Two Match Reports - Moorcock A Team

6/12/11 Moorcock A Team 3 - 7 Chelsmford
The opening team game found us both needing a D3 finish, which both teams split down to a D1 finish. Luckily Kris hit the D1 for us and it seemed to give us the edge in the following games.

Peter hit a 70 finish in two darts (T18, D8) in the Doubles games, but the rest of our finishes were all 40 and below. All players from The Chelmsford hit a winning double on the night, but Kris scored two of them and takes the Man Of The Match award with finishes on 3 and 36.

13/12/11 Chelmsford 5 - 5 Moorcock A Team
The Moorcock A Team were in far better form for the return game. Their finishing was much sharper and after winning the opening Team game they dominated the Doubles games to take a 3-1 lead.

It was all a bit of a struggle for us as we found ourselves missing several of our finishes. We fared far better in the Singles games but still needed to win the last two games to make it a 5-5 tie. Similar to the Away leg we had a 76 finish in two darts (T20, D8) with the rest of the finishes all 40 or under. Michael hit two of our winning doubles to take the Man Of The Match award.

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.

Friendly Game - The Moorcock

I’ll shortly post an external photograph of The Moorcock, but in the meantime here’s a write-up of the evening.

Twelve of us made the long(ish) journey to The Moorcock on our usual team bus, and we were joined by several more who made their own way up there.

The Moorcock doesn’t have a regular league team, but they assembled 6 or so players including the Landlord himself. We put the names of all players into a hat and arranged two teams of 9 players.

The 9v9 1001 Team Game went well for me personally ; I only threw 7 darts in the game, but these consisted of two 90+ shots and the winning double three at the first time of asking.

We then played three games of 3v3 501 in which I played a poor game and was beaten. This was followed by 9 301 singles games in which I narrowly beat team member Colin. I hit a ton and a few average shots, but ended up stuck on double 1 and had to watch him narrowly miss the winning double in two throws. You never feel too good about winning on double 1 as it just looks so awful, but it’s marginally better than losing I suppose.

The board was fairly dim and the oche was far from ideal (quite cramped, a lot of movement in the line of sight, and just some gaffer tape marking the line), so I’m pleased to get some pre season practice in these conditions. Venues with a “good throw” are not common, so I don’t really want to practice under unrealistic conditions. Certainly, getting barracked by a team member (Jimmy – “what are you aiming for?”) was a first for me!

On the social side this was a great evening, and thanks must go to our captain Lena for arranging this and booking the coach etc. We had a great time, and it was good to see such a strong turn-out from The Chelmsford.

Moorcock 3 - 7 Chelmsford

Since The Moorcock closed their team has migrated to The Smelters, and they now play their home games from there. We got off to a very disappointing start to the game by losing an opening team game in which we had led strongly, but became totally stuck on a routine finish and ended up with countless darts at D8 / D4. The Moorcock caught up as we struggled to finish, and deserved to take the point by finishing without any fuss.

We put the opening point behind us and settled in quite well. We seemed the steadier and more consistent and at the end of the three Doubles game the score was tied at 2-2.

The six Singles game were our strong point on the night, losing only one of them (mine!) to take a 3-7 win back to The Chelmsford for the return game on 5th March 2013.

All six of our players were able to score at least one winning double so it was a good all round game from our team. Michael takes Man Of The Match for getting two our points and showing some good consistency.

Moorcock "B" 5 - 5 Chelmsford

We were a little lucky to get a draw against The Moorcock "B" team as one of their players was missing. This meant that one Singles point was given to us by default, and then in a Doubles game we had the odd situation of two of our players taking on just one of theirs. This means the solo player has to score twice as highly as the opponents to stand any chance, and unsurprisingly Mike and Roger took the point.

We also had a slight advantage in the Team game as they had to skip one turn in each six throws. However, Kris's finish for us was a well taken 74 (T14, D16) so the point didn't feel like a gift.

Moorcock "B" are a young team of mostly tall players and they always looked the more likely to get the several 140's which peppered the games. It was their big scores which swung a couple of legs in which we were doing well up to that point. If they can get all six players to our place for the return game we are going to have to raise our game to get a result.

Man Of The Match was Kris. In addtion to the aforementioned 74 in the Doubles he finished on 42 points in his Singles game and was the only one of us to hit two winning doubles.

Chelmsford 5 - 5 Moorcock "B"

Swing Bridge, Newcastle

The Moorcock "B" team made three changes to their team from the previous week, but the result was the same on the night, with a repeat of the 5-5 draw.

This game played out quite differently however. We took a 5-1 lead after losing only one of the Doubles games and were playing reasonably well. The Moorcock's team changes may have been forced upon them as they were not scoring as highly as the week before. They showed much determination to win the final four Singles points of the night though, and there can be no complaints with the draw on the night.

No Man Of The Match this week, as our 5 winning doubles were spread evenly between five players.

Regarding the picture : I was looking for a bit of symmetry with a shot of Newcastle's Swing Bridge taken from the Tyne Bridge, but the car passing at the exact mid point was a bit of a surprise when I loaded it up on the PC. No, actually it was intentional :o)

Chelmsford 5 - 5 Moorcock B

We lost the opening team game in an appalling way on Tuesday - leading by 300 points we each took two turns at messing up the finish while Moorcock B quietly got down to the finish and hit it. Worse was to follow as we found ourselves 1-3 down after the Doubles games despite playing a decent game.

Any of the Moorcock players who weren't scoring too highly were making up for it by hitting the doubles. The Singles games were better for us though, and we made up a bit of ground by winning 4 of the 6 to at least get the draw.

Our Man Of The Match was Alan P. He hit a 180 in his Singles game which he followed with an 80+ shot to consolidate it. Typical of much of our finishing he still allowed a big lead to be lost due to hesitance on the finishing, but thankfully he finally got the finish to make it 5-4 in the penultimate game.

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.

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.

League season opens next Tuesday

We had some great news at our informal practice night tonight as the fixtures were pinned up on the board ; as it stands all of last season's teams are still present with the addition of The Moorcock, so we'll have 16 teams.

The Moorcock is a typical old fashioned pub up on the moors and they have a very strong team. We had a great couple of Friendly games against them in October 2005 so I'm really pleased they have joined our league. We play them in December and I'm looking forward to it.

We open our season against The Castleside next Tuesday.

Moorcock 4 - 6 Chelmsford

I don't think too many of us settled into our games tonight as we saw several good leads wasted. On any other night I think we'd have scored a few more points but we just seemed determined to make a close game of it.

What a great location up at The Moorcock though. It feels like it should be aother County as you drive West past Castleside and out onto the moors.

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.

Chelmsford 5 - 5 Moorcock "A" Team

Picture by Bradley (thanks Kris)

Last night's return leg against The Moorcock "A" Team was another low scoring game, but this time they were far more determined with some very pleasing performances within their team, and a draw was the least they deserved.

Things started off well for us with a win in the opening Team game, but from that point onwards we always seemed to be chasing, and we were 2-4 down at one point.

This was our first Home game in he refurbished Bar area, and the management have done a great job with it. In particular there's an open fire in the corner now and the treated floor boards look impressive.

We had a close tie again for Man Of The Match this week, with Alan and Chris hitting all but one of our winning doubles between them, but Alan shades it with his D20 and D8 finishes, and is now at the head of the leaderboard.

Chelmsford 6 - 4 Moorcock

Despite the same scoreline as the away leg a fortnight ago Moorcock were in much better form and pushed us all the way for the points. We lost the opening Team game with some really disappointing shots spread amongst our team. This allowed doubt to set in, whilst our opponents really warmed to the game.

Simon from their team was probably the steadiest player of the night. Special mention must go to their youngest player, who showed good focus to win the last point of the night and prevent a 7-3 defeat which would have been somewhat false.

Willie played a great Singles game for us to win the the only impressive point of the evening for us. We have a break next week to take part in the Doubles Dominoes competition. I'm not too bothered about Doms, but I still want to see us go as far as we can in all competitions this year.

Moorcock Return

Lena has arranged a return friendly game against The Moorcock (see previous postings for details of the original pre season game). Our guests will arrive at The Chelmsford at 20:00 hrs on Thursday 29/09/2005. A full write-up and pictures will appear here. I'm looking forward to this one.

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.

Moorcock B Team 7 - 3 Chelmsford

Open fire in The Chelmsford Bar

We were without 4 of our regular players on Tuesday night, but still put up a decent show. The score may not look too good but in every one of the 10 legs we were down to a good double (i.e. D16 etc, not D1!) and just a little more accuracy on the doubles would have seen us draw at the very least.

Michael and Alan both won their Singles games, and I'll award Alan the Man Of The Match for his 70 finish in the Singles as well as a winning performance with me in the Doubles game. They are our three points on the night, but we've played far worse than this and won in the past - it can be a strange game.

Tuesday was a very windy evening up there in Waskerley and many seemed to have chosen to stay at home, with only the 12 participants in the Bar. That said, Helen put on a great buffet and the roaring open fire was so hot you had to keep well out of its way.

Moorcock "A" Team 3 - 7 Chelmsford

A 90 finish on the practice board

We didn't have a darts game last Tuesday due to the Dominoes Doubles Cup, where sadly none of us made it through to the next round. We've got some decent dominoes players in the team so it was a real disappointment to come away with nothing other than the usual good night up at the Jolly Drovers.

Last night it was back to the darts league, and despite a slow start in a game which rarely hit any heights we were able to win the game by taking the final four Singles points of the night.

They've got an authentic old fashioned country pub up there with a decent Blade III board, but none of us found it a comfortable throw for some reason. We'd better get used to it because we play their "B" team back there again soon.

There was some real competition for the Man Of The Match award this week, as three of our players sunk two winning doubles each (Peter, Alan, and Micheal). The award goes to Alan however, with his solid 76 finish in his Singles game (S20, S16, D20). He also finished the awful X1 I left him in the team game, which was a huge relief to me.

Picture of The Moorcock

Three highlights I forgot to mention earlier : Roger’s 115 finish on the bulls eye, Jimmy’s 84 finish in two darts (T14, D16), and Alan’s "Sorry Lena" just after he released the dart to beat her. He would’ve looked silly if it missed, but that’s confidence I suppose.