Dominoes Singles Cup Night 2009/10

There were no League darts on Tuesday night and most of us competed in the 2009/10 Dominoes Singles Cup. A few of us got quite far in the five rounds which were played, but only Colin from our team made it to the finals themselves on Finals Night. Very well done to Colin, and it is further Chelmsford interest in Finals Night.

We were playing at Chopwell Central which is one of my favourite venues. We play them at the end of the season and I'll try and get some photos to put on here.

Chelmsford 1 - 9 Commercial

A night to forget for us, but more points piled on by a determined Commercial team. If anything, they dropped the pace from last week, but we were really struggling to build the scores and apply any sort of pressure.

It didn't start too badly either. Although we lost the opening team game we quickly equalised in the first Doubles game. However, that was to be the end of our scoring on the night and we have to take a heavy defeat on the chin.

Man Of The Match was Kris. He was the only one of us to find the T20 regularly and play a strong game.

We have just four more games this season against The Cricketers and Chopwell and I really hope we can end the season on a higher note than this pair of games against Commercial.

Commercial 7 - 3 Chelmsford

Spring has sprung up here

The Commercial played a very solid game last night and it has to be said they were good value for their 7 points. Four of their six players in particular were throwing some very steady darts. On two of the points we lost things were going fairly well for us, but both times they closed out the game with Bull finishes on the last dart.

After losing a close opening Team game we fared well in the Doubles games to pull it back to 2-2, but we lost most of our Singles games against a Commercial team who were looking very comfortable.

Our Man Of The Match was Michael. We'd have got a better result if we all played as well as he did.

Doubles Cup Night

The Chelmsford were very well represented in last night's Doubles Cup Competition up at Blackhill Comrades Club. We had three Pairs there bidding to get into the semi finals to played on Finals Night.

It went very well for us with Peter and Alan plus myself and Roger making it through to the Semi Finals. It was very hard luck for Kris and Michael though, as they played a strong game to get past the first round only to then allow Roger and I to really ride our luck against them in the next round.

You never want to be drawn against team mates, but if it happens again on Finals night The Chelmsford would either be guaranteed a finalist, or better still a trophy.

Chelmsford 8 - 2 Jolly Drovers

A Winter 2009/10 shot by Simon Dixon

We had another good result against The Joly Drovers in the Home leg last night. Usually I'd say it is the finishing which is the most important aspect, but last night our steady score building got us down to the doubles first and allowed the finishing to be without pressure in several games.

I had a chance to use the 3 dart 90 finish discussed by Zeeple, and for once the theory paid off for me in a League game. Definitely this time last year I would have gone T18 almost as a reflex, but I now don't think D15 should be avoided if it is part of a percentage shot like the T20 route which gives a few options during the throw. I must admit in a Doubles game I'd be mindful of not wanting to leave "15 to go" for my partner though.

Man of The Match was Peter, who opened our six Singles game with a very assured 18 darter to set us on our way.

The Chelsmford Race Night

Photo by Simon Dixon

Thanks to Lena, Jimmy, and Glen for holding a race night at The Chelmsford on Bank Holiday Monday 5th April 2010. The event raised over £200 for the darts team, and money was also collected for the fund which Lyndon has organised for a girl who has cerebral palsey.

This was at least the third one of these Race events I've been to that have been run by Jimmy and Glen, and they're always a good laugh. There was quite a good crowd there too, and it was a successful event.

Jolly Drovers 1 - 9 Chelmsford

A picture of nearby Whittonstall by Simon Dixon

The Jolly Drovers won a closely contested opening Team game to take the lead. In the following games a few stray shots crept in from both teams, but we always seemed to find the odd high score to get to the finishing double first.

The Jolly Drovers have their dartboard in an alcove which means although it can sometimes feel a bit cramped during the game there are no distractions while throwing.

Player of the Match was Lena who scored well and finished quickly in both of her games.

Team Cup Night

There was no game for us on Tuesday as we were knocked out in the first round of the Team Cup competition which was playing. Chopwell took on Shotley Club B at our place though so we still had a good night in The Chelsmford with a packed bar.

Both teams were playing just a bit below their usual standards but there were still some good individual performances and high scoring. The darts games alternate with dominoes games in this competition until a winner is found. The dominoes are somewhat of an equaliser so you don't get just the usual suspects dominating.

With a double start needed there is tension from the very start, and both teams took it in turns to struggle with a starting double. This was at odds with their excellent practice shots at doubles, and it just goes to show what a bit of pressure on the double can do.

Chopwell won it on the darts, ironically in a leg which they had trouble starting. I'll be dropping a couple of posts about "doubles" over the next few days.

Chelmsford 4 - 6 Derwentside

Practicing on the 19's

Although we raised our game a little from last week's Away leg, Derwentside did too with plenty of 80+ / 100+ shots.

Most of the games were quick, with no problems on the finishing. By the time the Team and Doubles games were over the score was evenly matched at 2-2, but we dropped off a touch in the Singles games.

Peter was our Player Of The Match, gaining a very assured point in the first Singes game of the evening.

Derwentside 7 - 3 Chelmsford

Practice on Bob's 27 : Two and a marker

The Derwentside started well and quickly hit a consistent note. There were a few new faces in their team from my point of view (including their new Landlord) and they all seem to have settled in well.

I prefer where they have their board now in the side bar. It gives more space for people who like to stand to the left when throwing and there's a good atmosphere for darts.

On a disappointing night for us I still thought we had joint Players Of The Match nonetheless ; Peter and Kris both played well enough to win their Doubles and Single points. Without these performances it could have been even worse for us.

Congratulations to Alan / Mark / Craig and crew, and we look forward to seeing them in the return game.

Singles Cup, the last 16

Peter, Kris, and Alan represented The Chelmsford in the last 16 of the Singles Knock-out Cup up at The Derwentside last night. Sadly, Kris and Alan were knocked out despite them both finding the trebles and putting up a strong challenge.

Kris was getting a good number of 100+ shots and Alan seemed to be on his way to a win before his opponent made up a lot of ground with a 180 to snatch the winning leg.

Better news with Peter though, who made it through to the last four for the big match on Finals Night. Although he didn't reach his own high standards there was nothing wrong with the important part of the game - the finishing. If he takes his A Game up there he'll match anyone, so fingers crossed and well done Peter.

Chelsmford 5 - 5 Moorcock "B" Team

Although we played well in the opening Team game to take a lead it all went wrong from there. We lost all three of the Doubles games and the first Singles game to find ourselves 1 - 4 down despite some reasonable play from us.

Player of The Match though was Lena, who won a very important Singles point to steer us back on track and make it 2-4. Trailing 1-5 down would have been difficult to overcome, and thankfully we were able to win 3 of the remaining Singles game to secure a draw.

The Moorcock "B" Team are above us in the league, so these 11 points over the two games will be useful.

Moorcock "B" Team 4 - 6 Chelmsford

The Moorcock B Team are a good bunch of young players so these 6 points were a good result for us. We were really disappointed to lose the opening 1001X Team game after building up a decent lead but failing to finish, but by the end of the three Doubles games we were back to 2-2.

Although neither team really hit top form I thought Peter, Alan, Kris, and Mick were all doing well for us, and I'll hold back on a Man Of The Match this week because there was little between them.

Simon D took his camera and I hope to have some better shots for the blog from him, because even I'm geting sick of the dart board pictures I take.

Cup "Doubles" Night

Roger and I squeezed into the next round of the League's "Doubles" competition last night. I don't yet know the results from the rest of our team's games, as things ran a little late for us up at The Coach and Horses. It was midnight as Roger and I played the final game of the evening so I'm realy pleased we managed to get a result.

I love the throw at The Coach and Horses. It has a raised oche, good lighting, and no distractions in the line of sight. Unfortunately the board itself is a little dificult to play on. The large, rounded wires caused numerous bounce-outs for all players, and some of mine were landing behind me. I think if they get a Blade III or an Eclipse it would really help the players.

Chelmsford 5 - 5 Moorcock "A" Team

A local game, for local locals

The Moorcock really upped their game from last week and showed determination to get the points. The Special Stuff came from Moorcock's Jonathon Archer with a superb 118 (T20, S18, D20) finish in a Singles game he seemed to be losing.

As with last week we built our scores well, but this time we found that any misses on the finishes were punished, and at no point in the 10 games did anyone have more than a narrow lead on the scoreboard.

I'l hold back on a Man Of The Match this week, as I thought it was just a tight game.

Moorcock "A" Team 2 - 8 Chelmsford

We got off to a very good start in the opening 1001X Team game, and it seemed The Moorcock team couldn't get into their stride. This meant they didn't apply as much pressure as possible, and in several of the games we got down to the finish first and were then making sure that we didn't spoil the doubles.

Man Of The Match was Micky B. In his Doubles game he scored three consecutive 100+ shots, and he also hung in well to win a Singles point where the finishing was causing both players problems.

The Morcock is a great traditional pub up in the moors of Waskerley. They had a well stoked open fire and some superb Black Sheep on cask. It's a really good pub to play darts in.

The Singles Competition

There was no joy for myself or Jean at The Cricketers on Tuesday night. I was knocked out in the second round 2-1 by Collie of Blackhill Club. At least I raised my game from a poor first round 2-1 victory, and it was a close game.

Good news elsewhere though, as three of our leading lights progressed to the next stage. Alan, Peter, and Kris all made it, with Peter scoring an impressive two 180's on the night.

Good luck to our three and Collie. They're just a couple of wins away from Finals Night and It'd be great if The Chelmsford were represented in The Singles.

Chelmsford 9 - 1 Shotley Club "B"

Practice darts

This was one of our best team efforts for a long time, playing against good quality opposition who are immediately above us in the League. Perhaps the 8 point swing we've gained in the last two games against them will have changed that.

We took a strong lead before losing one of the later Singles games. The big difference for us in this game was that we snatched a couple of Singles points which were looking unlikely and showed determination to stay in these games hoping for the slip-ups on their finishing which we needed. It might have been a 6-4 or 7-3 result without this aspect.

No Man Of The Match this week as I really felt this was a team performance.

The Singles cup is looming, and I hope a few of us can get into the next round.

Shotley Club 'B' 5 - 5 Chelmsford

Practising less favoured doubles

It was good to get back to League action after a break since our last game before Christmas. On that occasion it was a 5-5 draw against the Shotley 'A' team, and it was the same score against their 'B' team on Tuesday night.

We lost the opening Team game, but pulled it back to 2-2 by the end of the three Doubles games. With both teams quite evenly matched the points in the six Singles games were shared to result in a 5-5 draw on the night.

The Man Of The Match was in fact a Person Of The Match : Jean put in a great performance in the final Singles game of the night to earn the draw which I feel we were good for. Neither team really messed up any finishing, so we'll all be aware of the need to hit those doubles in the Return leg.

Lakeside 2010

Dave Chisnall

I'm a fan of the BDO competitions, but even I will admit this week's Lakeside games have shown both ends of the scale when it comes to the standard of play.

However, The Player of the Tournament so far must be Dave Chisnall, who has treated us to a spectacular comeback against Ted Hankey in the Quarter Final, and as I write he has just progressed to the Final with a breathtaking display against O'Shea. There was one string of consecutive shots which were a 164 finish for Chisnall, immediately followed by them both trading 180's.

From my experience the BDO standards are mainly criticised by non players, Pro's, and County standard players. Most of the happy enthusiast players like myself enjoy the way you honestly don't know what will happen next at the Lakeside. Sure, I'm fascinated to watch Phil Taylor carefully plant his darts from right to left from the bottom corner of the T20 bed but I never feel emotion watching PDC games - it's a different experience altogether.

Chisnall may well gravitate to the PDC in the future, but you can be sure there'll be another young talent to take his place at The Lakeside, which screens on free-to-air terrestrial TV in the UK - unlike the subscription required for PDC games. What's there not to like?

A Week Off

Steadier than my walking skills!

No league darts this week as we had a break. Actually I didn't realise we weren't playing and I rushed down on Tuesday night and had a heavy fall in the ice.

Nothing broken, but I'd put that down to the 4 layers I was wearing. Have a great New Year and we'll be back out on the oche soon. I hope to have a pair of crampons by then. They won't improve the darts, but at least I'll get there in one piece :o)

Darts Corner Catalogue 2010

I've just received the new Darts Corner Catalogue for 2010 and the stock they carry is amazing. I've used their web site before but because I was just searching for the specific items I was interested in I didn't appreciate their full range. For example, I didn't even know that those "real feather" flights were still freely available, but at Darts Corner you get a choice of shape, colour, and 2BA / Qtr Inch threads. Here's an example.

One slight thing they may want to improve upon is to give bulk discounts for flights and stems, because I can't see any sliding scale costs based on quantities as you get with Tommy's Darts, and 10 of my favourite Ruthless R4X flights look a little more expensive with DC than with TD. If I were to order 50 sets it would be a 30% difference unless there is a bulk discount I can't find in the catalogue?

This is a very minor point though, and their product range matches anything I've seen. All of those odd little hard to find things are covered in their catalogue - in detail and with choices. Also, they were one the first companies I noticed to print the specific dimensions of the darts rather than just the weight and tungsten ratio. They handled my last order well and I'll definitely use them again. Try search words of "shirt" and "trophy" on their site as two quick examples of what they offer, and then try the same search words on other sites. It's the same for those hard to find things I mentioned.

Chelmsford 5 - 5 Shotley Club

We got off to such a strong start last night it really was a disappointment to lose so many of the final games. We took a 4-0 lead by winning the Team and Doubles games, but from that point Shotley raised their game and allowed us just one win in the final six singles games.

The roads have remained treacherous this week, and luckily the trip from Shotley to the Chelmsford is a short one without inclines. I hope the other teams had no problems.

Man of The Match goes to Kris for winning our only Singles match of the night.

Let it Snow

Look at this shameful display of wreckless drink driving in Ebchester. He's all over the shop!

You can see on this film just how little snow is needed before some of our roads become no-go. This shot was taken opposite the church pointing towards The Chelmsford.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

There's a great commentary on this film!

I'm not sure whethere there'll be any darts on Tuesday night, but at the moment Ebchester has come to a stand-still. This is what just 3 inches of snow does to us.

The Unicorn Eclipse

The Unicorn Eclipse board

Back in August 2008 I blogged about The Unicorn Eclipse dart board. There was feedback received which warned that my poor experiences with The Blade III were due to Winmau's early models of this board.

I've now given the Eclipse board sixteen months of hammer and it still feels like new. There is no deterioration of the bristle, the wires are not damaged, and bounce outs are incredibly rare due to the superb design. I have no complaints whatsover, and I've personally never owned a better board.

The only possible negative point I could raise is that I seldomly play on a board this good in League match play, so maybe I should practice on a poor board at home to simulate the misery of important bounce-outs :o) I know people like Steve D use boards with artificially narrow doubles and trebles to practice on, but if I ever wanted that sort of handicap I'd just put the Blade III back up!

Shotley Club 4 - 6 Chelmsford

More strange bounce outs on the practice board

We played quite well at Shotley Club last night despite losing the opening Team game. The points were shared evenly though, and we needed to win the last Singles game of the night for a narrow victory.

Man Of The Match goes to Alan, who cranked the scoring up as the night went on and was solid in his Doubles and Singles games. Also, Alan seldom seems to stray away from clean D16 / D8 finishes.

We have no game next Tuesday due to being knocked out of the Team Cup Competition in the first round back in early October. We'll still meet up for a practice night though.

Barbados Highlights (?!) - Chefette

Fast food?

This was a laugh. All holiday long in Barbados Deb and I were laughing about the "service" we were getting in Barbados. Too cool for school, I suppose.

The Chefette outlet in Bridgetown took the biscuit though. I could't believe how they made 10 customers into a 5 minute queue in a fast food outlet where there were so many staff.

Our server moseyed on over to the serving hatch, then back over to the counter to pick up the cutlery, to then mosey on back to the serving hatch to put it on the tray, to then shuffle back to the counter. Now I'm not a "process" person, but even I could have saved her a 10 yard trundle there! It was like Resident Evil - you know, when you've only got the knife, but you really want the shotgun :o)

Be prepared for a very laid back attitude to customers in Barbados. We got great service though from The Ship Inn and Bert's Bar for example, and they got tipped. The rest were about about as pleased with my gratitude as I was with their attitude.

Chelmsford 7 - 3 The Turf

It was the same points haul for us as the Away leg, but this time we shipped points early in the game. We lost the opening 1001x Team Game, which descended into a Double 1 marathon where I think every player had 3 throws to try and put an end to the misery!

The Turf brought a good crew with them and I really enjoyed the night. There were good strings of scoring from Peter (3 consecutive tons) and Kris (5 consecutive 60+ scores) but I'll hold back a Man Of The Match award this week to see if anyone can really grab it next time.

This Saturday's practice will definitely include some work on the small, odd finishes where a Single is needed to get to a double. I never feel I have this nailed and the importance of it was on show in "the marathon".

Fund Raiser Event

Thanks and congratulations to Kris for organising a very enjoyable and successful fund raiser at The Chelmsford yesterday. From 15:00 hrs right through to Closing Time competitions were held for darts, dominoes, pool, and quoits and it all went extremely smoothly thanks to the excellent organisation of the event.

Kris has an ambitious plan to raise enough money to buy our own team transport and I'm sure yesterday's takings will been a step in the right direction towards this.

Race Night

No darts were played last night as the League held a Race Night up at Chopwell Central. There was a strong turn-out from the majority of league teams and a well organised event was held whereby we placed £1 bets on eight randomly chosen race videos. I'm sure this will have been a successful funds raiser for League and we all had a great night out.

I was quite good at selecting the horses which would be given the best odds after the bets were placed, but as usual it was all to no avail as not a single one of mine came in. Jean and a couple of others did well though.

As always, superb hospitality and facilities from the Chopwell Central.

We Love Darts Magazine

New to the Barbados touring party this year were Amanda and Steve representing the We Love Darts magazine. Amanda is an Assistant on the mag, and she did a great job of publicising it to everyone at the various festival events. Loads of dart flights and complimentary copies of the magazine were given out, and it's a wonder either of them had room for clothes in their suitcases!

She gave me a couple of back issues and I had a good read through them. The editorial style is light hearted and entertaining, and there is plenty of interesting content with comparatively few adverts.

The business side of launching a new mag was a real eye opener to me. I didn't know that Supermarkets charge such high fees for shelf space, and you need a lot of capital to stand any chance. All the best to them, because it is a decent read.

Barbados Highlights - The AT & T Hideaway

The AT&T Hideway

For some strange reason the AT&T Hideway evening has not appeared on the official schedule for the Barbados Darts Tournament for the last two years.

Thankfully Colin Smith rectified this by organising this himself unofficially, so we still got to play the best event going in a tradtitional Bajan venue.

Incredible hospitality and comradery. Top marks to Colin and the AT&T - the best night of the holiday by far!

The Turf 3 - 7 Chelmsford

Practice darts on the D4

In stark contrast to our poor start against Leadgate CC in October we got off to a flyer against The Turf last night, winning the first four games to take a 0-4 lead. It's a team game, so getting these points in the Team and all three Doubles games reflects well on us.

There were quite a few people in The Turf, with another League's match being played in the Main Bar on one of their three boards. With the pub trade subdued at the moment perhaps this shows one way it can be done?

Man of The Match goes to Roger for sinking the first two doubles of the night to set us on our way. Peter is mentioned in dispatches for a strong Singles game which had the possibility of being an 11 darter after two consecutive ton forties, but a little hesitation on the finish brought the average down.

Catch - up Results

Practice darts on D3

The team have been doing great while I have been away ( ! ) , and here are the results from the games I missed :

04/11/2009 - The Ox Inn 4 - 6 Chelmsford
The Man Of The Match was Kris.

11/11/2009 - Chelmsford 7 - 3 The Ox Inn
The Man Of The Match was Roger. I heard all about his exploits last night - very well done.

Back from The Barbados Darts Festival 2009

The hotel's beach at sunset

We returned back to England this afternoon after another memorable and eventful trip to beautiful Barbados for their Darts Festival.

Wayne Mardel was an excellent host. His sense of humour is well known to all, and it was on show throughout his time with us, as well as some spectacular exhibition tricks such as blowing the darts at the board with his mouth - to a higher accuracy on the D8 than I could ever get the normal way!

Over the next few weeks I'll post the main highlights of the trip. I think with darts you either win or learn when you play competitively, and I sure "learnt" a lot this time around :o)

Leadgate C.C. 7 - 3 Chelmsford

Practice darts

We made one of the worst starts I can remember on Tuesday night at the Leadgate Cricket Club, going 5-0 down. We were scoring reasonably well (in patches), but we just didn't take out our Doubles, and I think most of the games went down to both sides looking at low finishes so the chances were there.

Thankfully Peter, Alan, and Kris won their Singles game to stop it from being a total mare, and Peter takes this week's MOTM for putting a good string of steady scores together and getting that all important first point of the night.

There were some good all round performances from LCC's Jan, Roly, and Macca. Also, the person who seemed to be covering for Taff chipped in very well.

The Shirt from Rags

I ordered a darts shirt from Rags on 10th October and just 11 days later it arrived all the way from the USA.

It's a good quality cotton polo shirt with nothing on the front but this brilliant design on the back. The sizing seems to be the same as the UK, with the XL version pictured giving just that little bit of freedom for the throwing arm.

Check out the great designs here and you can expect slick and efficient service from the Cafepress people who handle the orders.

Chelmsford 5 - 5 Leadgate Cricket Club

Pictured : A bounce-out rests on the other darts

For the second week running we drew 5-5 in an evenly matched game, though the standard was a little lower than last week's effort against The Wheatsheaf. We almost took it in turns to win points with LCC winning the opening game, and us getting the final Singles point of the night to avoid defeat.

Their veteran player Alan had a quiet night by his standards, but still checked out a precise 92 finish in his Doubles game (T20, marker dart, D16). Good finishing from Peter and Roger in their Doubles game too with Roger scoring 121 to leave 150, Peter reducing this to a 32 finish, and Roger taking out the double. It was a little against the flow of their match, but a very strong final three throws nonetheless.

No MOTM award this week, as I felt we were all of a similar standard with no-one really leading the way.

Chelmsford 5 - 5 Wheatsheaf

We played a very tight and competitive match against The Wheatsheaf on Tuesday night. The standard was higher than the Away leg a couple of weeks ago and I think this would've been a decent game to watch.

Good performances from players of both teams, and I thought we stood up to the challenge well.

Man of The Match goes to Peter M for a fantastic showing against Sean in a game that was broadcast quality. After trading 100+ shots Peter finished on 66 with 2 darts in his hand with S16, Bull.

It was good to see Jay Coulson selected for The Wheatsheaf and he played a strong game all night. We were both disappointed not to be drawn in our Singles games against each other. Its just a friendly rivalry that wanders into football as well :o)

A reasonable match to report on for the first time in a few weeks, and a fair result for both teams' efforts.

Team Cup Competition 2009 / 10

Popcorn on the third dart

We were knocked out of the Team Cup Competition in the 1st round last night with a scoreline of Chelmsford 2 - 4 Chopwell Central.

It was a disappointment to take a 2-0 lead and then lose all of the subsequent legs. In this competition the games swing between 1001 DSDF Team darts games and Doubles dominoes games, with both points being of equal importance.

It's sad to exit this so early because it is a competition I always think we stand a fair chance of doing well in.

No one will admit it but there seems to be a nervous ripple when the darts players realise they need a double to start. In two of the darts legs I noticed that the team that took longer to get off managed to turn it around and win the leg. I suppose 1001 allows you some time to make up a deficit.

We used to play League games with a double start (before my time), but I gather it wasn't popular. I'm undecided either way - it certainly adds a bit of tension from the very start.

Wheatsheaf 7 - 3 Chelmsford

Practice darts : A "dog's dinner" on D20

I think this was a disappointing game for both teams. The scoring wasn't good, but at least the finishing was reasonable. With The Wheatsheaf having an off-night I was hopeful we'd get some points on the board, but 3 was the best we could manage.

Kris got us off to a good start by finishing in the opening team game but things went badly for us in the Doubles games and we found ourselves 3-1 down.

I was again on the lucky side of a robbery in my Singles match as my opponent had appallingly bad luck on his finishing doubles. Really - I could hardly bare to watch as he bashed the wires so many times. As in my Doubles game with Kris at Blackhill I just kept on going to avoid embarassment and somehow managed to sneak it. You just can't learn from games like this.

The other games seemed reasonably close, but our finishing was a little off and I think Wheatsheaf will have been relieved to get those crucial doubles. We should have capitalised but we just couldn't manage it.

Roger gets the MOTM this week for an important Singles win to prevent an even heavier defeat towards the end of the evening when we were trailing badly.

Chelmsford 7 - 3 Coach & Horses

Getting the horizontal accuracy right

Neither team played particularly well last night, and many of us from both teams found it difficult to get some steady score building. In a low scoring opening Team Game Kris sunk the winning 32 with his first dart, and we then won the next two Doubles games to build a 3-0 lead. This good start was key to getting the win because the points swung evenly from this point.

Man Of The Match this week is not an easy choice, but I think Peter should have it for playing the smoothest game with some good scoring while many of us struggled for consistency.

The C&H Landlord (Darren) was playing for them last night and he is quite a character. He's not been in the job up there for very long and I really hope he makes a success of it.

Coach & Horses 4 - 6 Chelmsford

It was a quiet night up in Leadgate last night. We went 2-0 down and we were not finishing when the chances arose. We fared better in several of the Singles games though, and managed to turn it around to a narrow victory.

C&H have a really nice oche, and although the darts cabinet seems to be ordinary it makes a great sound when the darts hit the board

Our MOTM was Kris who played a steady game all night and I can't remember a slack shot from him over the 3 games he played in.

New Personal Best

Practice darts

I hit a new personal best in a 501 game with Roger in The Chelmsford last night : A 14 darter in 501 SSDF. There were a couple of 140's and a quick finish on D18.

I hit a 13 darter this time last year but that was on the practice board in the house. I'd love to be able to do this more often, but at least I know I can do and it just needs bringing out.

Chelmsford 2 - 8 Blackhill Club

I thought we played better than last week, but Blackhill's slick finishing condemned us to a heavier defeat. Not a great start on our new Blade III board!

The best Singles game of the evening was was a really quick affair with Nev showing absolute focus to edge out Peter who was keeping up with the high scoring. I could tell from the practice darts before their game that they were both going to go for it.

Peter won't want the MOTM with a scoreline like this, but he is getting it nonetheless as our best player on the night. We played well and showed determination despite the score, and I'm sure we'll pick the points up with more of the same.

I felt I prepared far better for this game and got my mental game right. I'll see if I can learn from this prep and try to figure out what works best.

Blackhill Club 7 - 3 Chelmsford

We kicked off the season with a reasonable effort against Blackhill Club. After narrowly losing the opening Team game of 1001X we managed to pull it back to 2-2, but from that point Blackhill lost only one further leg to make it a deserved 7-3 victory for them.

There were some great highlights on the night : Peter finished well in his Doubles game (a 98 with T5, T17, D16) and Nev finished on 102 against Peter who was scoring well.

Kris and I were involved in a case of robbery in our Doubles game. We were trailing heavily in the 701x leg due to superb scoring from Collie. He opened with a 180 and followed it up with a 140. The other shots from them were all decent too and I thought we'd be lucky to get out of the 300's but they ended up in the Mad House and Kris finished it for us on D16 to be our MOTM for a good evening's play.

It's a good throw up there. There's a new Blade III board, perfect lighting, and no distractions while throwing. They usually have the excellent Samuel Smiths beer up there, but the Cameron's Ruby Red was just as good on the night.

Opening Games 2009 / 2010 Season

The new pub sign

We start the season on Tuesday night away to Blackhill Club. Our next two opponents are Coach & Horses and The Wheatsheaf. This is a very tough opening six games for us, home and away against the three, and I think we'll have learnt a lot about ourselves by mid October.

Its great to see a full 16 teams in the League this season. Some teams are not present this time around, but there's a new addition (The Ox Inn) and The Moorcock and Shotley Club are both entering A and B teams.

The 2009 / 2010 Season

The new season starts on Tuesday 1st September 2009, and the people who run the League will have again been doing the hard work in getting everything together.

I had some practice in the house on my return from a week in Loch Lomond and I'm always interested to see what happens when I've had a break from the game. I got a large number of steady 60 / 59 / 58 shots and some good accuracy on the finishing doubles, but not many high scores. I think steady 60's are only useful if they are supplemented with the odd high shot so I'll do my best to "find" the trebles over the next nine days.

No heavy practice sessions on DartPro though - just as many games with other players as possible.

Heavy Darts?

Practising the small Doubles

I've never considered my 27g darts to be particularly heavy. They certainly look like the ones most other players seem to throw, but over the last few years I've noticed how the 25g+ weights are slowly being phased out.

I switched to Unicorn Hero when Harrows scrapped the 27g option in their excellent Magnum range. Now Unicorn are themselves putting a 25g ceiling on most of their range, including the Heros. I can still find some 27g sets on-line, but these are end of stock and will need to be bought quickly if I want any spares.

I'm sure I'll always be able to get darts in the 27g weight, but my choice will be limited to lower tungsten ratios and not manufactured by Unicorn, Harrows etc. To see what I mean have a look at Darts Corner, and do searches on Darts Steel-Tip / By Weight and see the difference between the 25g offerings and the 27g ones.

The 27's must have been phased out due to declining demand, but it'll be a shame if I'm forced down to 25g to get the type of darts I want. I can really feel the 2g difference.

Practice Night

Due to commitments and Holidays etc only four of us could make it to practice night on Tuesday. We still managed to make a good competitive evening of it however, and in the last few games of the evening we had a mini competition. It must've been good because the match nerves surfaced, although adrenaline is probably a better word for it because it brought out the best in us.

I've been working on getting darts into the board with a good horizontal accuracy, as the vertical accuracy has usually been OK. This seemed to work on practice night and I was getting a really good success rate at steady 60's and 59's. Far fewer darts strayed into 1's and 5's, and when you're getting steady scores you just need the odd T20 to push the scores up. I've also been working on small odd finishes like 3 and 7 where the first dart needs to be a big 1 or 3 etc without busting.

Close Season

There's no news to report at the moment as The League takes its Summer close season break. We've kept the habit practicing down at The Chelmsford on Tuesday nights though, and there'll always be at least five of us down there.

The practice night game consists of single legs of 501 SSDF where the winner stays on the board against the throw in the following game against the next person in the queue.

Mark threw a 180 as his opening shot throwing first last night but still managed to lose the leg somehow. Its strange how often that seems to happen with some of us.