and this could result in me chasing games and adding unwanted pressure. I’ll not even get to the doubles if I don’t improve the scores on the opening 9 darts.

If Middlesbrough can beat Chelsea 3-0 and even have one goal incorrectly disallowed, anything is possible, and this has been a great source of inspiration and motivation before the game – pending selection of course.

League Tables, Feb 06

1) Steel Club, 144
2) Cricketers, 136
3) Chopwell Central, 123
4) Coach & Horses, 122
5) Leadgate Cricket, 106
6) Commercial, 104
7) Smelters, 97
8) Castleside Inn, 92
9) Shotley Club, 85
10) Chelmsford, 78
10) Derwentside, 78
12) Stanley Masons (A), 73
13) Jolly Drovers, 57
14) Black Diamond, 56
15) Stanley Masons (B), 51

Stanley Masons "B" 3 – 7 Chelmsford

Pictured : Roger warming up

You’ve seen the blood, sweat, and tears on this blog, but at last I have a great result and a satisfying personal performance to report upon. I’m even taking the unusual step of naming myself as the Man Of The Match for hitting the highest score of the night (140), and finishishing sweetly on 76 (S20, S16, D20) and 91 in two darts (the highest finish of the game) to blag two of the valuable points in my Doubles and Singles matches respectively.

We started poorly, losing in the opening 1001 Team Game, and needing approximately 250 points as the Masons sunk their winning double. They were on form, and we knew we needed to do better.

We then took the next 4 points to set up a decent 1-4 lead, but Alan then suffered some appalling luck and saw 137 points "on the floor" due to three bounce-outs on the wire and he lost his Singles game.

Roger was next up and lost his Singles game too, but we then took the next three consecutive points to win 3-7 on the evening, and we’re now looking forward to our big test against league leaders Steel Club next week. Lambs to the slaughter, or heroes in the making? We’ll see . . .

Stanley Masons "B" Feedback

Normally we play in the large lounge on their proper, raised oche. This season however the Masons seem to prefer to have the teams playing in the front Bart. It creates a far better atmosphere, and I totally agree with them on this choice, on what was a tight and competitive evening.

Great food as usual, with broth and cold buffet. Their drinks are reasonably cheap too, and this was a very enjoyable evening.
Their board was a Winmau SFB, with rounded wires which caused many bounce-outs. The lighting was strong, but not on the board itself. The oche was a strip of wood anchored to the floor, and wasn’t quite as authoritative as the raised proper oche they had in the other room.

Chelmsford 8 – 2 Stanley Masons "B"

At this stage in the season the result is everything, but this was a scrappy game in which few players shone. We really need to pile the points on before our game with Steel Club, and this was a good start.

We were leading in the 1001 Team Game, but were pipped at the finish as Masons took a 0-1 lead. They didn’t build on this however, and we won to next seven consecutive legs. Only Willie failed to win his Singles game, in one of those D1 marathons where both players struggle to hit D1.

I was paired with Alan in my doubles game, and although he wasn’t at his best he hit a 137 at just the right time, and I finished on 20 (S15, S1, D2).

In my Singles game my scores were poor. I looked at the marker board and my scores were 30’s, 45’s, and other miscellaneous junk. I finished reasonably well when presented with a double however, missing my first attempt at D16, but getting the 32 next time around (S16, D8).

Man of the Match this week goes to Roger, who finished his Singles game in just 7 throws, averaging 24 per dart. Brian was again consistent and is proving to be a reliable scorer since he joined us recently.

Some noteworthy finishes were Peter’s Bull out-shot on 68, and the unusual spectacle of Alan resorting to a "twirl" before hitting his D1 finish in his Singles game. He may have done it discretely, but he was still spotted doing it, and he will be mocked at our leisure for the rest of the week ;o)

Jolly Drovers 5 - 5 Chelmsford

A disappointing evening, which for me personally was almost a carbon copy of my performance in the home tie against The Drovers last week; We started well and won the Team game, with my average score being >70. I was paired with Brian in the Doubles game, and we took a 0-2 lead with a comfortable win. I threw a 140 and scored two 80+ shots to leave us well in the lead when Brian finished on the 10 I left him (S5, S1, D2).

By the time I played my Singles game we had a 2-3 lead and I was throwing very consistently. I seemed to be on my way to a win, but messed up my D20 finish and my opponent was straight in with a one dart finish on the D20 as if to reiterate the importance of good finishing. This is a lesson I seem to be learning on a daily basis ;o)

Chelmsford then lost the next two games, but Willie and Allan won the last two points to give us a 5-5 draw on the night. To top off a disappointing evening we lost 5-0 in the dominoes. There’ll be an updated league table this week, so we’ll see what this means to us.

Man Of The Match goes to Brian, who threw well and won all three games he was involved with.

Jolly Drovers feedback

The picture is from an earlier practice session in the house, which no doubt caused me to think it would be a good idea to try and leave "tops" in my Singles game. How wrong I was.

Anyway, The Drovers’ board is a Winmau SFB with rounded wires and staples, surrounded by a rope guard. The board itself is housed in a narrow alcove which makes it very cramped for the players and the marker. I’d like to see them move the board to one side of the narrow alcove rather than being central, as this would give the marker more room to work in.

The board lighting was a little dim, and I was sure the board was an inch low, but this may be due to a slant on the floor. As usual the buffet was excellent, and they had hand drawn Black Sheep at the bar.

Lyndon's "2nd Anniversary" Evening

Pictured : A 180 on the practice board

Last night was the 2nd anniversary of Lyndon’s tenure of The Chelmsford, and a big night was planned. Unfortunately the singer we had booked was unable to attend, so we almost had no entertainment for the evening. The buffet was never in any danger, but we really wanted some entertainment to go with it.

Heath then had the idea of Darts / Dominoes / Pool competitions. I printed some fixture sheets for the three 16 way competitions, and we managed to get more than 12 people to participate in each, on what was a busy and enjoyable evening in The Chelmsford.

I won the Darts, John S won the Dominoes, and Stephen won the Pool. All three winners received a bottle of Champagne, and I hope we have more nights like this in the future.

Chelmsford 8 – 2 Jolly Drovers

A great result for the team, but disappointment for me personally as I lost my Singles game to be one of the only two to drop points. It all started so well for me, scoring 100, 99, and 136 with my three shots in the opening Team game to get us off to a winning start. That’s an average throw of 112, and accounted for a third of the 1001 points the six of us needed.

In my Doubles game paired with Roger I threw some slack shots (as did all four of us), but I redeemed myself with a couple of tons at the right time and a one dart finish on the D10 Roger left for me.

Things were going well, and we took a 5-0 lead before I spoilt the run and lost in my Singles game. I was well beaten too, needing 190+ at the time my opponent finished on D14. Just a scrappy win in this game would’ve sealed a great night, so I was really deflated.

Willie then lost his Singles game to make it 5-2, but from this point Peter, Brian, and Alan all won to make it 8-2 and give us our best result for months. No "Man Of The Match" this week, as it is a tie between Roger / Alan / Peter / Brian who won all the games they were involved in.

Smelters 6 – 4 Chelmsford

What a great night we all had up in Castleside to play The Smelters. They’re 5th in the league and we’re 12th, so 4 points is a decent result for us. The match itself was memorable, and read on for a dramatic ending :

We weren’t doing too well in the opening Team Game of 1001, and my scores were ordinary. However, we kept track with them down the board, and my final shot was 125 to leave Lena 58 to finish on. Smelters missed their chance to finish, and Lena finished in 2 darts with a strange but effective choice of D20, D9!

Then we had a very lean spell, losing the next six legs, and were drifting towards a heavy defeat. In the Singles game I had the opportunity to play one of the top 5 players in our League, Timmy. I couldn’t get going in my match, and lost without ever getting anywhere near his score.

We then had an amazing spell to win the final three legs. Willie again won his Singles match, Roger is in great form and finished on D1 in a nail biter, and then Peter put one hand on the "Highest Finish of the season" trophy by checking out with a spectacular 150 (T20, T18, D18). It was absolutely brilliant, and this pro quality finish gets him this week’s Man Of The Match.

Fingers crossed this will remain the highest finish of the season and Peter brings some silverware back to the Chelmsford on Presentation Night. Even last night Smelters missed a 170 finish by the width of a wire, so we’ll need some luck.

I had a chat with Timmy after our Singles match and was amazed to discover he doesn’t practice at all any more, and only gets his darts out on a Tuesday night. Also, he only ever loses a handful of Singles games each season (typically 3 from 28 games), so I really could’ve made a name for myself if I’d played out of my skin and beaten him :o)

Smelters Feedback

From this point forward I’ll drop the categories I’ve been using and just provide the feedback in free form:

Their board is a Winmau Diamond with blade wires, and is a huge improvement on their board last season. The lighting was a little dim, and I think the beam was trained on the top half of the board. The oche is a brass strip very similar to ours.

It was a very quiet evening in The Smelters, with only a small handful of non dart players present, but they laid on a terrific post match meal which included a hot pot dish with roast potato slices.

Practice makes . . . erm

Although my DartPro averages over the 10 months since April ’05 have fluctuated, they certainly haven’t fluctuated very much. The monthly averages have been :

53, 52, 51, 54, 56, 53, 50, 54, 53, and 53

These are the averages in many hundreds of games of 501 straight start, and they include the darts taken to sink the finishing double. Getting stuck on D1 can ruin the stats, and needs to be "equalised" by a few 15 darters every now and then, but the monthly average always seem to come around to 52 ish.

So what does all the hard graft result in? Just consolidation really, and it takes me 10 throws to finish a game of 501. In order to gain a tangible improvement I’ll have to increase my average to 56 and above, as this is the point at which I’d be completing my games of 501 in nine throws as opposed to ten (see the chart, above).

Anyway, I’d better get back to the practice board for some more consolidation . . .

League Update, January 2006

1) Cricketers, 119
2) Steel Club, 107
3) Coach & Horses, 98
4) Chopwell Central, 92
5) Leadgate Cricket, 79
5) Smelters, 79
7) Commercial, 77
8) Castleside Inn, 73
9) Derwentside, 72
10) Shotley Club, 67
11) Stanley Masons (A), 61
12) Chelmsford, 58
13) Black Diamond, 44
13) Stanley Masons (B), 44
15) Jolly Drovers, 42

Although we are still fourth from bottom we’ve narrowed the gap between ourselves and the team immediately above us from 7 points to 3 points since the last update. The gap between ourselves and our placing of 9th last season remains the same at 14 points.

Looking at the remaining fixtures we only have five more teams to meet, and the majority of them are our immediate neighbours in the league, with the exception of 2nd placed Steel Club. Therefore there are some points up for grabs between well matched teams, and there is sure to be a tense end to the season.

Following our tough return leg at Smelters tomorrow night we face Jolly Drovers (15th), Stanley Masons B (14th), Steel Club (2nd), Stanley Masons A (11th), and Castleside (in our target position of 8th).

Smelters Preparation

Pictured : The Smelters, Castleside

I’ve have an up and down week on the practice board; poor scores on DartPro, a terrible night in the Chelmsford where I could barely win a game (losing mostly to Roger), but last night a really good evening with Alan, Willie, Lena and John where I finally started throwing consistently and was hitting most of the targets. I won the first game of Golf, but Lena beat me in a tie-break in the second (final) game. These team games of Golf are the ones to win, and we get really involved in them. I’ll post the rules soon.

Still, I think I’ve found the biggest problem in my game. I don’t release the dart well and put an unwanted spin on the darts which sees them veering off to the left and lying at an angle. Tonight I’ll just be practising the release and trying to get my DartPro stats for Jan ‘06 a little more respectable (I’m aiming for mid 50’s, but have so far only just reached 50).

Chelmsford 3 – 7 Smelters

We started poorly, losing the 1001 Team Game by quite a large margin. I was disgusted with my average of only 36 over my two throws in this leg, and I think the pressure of being back in the team was making me try too hard.

Luckily I then managed to get some smooth, consistent throwing back for my Doubles and Singles games. I averaged 75 per throw scoring nothing under 60 in my Doubles Game with Jean against Tim and Nancy. We lost this game, but in my Singles game against Nancy I kept up the same pace and consistency, and won with a finish on D8.

Our other two points came from the winning finishes of Willie in his Doubles game paired with Roger, and Alan in his Singles game.

Man Of The Match goes to Willie for again finishing well and getting an important point when we were 0-2 down and needing to get our first point on the board. A special mention goes to Tim in their team who was in superb form, scoring two 180’s in the warm-up darts and virtually nothing under 100 during match play. He won most of the silverware at last season’s presentation night and is one of the best players in our league in my opinion.

There was good news on the Dominoes front, with the team winning 4-1 overall, with me winning my match 3-1.

2006 Begins

We kick off 2006 tonight with a Home game against The Smelters from Castleside. They'll be strong favourites to win both legs, but we need the points if we're to climb the table from 12th of 15 team teams.

The remaining fixtures are :

03/01/06 - Chelmsford V Smelters
10/01/06 - Smelters V Chelmsford
17/01/06 - Chelmsford V Jolly Drovers
24/01/06 - Jolly Drovers V Chelmsford
31/01/06 - Chelmsford V Stanley Masons (B)
07/02/06 - Stanley Masons (B) V Chelmsford
14/02/06 - Steel Club V Chelmsford
21/02/06 - Chelmsford V Steel Club
14/03/06 - Chelmsford V Stanley Masons (A)
21/03/06 - Stanley Masons (A) V Chelmsford
28/03/06 - Chelmsford V Castleside
04/04/06 - Castleside V Chelmsford
18/04/06 - League Knock Out 1st Round
25/04/06 - League Knock Out 2nd Round
02/05/06 - League Knock Out Semi Finals
09/05/06 - Singles 1st Round
16/05/06 - Singles 2nd Round
30/05/06 - Doubles 1st Round
06/06/06 - Doubles 2nd Round
20/06/06 - Finals Night
27/06/06 - League Knock Out Final

Shotley Club 5 - 5 Chelmsford

Personal disappointment for me, as I was dropped with Lena correctly opting to stick with the team which had done so well the week before. The decision was proved correct as The Chelsmsford piled on the pressure and took a 3-0 lead before dropping back to just take the 5-5 draw on the night. Every point was close, and if it was to go either way it should have been our game.

It was important not to lose ground against Shotley Club though. They're just above us in the League, and the 10-10 result over both legs is one which we'll just have to be happy with.

Man Of The Match goes to our new player Brian, who won all three games he was involved with (as did Willie), and he overcame some bad luck throughout to ensure he sunk the winning doubles. Well done also to Jean for her superb 68 finish in the Team game; our highest finish on the night.

I was posted to Dominos duty, but was delighted to win 3-0 in my first ever game for the team against Dennis. I compete well in everything I try, so this was not a surprise to me, but I must admit I'd have prefered to chuck darts instead.

So, we now have a strengthened team who don't like to lose which I need to fight for my place in. I only wish we'd started the season like this :o)

A joke from Tommy’s

I’ve just been ordering some personalised flight for team mates. The catalogue shows some examples of names and nick names printed on the flights. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw this one :

"Sum T.Wat – Chinas No 1"

Sick

I’ve been ill with one of these bugs that are doing the rounds since last Friday, and I’ve only just returned to normality. The blogging has suffered, and there are two things to report :

Thursday 8/12/05; Chelmsford 3 – 6 Golden Lion (Cup)
As expected Golden Lion eased their way into the next round of the Boddington’s Cup after the formality of this return leg. On the night however they weren’t quite as focussed as the previous week, and we were a little unlucky only to chalk 3 points. Myself and Jean won our Doubles game, with Singles wins from Peter and Alan.

Tuesday 14/12/05; Chelmsford 5-5 Shotley Club
I was unable to attend this game. I presume Brian made his Chelmsford debut, and the result is a good one against a team who are slightly higher than us in the League. The dominos were not going well at the time this result was ‘phoned in to me by Lena.

Chelmsford 4 – 6 Leadgate Cricket

As I forecast last week this return leg was indeed tight, but on the night it was Leadgate Cricket who pushed that bit harder and grasped the win. Nonetheless, 9 points from a team in the top half of the League table isn’t a bad return for us over the two legs.

We lost the opening Team game, but they needed to finish well in this game as we had turned around a poor start and were catching up with them. We then went 0-2 down in the first Doubles game, and this set the tone for a night of chasing the game. We did quite well in catching them, but lost the last Singles match of the night to lose 4-6 overall.

I sank winning doubles in my Doubles (paired with Roger) and Singles games. They were small finishes of X5 and X1 respectively, but the X5 was taken with the first dart, and I feel this week’s practice on small finishes has been useful.

Our two other points came from Alan in his Singles game and also in his Doubles game paired with Peter. Man Of The Match goes to Alan. In particular his Doubles match with Peter was a very high standard of mostly 100+ shots.

Again their senior player (Alan) excelled, scoring consecutive 140’s and narrowly missing out on 180 on more than one occasion. He only recently stopped playing for the County, still plays for 5 teams 5 nights per week, and it really shows.

New Player Signed

Last night we signed a new player called Brian. He seems to be a good player and may get a start in next week’s match at home to Shotley Club. This will definitely strengthen the team, as we try to pull away from the bottom quarter of the league table.

Golden Lion Feedback

The Board : A Winmau Blade II in good condition. No bounce outs off the wire. My only bounce out was a ricochet off a dart barrel.
Lighting : Three bulbs set well back from the board. It was just a little dim on the board.
Oche : A portable "proper" oche with a few inches of elevation. I love these, as you can dig your foot in and not worry about being foul of the line.
Beer : This was a really cheap place to drink. The Boddingtons was only £1.60, and we opted to stay here after the game and play our Team game of Golf. I’ll have to post the rules on here – it’s a great game for 4 or more players.
Food : Not applicable / none laid on for this cup game.
Comments : It was a very quiet, so we virtually had the place to ourselves. We won’t be playing the Golden Lion again in the near future as they are in the other local league, so this was a great opportunity for me to play against new players (some were familiar from other League teams and had signed for the Golden Lion in this cup competition), and play at a different venue.

Golden Lion 8 – 1 Chelmsford (Cup)

Pictured : "Into the lion’s den"

Our cup dream seems to be over, with Golden Lion only requiring 2 points in the return leg next week. We all played at the top of our game even to compete with this team, but were only able to win a single point in Peter’s Singles match against Chris.

Jean and I played well in our Doubles game, but our opposition were scoring baby ton eighties (T20, T19, T19) and other high shots to leave us over 100 points behind when they finished.

In my Singles game I scored 4 consecutive shots of over 80 to make a big dent in the 501, and I ended up having 6 darts at D16, but was just shy of this double at every throw, and I lost the point.

Man of the match yet again goes to Peter for beating their best player on the night and avoiding a whitewash.

Despite the score we had a really good night, and it was a worthwhile outing on a Thursday night.

League Tables, end of November 2005

The Team Captains met at our pub on Wednesday night and the new league tables were announced:

Darts
1) Cricketers - 100
2) Steel Club - 88
3) Coach & Horses - 80
4) Commercial - 76
5) Chopwell Central - 68
6) Smelters - 64
7) Leadgate Cricket - 60
8) Castleside Inn - 58
8) Derwentside - 58
10) Stanley Masons (A) - 52
11) Shotley Club - 51
12) Chelmsford - 44
13) Stanley Masons (B) - 40
14) Black Diamond - 33
15) Jolly Drovers - 30

Dominos
1) Castleside Inn - 40
2) Coach & Horses - 36
3) Cricketers - 35
4) Derwentside - 33
5) Commercial – 32
6) Shotley Club – 31
7) Chopwell Central – 30
8) Black Diamond – 29
8) Chelmsford – 29
8) Jolly Drovers – 29
8) Stanley Masons (B) – 29
12) Leadgate Cricket – 26
13) Steel Club – 26
14) Smelters – 25
15) Stanley Masons (A) - 20

Boddingtons Cup

Our Boddingtons Cup campaign kicks off at the Golden Lion on Thursday 1/12/05, with our team meeting at The Chelmsford at 19:45 hrs.

There will be 3 X Doubles matches and 6 X Singles matches in each fixture, with a return leg between the two teams the following week. Every pub, which sells Boddingtons is eligible for entry, and the list of teams in this year's competition is huge (there are hundreds of them in our region alone). Unlike our League matches the Burster Rule will apply.

Leadgate Cricket Feedback

The Board : A Winmau Pro SFB with rounded wires. I used to have an SFB in the house, so you’d think I’d be at home on this one :o)

Lighting : A single bulb above the board, with comparatively bright ambient lighting.

Oche : This is fairly well depicted in the picture from the match report. The throwing line itself is a portable square metal bar, which is lined up with markings on the floor.

Beer : John Smith at £1.85 a pint. There was a friendly atmosphere around the bar during the match.

Food : Our transport delay meant a late end to the night, but it was great to see them wheel out mince and dumplings, sausages, roasties, pie, and cold buffet. Really nice, and much appreciated on the night.

Comments : Very friendly hosts, and an enjoyable evening. We’re a closely matched pair of teams, and after the 5-5 result in the Away leg everything is poised for the return leg on Tuesday.

Leadgate Cricket 5 – 5 Chelmsford

Pictured : Leadgate Cricket in action
The Home / Away legs of these next two games against Leadgate Cricket were swapped over a week ago, but still our coach driver got it wrong and needed rousing to come and drive us to this game! We arrived later than usual, but still in good time for the warm-up darts and the game itself.

We got off to a great start, winning the Team Game with steady progress against the 1001 leaving us nicely in the lead by the time Peter sunk the double.

John S and I were again paired in our Doubles game, but just like last week we stumbled on the finish, and lost the point. Not a bad performance by us, but the difference between the two pairs of players was their oldest player, who was extremely consistent. He also beat me in my Singles game, despite me having the darts and throwing first. Sadly at the moment I seem to be losing to the very young (Coach & Horses), the very old, and all ages in-between :o)

Man Of The Match again goes to Peter, who won all three of his games and finished / scored well all night. To the best of my recollection the other points came from Alan (Singles) and Willie and Alan (Doubles).

For the first time in several weeks I feel we played a team who were very similar to us in abilities, and the points are up for grabs for whoever seizes them in the return leg next week.

New delivery from Tommy’s Darts

My new darts arrived today. They are 26grm Alan Glazier "Multi Shark" nickel tungsten (alloy ratio unspecified). I’ve had a few throws with them, and they’re great. There’s a slight difference between these and my previous set ; there’s a very subtle taper where the barrel meets the shaft, but this is not apparent when throwing them, especially now my new grip all takes place at the front of the dart. The taper may effect the balance, but again this is not obvious when using them.

Included with the order was a new batch of personalised flights for myself and a couple of team mates. The L2 is my own design for Lena, and Jean has settled for a plain text slogan. The Pear shaped flights are a standard design where I just specified the text and national flag. All three designs cost £5 for 10 sets.

Coach & Horses Feedback

The Board : A Winmau Masters with rounded wires. There were one or two bounce-outs on the night, but none for me this time.

Lighting : One bulb above the board and a secondary one set further back provided bright and even lighting. The surrounding area was comparatively dim, which helps you to concentrate on the throw.

Oche : The board is in the centre of a large lounge, will a pillar just behind the thrower. The line is marked with gaffer tape. The marker board is free-standing on a table to the left of the board, with the insides of the darts cabinet doors used to show the throwing order for the games. Nothing at all to distract from the throw.

Beer : The Guinness was OK, but I switched to the John Smiths. The prices were a little cheaper than ours.

Food : Hot pasta and meat dish, hotdogs, garlic bread, chips, and several other buffet items. Really good, and perfect for the cold, foggy evening.

Comments : Weather wise I think many people must’ve stayed at home both at the C&H and back at The Chelmsford, and it was a quiet evening.

Coach & Horses 3 - 7 Chelmsford

Pictured : The Coach & Horses team

An amazing night for us tonight, taking 7 points from a team who had totally dominated us the previous week. To be honest C&H had an off-night and they will be very disappointed with their own performances, but at least we were able to take advantage of the situation and get a good result.

We started well, winning the Team Game thanks to Peter hitting the 32 I left him with the 1st dart. Maybe next time I’ll remember how to finish from 72 myself when the pressure’s off :o) It’s T12 every time I do it on the practice board, but at least I left a nice clean 32 for Peter I suppose.

John S and I then played reasonably well in our Doubles match but we both failed to finish on two occasions each, and lost the match to allow C&H to equalise, but from this point we notched some great Doubles and Singles wins to put us out in front.

My Singles game appeared to be going well;. I threw first and was scoring nicely (an 80+, followed by three consecutive scores of 60), to leave me well in front of an opponent who was struggling with borrowed, unfamiliar darts. My intended finish on 59 was a disaster, hitting T19 instead of the intended S19, and from that point my finish on D1 was a total farce. Amazingly, my opponent struggled on his finish too, and I was allowed to finish on D1 at what felt like the 6th time of asking. Jay Coulson has promised to comment on this via the blog, but no bad language please :o) Despite "winning ugly" this takes me to 50% success in my Singles matches this season, and it was a crucial win for me.

This week’s Man Of The Match award goes to Peter M, who finished superbly in all three of his games. Every time he was presented with a double he hit it with the 1st dart. Good finishing too from Willie (Singles match, hitting D11 with the first dart), Alan (Doubles with Jean) and John S (Singles) blagged us the rest of the points on the night.

Standard Flights

I’m trying to limit changes to my preferred configuration, but on Sunday night Trevor strongly suggested I try Standard flights to make the darts hit the board without a slant. Sometimes it looks as if my darts have been thrown from the right of the oche, and such a slant will always hinder my attempts to have a more consistent throw.

Lena and Alan P also agreed Standard flights might make them fly truer. My opinion is that the slant arises when I don’t release them well, and this is something I’m always working on and starting to see improvements, but I will always at least investigate any advice I’m offered.

I tried Standard flights on Monday evening. The picture shows the difference between the two flight shapes. Basically, the blue sections on the picture are "the difference" :o)

Unfortunately I’ve now become so used to Pear shaped flights that as soon as I switched to Standard the darts started arcing far more, and the parabolic trajectory was exaggerated. It felt as if they lifted slightly when they left my hand, and need to drop from a greater height into the target. They worked best on the lower targets on the board (D3, T19 etc), but overall my game worsened with them, and I have reverted to the Pears.

Chelmsford 1 – 9 Coach & Horses

Things started well for me in the Team game, scoring 60 then 100 with my only two shots, but C&H finished strongly in this match after a slow start, and took their first point of 9 on the night.

In the Doubles game my first dart bounced off the T20 wire and it all went downhill from there. Roger and I lost this game, and I lost my Singles game against their 18-year-old player, who was throwing downhill from his 6’4" vista :o)

Man of The Match goes to Peter, who gained our only point in his Singles match, but quite a few of us had matches to forget, and we stayed back late for a warm-down stint of the darts based Golf game we play in a group.

It was good to see Jay there (he makes regular comments on this blog), though he wasn’t in their darts line-up, and instead won his Dominoes game. Jean won our only Dominoes point on the night. Jay’s hopefully going to arrange a team photo for me to blog when we play them in the return leg next Tuesday.

The New Grip

This has to be the most difficult picture I’ve ever taken; addressing an imaginary board then "freezing" the right hand and photographing it with my left hand.

As mentioned, I’m stuck with this new grip now, and after a week of using it I can’t even remember how I used to hold the dart. The results continue to impress and infuriate in equal measure; I’ve had another ton eighty with it but I’ve also placed a high percentage of my first darts in the Big 5 and needed to cover on the 19's.

In a game of confidence and nerve like darts this is not a change I wanted to make mid season, but if you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you always get what you always got. That’s easy for me to say :o)

The point may look a bit painful, but it only rests on the finger, and there is no pressure on it. It acts as an anchor for the other fingers to have a consistent position and provides a final adjustment of the dart's attitude before throwing. Well, that's the theory.

Coach & Horses Preparation

Pictured : Wise words from John S!
What a strange week; I’ve started holding the darts in a new way, holding far more of the point than the barrel. Initial results in the house were good, but there were problems during matches in The Chelmsford. So I decided to revert slightly and maybe make the grip more of a hybrid between the two styles. The trouble is I can’t seem to get the old grip back, so I’m stuck with this new grip, and the results are erratic!

I’m just going to have to rough it out, but I’d rather be more confident in what I’m doing prior to a match against a good team. I’ve had practice 180’s with the new grip, but I’ve also had 7’s and 26’s. It’s a grip that can work, but I need more practice with it.

When it works the darts seem to be "pulled" towards the board rather than "pushed", but it became apparent in last night’s practice that a change to my elbow position is needed to make it work properly, and this is not natural to me yet.

Personalised Flights & Stems

My order of personalised stems and flights from Tommys Darts has arrived.

The flights are great, and they’ve handled the logo very well. The pear shaped flights they’ve used are marginally smaller than my orange ones, but the difference is incredibly small and I’m sure I’ll not notice any changes. They’ve made a great job of the flights and I’ve kept the original JPG to ensure I can get identical replacements.

The stems are a bit of a disappointment, and I don’t think I’ll order any more. The text is far too faint and can not be read from any sort of distance. I’m glad I asked for "all upper case" as mixed case would surely be illegible. Probably about 10% of them seem to be particularly badly printed. Ah well, I had to try them I suppose.

Derwentside 5 – 5 Chelmsford

A great night for the team, picking up 5 valuable points at Derwentside.

We started off well by winning the 1001 Team Game. I threw the first dart for us, and was very pleased with my contribution, averaging over 80 with my three throws.

Myself and Peter M were paired against their two young players (mentioned last week). Despite having the first throw we lost this match, and my average was low. Peter was playing so well that I’d have only needed play an average game for us to win, so I’m really gutted at letting him down. I could’ve redeemed myself by finishing on 96, but missed the D8 on the final dart.

In the singles match I was well beaten, and couldn’t do much to catch my opponent, who finished in just 7 or 8 throws.

There were plenty of highlights from my team mates though; Good performances and finishing from Alan, Peter, Jean, and Roger. So good in fact it’s hard to award my usual Man of The Match award, but I think Roger just shades it for clawing a point in a Singles game he seemed to be losing, and his vociferous celebration when he sunk the double!

Commercial Feedback
The Board : A Winmau with rounded wires. Both teams suffered bounce-outs (probably them more than us), and I was cursing my T20 bounce out in the Doubles game.

Lighting : A single halogen bulb provided good lighting on the board.

Oche : There is a wall to the left, but the Gents toilet door is in the line of sight, meaning care is needed when people are throwing. The Oche is a long strip of plywood giving a very slightly raised oche of maybe a centimetre. The stone tiled floor surrounding it can cause snapped stems if any darts bounce out to the throwers’ right. It happened to me last season.

Beer : I stuck with their "guest ale", which was Fullers London Pride at £2 a pint.

Food : Chile, sausages, boiled potato, pizza, garlic bread etc. A very nice spread.

Comments : This result means a lot to us, and I think it’ll raise morale for the coming games. Their two youngest players really impressed.

134 Finish

A nice finish this on 134, playing against an AI opponent throwing my current average of 52 on DartPro. The first dart hit the T20 but then I received a ‘phone call. I returned to the practice board wondering if I could get myself back into the proper frame of mind, and then hit the T14 and D16 to finish it.

This put me in a commanding lead to win the best of 15 legs against a 52 average AI opponent, but the laptop’s battery then failed, and the game was gone. Clever things these computers – they know when they’re beat. Actually, I was beating my own current average, so this is more like self flagellation :o)

8 Darter

I had to blog this one ; last night I scored an 8 darter in a game of 301 DS/DF against John S.

The first dart got me off with 22, followed by two T20’s for a score of 142. The second throw was T1, T20, T20 for 123. This left 36, which I finished in 2 darts.

Typically, I think I took more than 8 darts to even get off in the next game, but it was a nice moment to give me a bit of confidence on a lean patch. "Monkeys and typewriters" still springs to mind though :o)

Tommy's Darts - New Catalogue Out Now

The new catalogue from Tommy's Darts has just arrived on my doorstep.

There are some very interesting additions in this edition; personalised stems (your text, plus any national flag if required), personalised flights and mugs printed with your own JPG file, and much neater looking personalised flights where you supply just the text and specify whether a national flag is also required. Their examples look ultra professional.

The personalised stems really interest me. I remember seeing them elsewhere but was put off by the cost. The ones from TD are only £6 for 10 sets, reducing on a sliding scale in accordance with the quantity you order. Give them a large printing run of 100+ and they’re only 38p per set.

They also have some very un-PC "Page 3 knockers out" flights. I might get some to see just how offended I am by them :o)

Joking aside this is a great new catalogue, and it’s hard to think of anything else they could possibly stock. The prices are lower than anywhere else I’ve seen. If you’re interested there is a TD link on the left-hand side of this page, and you can e-mail them for and ask for a copy to be posted to you.

Practice Music, November 2005

I’m trying something new this month ; the "Guitar Man" compilation by Jerry Reed. I bought it last week and it seems ideal for darts practice.

Chelmsford 2 - 8 Derwentside

Another heavy defeat for The Knack tonight. I was lucky enough to win my Singles game and get one of the precious points, but tonight’s "Man Of The Match" award surely goes to Alan P for winning his Doubles game with Jean, and then treating us all to a truly "broadcast quality" game, where he averaged just under 100 per throw but narrowly missed out on winning. He’ll be disappointed with the result, but that match was a spectacle.

Derwentside’s two youngest players (they seemed to be under 20’s?) were awesome tonight, and they’ll be my lasting memory from this game. They are extremely talented and compete in a very experienced way. If you’re good enough you’re old enough, and well done to them on their performances They’d already beat most of us right now, but in just a few more seasons they are absolutely guaranteed to be winning trophies.

Derwentside Preparation

My practice stats for October were extremely poor, with (surprise, surprise) my finishing letting me down and taking my 3 dart average below the 50 mark for the first time in months. This was a whole month of indifferent darts rather than just a "blip", so my confidence is now low.

I noticed last night that I’ve actually become a little demotivated when practicing in the house, but as soon as I walk into The Chelmsford my game picks up significantly. I’ll need to vary the house practice and try and make it more enjoyable, because at the moment it is a real chore.

Anyway – enough moaning from me. We have a tough game at home to Derwentside tonight, and I’m determined to put in a decent performance if selected. Also, I have set myself a target of having a record breaking month on DartPro in November. That should inject a bit of motivation into the practice.

Cricketers 8 - 2 Chelmsford

Willie was the man of the match, winning in his Doubles and Singles games to get us the two points to avoid a second white wash against The Cricketers.

I played an average game in the Team Game, but my scoring totally fell away in my Doubles game with John S. In my Singles game I didn't seem to improve, but it hardly mattered as my opponent finished in 15 darts, averaging over 100 with every throw including the finish. Sincere congratulations to him on his performance.

Cricketers Feedback

The Board : A Nodor Supabull. Like ours, it is nothing special.

The Oche : A flat brass strip marks the line. There is a raised area to the right for the pool table, and the marker leans over from here to mark the board. To the left there is a large projector screen and three round tables for the Home team. Quite a nice throwwith nothing to distract.

Lighting : Two halogen bulbs situated quite a long way from the board. Because the ambient lighting is so dim this works quite well.

Food : A huge spread including chicken legs, sarnies, pickles, pizza, pie, the lot basically, and it filled the entire covered pool table. Nice stuff.

Drink : The Guinness(£2.20) was good, but not allowed to settle halfway through pouring, so I switched to the John Smiths (£2). My only wise tactcal switch of the evening :o)

Comments : The Cricketers are a very popular team with our players, and I've enjoyed these two games despite my total lack of success on the board against them. They weren't quite as consitent as in the Home leg, but still managed to beat us at a canter.

League Tables, October 2005

Darts
1) Chopwell Central - 31
2) Cricketers - 28
2) Smelters - 28
4) Commercial - 21
4) Shotley Club - 21
6) Coach & Horses - 20
7) Steel Club - 18
8) Castleside Inn - 17
8) Leadgate Cricket - 17
10) Black Diamond - 16
10) Chelmsford - 16
12) Stanley Masons (A) - 13
13) Jolly Drovers - 12
14) Derwentside - 11
14) Stanley Masons (B) -11



Dominoes
1) Shotley Club - 13
1) Derwentside - 13
3) Castleside Inn - 12
3) Chopwell Central - 12
5) Commercial - 11
6) Stanley Masons (B) - 10
7) Black Diamond - 9
7) Coach & Horses - 9
7) Jolly Drovers - 9
7) Smelters - 9
7) Stanley Masons (A) - 9
12) Chelmsford - 7
12) Cricketers - 7
14) Steel Club - 6
15) Leadgate Cricket - 4

Monthly Draw : £30 Leadgate C.C., £20 Chelmsford
Highest Finish : 140 P. Renwick (Steel Club)
Next Meeting : 26/10/05, The Castleside Inn

Chelmsford 0 - 10 Cricketers

Yet another whitewash to report. It’s warts and all, this blog is.

Real disappointment for me in my Singles game ; I played well and got down to a 115 finish before my opponent was ready to finish. I hit T20, S15, but my shot for D20 got stuck in the D20 staple and was literally the 2mm width of the wire away from a 115 finish. That’s the margin between winning and losing against a team like this. Actually the margin was a bit wider in this particular game, as I still couldn’t hit my double with 6 more darts and I am so annoyed with myself.

Oddly, I’m not too discouraged by tonight. Most of the team played better than we normally do, but just like in the Chopwell whitewash we simply found ourselves up against a team who are far better than us. This will only serve to get me on the practice board next week for the return leg. I think I’ll concentrate on D20’s ;o)

Cricketers Preparation

I haven’t had the time to practice very much this week; I’ve had just one long session on DartPro (awful finishing all night, the monthly average is now low) and some more games of 301 Double Start Double finish in The Chelmsford on Sunday night.

During the week I’ve concentrated mostly on short blasts of warm up darts where the objective is to be comfortable an accurate after the same amount of throws that we normally get in League games. This has gone well, and the picture shows a target shot for T15 after only a handful warm up darts.

Chelmsford are currently 10th in the League, and I’ll post the full info including the doms shortly. The top finish is 140 from a Steel Club player.

The Cricketers start as favourites for tonight’s match, but I’m really looking forward to the challenge if selected to play, and a report will appear here after the game.

Commercial 8 - 2 Chelmsford

Pictured : The Commercial after their win.
Commercial beat us fairly comprehensively tonight. I settled in really quickly in the opening Team game, scoring 100 with my first throw, followed by 60 and then another ton. I then missed my double, but so did the entire team as we let this point slip away.

In my Doubles game I kept the momentum going, scoring a 140 and a 180 (my second of the season). My other shots were decent, but my finishing was poor, and myself and Lena lost this one too.

In my Singles against Alan I had to really scrape out a win with my scoring deserting me. No good scores at all in this game, and I had to rely on Alan messing up his finish. I messed up mine too, twice hitting T16 when I wanted S16 to leave me a double. Luckily, I regained (or actually "found") my composure to finish on 48 in 3 darts (S8, then D20).

The Lowlight was watching my scores tail away in the Singles game, but the highlights were my second 180 of the season, and a valuable Singles win in a game I had to chase.

Commercial Feedback

The Board : Generic with no decals, rounded wires, and loads of bounce outs! It was in good condition though.

Lighting : Excellent ; an array of 4 halogen bulbs giving strong but smooth lighting on the board.

Oche : The wall to the right of the thrower gives a nice enclosed feeling, with strong lighting on the throwers’ hand. It’s a little claustrophobic for the marker though, as he has to stand really near to the darts hitting the board. Only Joe from their team actually seemed to enjoy standing in the firing line! A nice throw which I’d now class as a lucky throw from me following on from last season.

Beer : A good pint of John Smiths for £2. I didn’t mix ‘em for once :o)

Food : Faultless. Andy laid on chicken and dumplings in a spicy broth, with a pasta dish too.

Atmosphere : This is one of the teams I remember vividly from my first season last year - a great bunch of lads.

Comments : Despite the result this is what it is all about. I had a great time playing this team in both legs. They were very supportive and encouraging of all players.

Chelmsford 4 - 6 Commercial

Pictured : Lyndon and Catherine
A bad overall result, but for only the second time in recollection I really was "in the zone" (tm) tonight, and I won my Doubles game with Willie, and my singles game against Sammy.

I was very focused tonight to a high degree, and in all three games I can’t remember anything but solid scoring and good finishing. Loads of 60’s, 59’s, 58’s, and the odd ton too. Not spectacular, but very solid, and that’s almost more satisfying than hitting big shots but the odd poor shot to spoil it.

My lowlight was hitting a D7 instead of the intended S7 when finishing in the Team game (a game we went on to lose), but the highlights were nice tight finishing in the Doubles game (19 = S3, D8 in two darts) and a reasonable finish on D10 in the Singles game. I’m more than satisfied with my performance tonight.

301, Double Start, Double Finish

Heath started a new trend last night when he played me at 301 Double Start, Double Finish. He used to play darts more often, and fancied putting some pressure on me with a Double Start game. It worked well, but I still managed to beat him 2-0 to the disappointment of those watching (he’s a very popular competitor in there, mostly on the Pool table these days).

Alan P then played me at the same format and beat me 2-1. One of his legs contained a 180, so there weren’t many points remaining for him to score in a game of 301 after a shot like that. In the following game I had two in the T20 bed, with the 3rd dart wedged between them but not actually touching the board! A 180 reply from me would have been nice, but I had to settle for the 120 points instead.

Finally, I beat Willie 2-1 in the same match format to conclude a short but enjoyable night’s practice in The Chelmsford. The Double Start aspect on such short games really cranks up the pressure, and I’ll be proposing we continue with this format, as it will make League games seem "easier" on Match nights. We’ll see what the others think.

Harry and Jan Return To Germany

Pictured : Harry
Harry and Jan went back to Hamburg at the weekend. They were great company during their three week stay, and were often in The Chelmsford playing darts and supporting us on Match nights.

Hopefully they'll be back next year, and best wishes to them in the meantime.

Analysis, September 2005

DartPro : September wasn’t a bad month. It started very poorly, but from the 15th onwards I had switched from Short to Medium stems, and this seems to have helped the overall average settle at being my third best on record with a three dart average of over 53 including the finishes .

The score card (above) hasn’t improved much from last month ; my 3 dart average remains at 52 (52.01), scores of less than 60 remain at 68%), scores of 100 and over are now 6.60% (slightly up from 6.54%), and my average finish is now 24.98 (slightly up from 24.90).

League Matches : I’ve made a score card on Lotus 1-2-3 to track my progress in League games throughout the season. My targets before the start of the season were for the team to finish higher than 9th (last season’s placing), for me to win more than half of my Singles games, and for me to score more than one 180 throughout the season.

Friendly : Chelmsford 8 – 6 Moorcock (estimate!)

Another great night with our friends from The Moorcock. Lyndon (landlord) was so pleased with the atmosphere we created on this usually quiet Thursday night that he handed out free slo gin to both teams. A real success, and hopefully more of these nights to come.

Myself and Lena were consigned to The Moorcock’s team to even the numbers up in a 9 a side game consisting of a Team game (1001), 3 Trebles games (701), and 9 Singles games (301). I was drawn against Willie in the Singles game and beat him with a nice finish on double 8, a double which has been causing me problems in the last few weeks for some reason. I won on double 8 on Tuesday night too, so maybe I’ve overcome this problem.

A good spread of food was laid on by Lyndon and it was a really enjoyable evening. I’d love another trip up to the moors to play against The Moorcock, so fingers crossed for a return game before too long.

Practice Music, October 2005

Go West were OK, but a few of the tracks such as "Call Me" had introductions which were a total distraction. Not bad though, and they certainly didn’t stink in the way Kullrad supposed they would.

For October I’ll be practising to "On Every Street" by Dire Straits. I’ve already had a few practice sessions with it, and I sense greatness with this one.