Stanley Masons 3 - 7 Chelmsford

Both teams struggled to get into any sort of rhythm in the game last night. The opening team game really set the tone when it descended into a D1 marathon, and all 12 players had at least three throws at it. Alan had the dubious honour of finally nailing it to give us a 0-1 lead. We haven't had one of these in the team game all season, and let's hope it's the last!

It was just one of those games where neither team seemed to get consistent scores on the board but we were grabbing the points with slightly better finishing. It's a good enough throw so no explanations as to why we all seemed to suffer so much. It was just one of those nights.

Man Of The Match this week was Ian from our team, getting two of our points and playing the only consistent game from either team in the last point of the evening.

Chelmsford 5 - 5 Derwentside

We started last night's game fairly well, wining the opening Team game and first Doubles game. The game seemed to change direction in the third leg however. Instead of taking a 3-0 lead in a match which both teams had chance to win it was The Derwentside who took it and they pushed on well from there.

Derwentside took a 3-4 lead with some good Singles points and we needed to win the last point of the night to get a draw.

Kris earns a Brownie Point for an assured 82 finish in his Doubles game (T14, D20) but I'll hold back a Man Of The Match award as many of us played a similar game

Derwentside 2 - 8 Chelmsford

Practice darts at The Derwentside

The Darts are back on following the Christmas break. On 18th December we progressed to the last four of the Team Cup with a 4-1 win over Shotley Club B. We threw well on the night, winning 3-0 at the darts and drawing 1-1 in the dominoes. Disappointment for Shotley, who started every leg of theses Double Start / Double Finish games in the first throw, but couldn't take advantage of a few missed attempts to start by us in the second and third legs.

On Tuesday night we had a great result up at The Derwentside. Good scoring in patches plus very solid finishing really paid dividends for us. I don't remember any poor finishing in any of the 10 games, and Alan from The Derwentside was extremely unlucky to miss a 167 check-out by millimetres on the last dart. His doubles partner in that game however won the game on the next visit with a S9, D8 finish.

Peter was our Man Of The Match, hitting three of our eight winning doubles as well good scoring all evening. We played in their front Bar, but Mark mentioned they may play the rest of the season in the upstairs area. Either is fine by me - both options give you a room set aside for the darts and the throw is great.

Chelmsford 5 - 5 Shotley Club A

Picture courtesy of countydarts.com

Our recent losing run came to an end on Tuesday night with a draw to halt the slide. We started very slowly, losing the Team game and the first Doubles game, but by the end of the three Doubles games we had managed to pull level at 2-2. 

Shotley A were't quite as strong as the previous week and there were opportunities for either team in most of the matches. As always it was the doubles which were crucial, and this week we were much more accurate. The six Singles games were equally shared, which was probably the correct outcome.

Kris hit two of the winning doubles. Peter also scored two of them and he gets the Man Of The Match for hitting numerous ton-plus shots throughout the night, especially in his Singles game where they bought him a few attempts at finishing before finally taking out a small finish.

Shotley Club 7 - 3 Chelmsford

Practice darts before the game

Our squad was extremely depleted on Tuesday night and there was no element of selection for the captain to make. However we played quite well and could easily have scored more points, as evidenced with our win in the opening 1001X Team Game. This is always a hard point to win if anyone in the team is having an off-night, but it was a comfortable point for us, with Ian finishing on 60.

At the end of the three Doubles games we were drawing 2-2 with Glen taking out the dreaded D1 partnering Lena, but we really fell down in the remaining Singles games. I finished on D19 to take a brief 2-3 lead, but Shotley took all of the remaining Singles points to give them a convincing 7-3 win.

I'm delighted to award Man Of The Match to Glen this week. Everyone hates D1 so to take it out in his first darts game for our team was a real lift.

Chelmsford 3 - 7 Coach and Horses

A disappointing night's darts for us on Tuesday. The scoring was OK, even very good in certain parts of the games, but our finishing deserted us time and time again. Typical of this was the opening team game of 1001X where we ploughed ahead to get down to the finish with throws to spare, but we faltered and CaH crossed the line with their good finishing.

The three Doubles games were quite good for us however, and we took a 2-1 lead with finishes from Kris (on 24) and Alan (on 20). These were to be our last points gained until Peter won his Singles point in the penultimate game of the evening with a 58 finish.

CaH's finishing was worthy of the points though, and no complaints from us because we all know just how important it is to close games when the chances arise.

Coach and Horses 6 - 4 Chelmsford

When The Commercial pub was demolished last year their darts team moved 30 yards up the road to The Coach and Horses. They've re-branded the team with some great team T-Shirts, each carrying the individual's nick name on the back and a Fender Stratocaster / pub name design on the front. I was really tempted to buy one at the bar but didn't have the money for an impulse clothes purchase on the night!

Although we're a pair of well matched teams we made it really hard for ourselves by losing the opening Team game after leading throughout. Then, two Doubles losses saw us 3-0 down which was always going to be difficult to overcome. It seemed we were just wandering towards defeat without really playing any worse than our opponents.

However, three wins in the Singles games saw us back on track, and we were really close to drawing the match but for a narrow defeat in the last Singles Game of the night. Kris takes this week's Man Of The Match for his wining check-outs in his Doubles and Singles matches, but there were no true highlights to report. Perhaps Joe from their team plus Peter and  Kris from ours were the most consistent throughout the games.

I have three of our games to report upon. Firstly, I missed the return leg against Chopwell B on 30/10/2012 due to a commitment, but Kris Cameron sent me an emailed report.

Apparently we were down to the bone squad wise. Chopwell didn't play as well as the previous week, but were still out scoring us. Kris hit D8 for us in the team game which was close all the way down. The Doubles games weren't so close but poor finishing from Chopwell was letting us get to finishes,  which we missed. Alan and Kris took points from the singles. Alan faced young Scot who was on a finish after 9 darts but again poor finishing allowed Alan to nick the game with D4. Kris had a close run game with Davey Reed which he also nicked with D2. The final score was Chelsmford 3 - 7 Chopwell B.

We then played Leadgate Cricket Club on 6/11/2012 and it was a bit of a low point in our season. We were't that bad and even took the opening point of the evening when Mickey finished on 32, but LCC always seemed to have enough to take the points, and Ian's 20 finish in the second Singles game was to be our last contribution to the score card. The final score was Leadgate CC 8 - 2 Chelmsford.

To bring us bang up to date we played the return leg against Leadgate Cricket Club last night, and thankfully we were able to get a bit of pride back. To be honest they seemed to drop the pace from last Tuesday, but we tightened up a bit too to bring the games more into our favour. Ian again finished the Team game and we also took two of the three Doubles points to put us in an early 3-1 lead. Last week had already been bettered! However, they returned to form in the Singles games, and only Kris and Peter were able to win their Singles games. The final score was Chelmsford 5 - 5 Leadgate Cricket Club.

Chopwell B 7 - 3 Chelmsford

Newcastle Quayside

Apologies for the lack of an update recently.

Our recent good form came to a halt up at Chopwell B Team on 23/11/2012. We were outscored in most of the games, and when we did get down to the doubles we found we only had one shot at it or the game was lost. A bad result for us, but the most we could get on the night, and we needed late Singles points from Kris and Peter to prevent it from being a total disaster.

I try to be as fair as possible with my reviews, and this was a dominant performance by Chopwell B, and they will really well in the league this season - it was their game. We didn't hit our odd chances at doubles in the main, and the score could've been worse but for the two late Singles points, so no complaints.

I had to miss the return leg on Tuesday, but Kris has sent me some info, and it follows shortly.

Chelmsford 8 - 2 Cricketers

"Special Stuff" to report!

Although we managed the same score against The Cricketers as in the Away leg last week it was a very different game. The Cricketers were scoring well and with more consistency than previously, but two of our players were making all the difference for us, getting 5 of the 8 points with some great highlights to report.

Alan hit a 180 plus winning finishes in his Singles and Doubles games. Man Of The Match for us though was Peter, also hitting a 180 but also hitting the three winning finishes in Team and Doubles games, plus a 17 darter in his Singles game. He becomes the first player since I've been doing the Brownie Points thing to get 5 of them in a single game. This takes him to joint top of the Brownie Points table with Kris, despite having to miss a third of our games due to work.

The Cricketers played a steady game and would normally have returned more points for their efforts, but Peter and Alan just swung it for us on the night.

Cricketers 2 - 8 Chelmsford

We hit a very steady pace against The Cricketers on Tuesday night, taking the lead in the Team Game as Lena hit the D12 on the first dart to win the Team game and we continued to play well in the Double games to take a 0-4 lead. Nothing spectacular, just steady throwing and not spoiling the finishes.

The Cricketers were certainly having their moments, but "consistency" was wining the points, and The Cricketers were unlucky to find their best performances being matched against our best games too. For example Angela from their team would have won plenty of games with her scoring had it not been for Kris' 114 finish in their Singles game

I was really pleased to hit a 180 in my Doubles game with Kris, but Man Of The Match goes to him. Kris was one of three players to hit two winning doubles, but his 114 checkout was our best of the season so far.

Team Cup : Chelmsford 4 - 2 Leadgate Cricketers

We played in the first round of the Team Cup competition on Tuesday. We started really well with a good win in the first of the three 1001 Double Start, Double Finish team games. The games in this competition alternate between these darts games and Singles Dominoes games, with the points from each being of equal importance.

By winning the first dominoes game we took a 2-0 lead, but from that point our darts weren't as good as those of Leadgate Cricket Club. We had trouble getting the all important starting double, but even after staring our scores weren't as high as theirs.

We lost the next two darts games, but thankfully our dominoes players came to the rescue, wining all three of their games. Despite losing the darts 1-2 the 3-0 score in the dominoes gave us a 4-2 overall victory.

Chelmsford 7 - 3 The Turf

Tennis balls, food, and drink - or "the holy trinity" as Bracken calls them.

Both teams played a bit below par compared to last week, but I thought we just did enough to keep our noses in front, and we made a solid start by going into a 4-0 lead. We really needed this, as the six Singles points were shared.

 There were still a good number of high shots, but way too many "Less Than 40" shots from many of us. Tommy from The Turf seemed to be the only player who took it forward from last week's game and he won a Singles point for his efforts.

It was a quiet night up at The Chelmsford with many of the regulars staying at home while we endured a month's worth of rain in a single day - and not for the first time this year either! Still, a good turn out in The Bar for the darts.

I'll hold back on a Man Of The Match for this week as the good performances within our team were fairly well spread.

The Turf - 4 - 6 Chelmsford

We played The Turf on Tuesday night, using their other board in the main Bar as opposed to the one in side bar which we used to use. There were a few changes in their team from previous seasons and they seem stronger for it. A high number of ton plus shots were being thrown by both teams, and the game was very closely run. We certainly improved from the opening two games of the season, and I hope we can maintain this.

We won the opening team game, but The Turf pulled it back by the end of the Doubles game and the scores were tied at 2-2. They won the first Singles game to take a 3-2 lead, but we then had a good showing in the remaining Singles games, winning three in a row at one point.

Quite a lot of players from both teams played really well, but I'll give Alan the Man Of The Match for his 17 darter in the final game of the night, finishing on 52. Roger would have got it but one of his two wining doubles was a D1 Marathon - the only long game of the evening!

Chelmsford 1 - 9 Blackhill Club

Bracken : Still bored with darts!

Blackhill Club were never forced to play their A game on Tuesday, and we made the cardinal sin of missing the small number of shots at doubles that came our way. We seemed to be heading to the dreaded "whitewash" until Michael won the penultimate point of the night in his Singles game. That gets him the Man Of The Match for us because it has saved me having to write about anoter absolute drubbing on here!

Alan gets a Brownie Point for his "Baby Ton Eighty" shot of 177 to leave him 42. That leaves an inviting target of either Single 10 or the adjacent Single 6 on the next throw, but it wasn't to be despite this strong finish to his game.

Davey Gill seemed to be getting some consistently high scores for them, with his team mates always seeming to get far more of the ton plus shots. For us though it just seemed to be getting the odd good shot here and there, and we didn't score well enough to win points.

Two very enjoyable games against the Blackhill Club crew as always though. If we can tighten up on the end game we should be OK, and we have a larger squad of players than last season.

Blackhill Club 7 - 3 Chelmsford

The new season is underway and we played our first game up at Blackhill Club on Tuesday night. After our 10-0 thrashing in the corresponding fixture in 2010 (a night where we actually played a decent game) I was really hopeful for some early points to remove the possibility of another whitewash.

Early points indeed appeared for us. Despite losing the opening Team Game we took a 1-2 lead with two Doubles wins, and then a 2-3 lead after the first Singles game. Sadly that was our last contribution to the score and Blackhill steamed away to a 7-3 victory by winning the last five consecutive Singles games.

Kris was our Man Of The Match, with winning doubles in the Doubles and Singles, with Peter getting our only other point in the Doubles. Still, a big improvement on the 2010 result!

Friendly : Chelmsford 7 - 3 Duke

Peter (right) collects his Player Of The Season Trophy 2011/12

The Duke of Wellington brought a good crew with them on Tuesday night, filling The Bar and making for a good atmosphere on a pre season evening.

The scoring was quite erratic from both sides, with their 180 in a Singles game needing to share the chalk board with some sub 20 shots. However, we really applied ourselves on the finishes, and apart from a Double 1 marathon in one of the Singles games we finished well. Both teams will have to "up" the scoring to score points next season though.

Thanks to Lena and Peter for arranging these two Friendly games. They've been very enjoyable games and they've maintained the interest prior to the new season (news of the first fixture to follow when verified).

Friendly - Duke 4 - 5 Chelmsford

Many thanks to Ellen and Angela for providing the transport last night - it was much appreciated.

I thought we did really well last night. We were without two of our best players and The Duke Of Wellington players were frequently finding the T20 in the pre-match practice throws. Thankfully our finishing in the games was fairly good and we managed to nab a few early points to settle us.

They have a very well illuminated Blade 4 board and the throw is excellent. It is the first time I've been in The Duke Of Wellington and it has a very welcoming feel to it.

We lost the dominoes 2-1, with our point coming from Ellen. There will be a return match next Tuesday night at the Chelmsford and I assume we will play the same format of 1 x Team, 2 x Trebles, and 6 x Singles games, which is slightly different from our League's format.

Pre Season 2012 / 13

We've all enjoyed the incredible Olympics, I'm back from Longleat Center Parcs (pics from the holiday will hopefully provide a break from my lamentable "dart board" shots), and my attention is now turning to the 2012 / 13 darts season.

Lena and Peter have arranged a friendly fixture on Tuesday 14th August away at The Duke, and we are meeting at the usual time in The Chelmsford prior to travel.

I've been taking a break from my usual weekly practice to enjoy the pre season break, but I'l be cranking it up prior to the start of the season. Most efforts are going into reducing head movement and basically getting consistent shots into the board rather than the odd ton to rescue poor throws.

Peter will be presented with his well deserved Player Of The Season 2011/12 trophy at the start of this season, probably at the first Home game depending on how quickly it arrives in the post!

Chopwell Central 8 - 2 Chelmsford

We had a very disappointing points return from the efforts we put into our last game of the season at Chopwell Central on Tuesday night. We played a better game than the previous week, but Chopwell always seemed to edge us out of the games with their finishing. When we were in the lead they'd hit a big finish. When they were in the lead they allowed us to get close before finishing the game themselves.


Kris and I won a doubles point and our Man Of The Match Michael struck a great 64 finish, taking it out well in his own way. We can't feel too disappointed with this performance, which would have seen us winning against several other teams - it's just a pity it looks like a pasting.


We have a tied Player Of The Season this year with both Peter and Alan tied on 40 Brownie Points each. No one else even made it to the 30 mark, so it shows how well they have played.  I will tie break it with "total 180's scored" and if needs be "4 point games". I don't know who that favours, but I'll do my research and announce the result soon!