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Derwent Walk, late September 2011
The Commercial got off to a strong start on Tuesday night and won the opening Team game. They maintained their decent scoring in the remaining legs but their finishing seemed to desert them, and several times we were allowed to win points in which we were trailing at the mid point. One notable exception to this was Kris' Singles game where he played solidly throughout but still lost what felt like the quickest game of the night.
The majority of our 7 points were scored by three of us who each sank two winning doubles, but Man Of The Match goes to Roger for his memorable 68 finish on The Bull. The importance of finishing was yet again apparent on Tuesday, and Roger's finish was the highlight for us.
Ebchester's sunset on Tuesday night
On Tuesday night we played The Commercial who are now playing from The Coach and Horses pub. As with Blackhill Club they have also chosen a new Winmau Blade 4 board this season, and I still haven't seen a single bounce out on this model so my early impressions of it are favourable.
All ten of the games on Tuesday were close with neither side dominating. We were well matched with the points being shared throughout the night. Either team could make it a win in the return leg with just a bit more accuracy, so we'll see how that one goes.
Michael was our Man Of The Match, narrowly edging it for higher finishing on his two point winning doubles. Alan also won two points, with Kris getting the other one in his Singles game.
Picture : Derwent Walk, Summer 2011
We played much better than last week but so did Blackhill and they increased their margin of victory by a point. It's good to make improvements from last week, but both teams can play better than this.
It was an enjoyable game as always against Blackhill, with some good highlights to report too. Graham from Blackhill hit a 180 and a Bull finish in his Singles game against me, Alan P somehow recovered from a first dart of D17 to complete his 63 finish, and Peter's 96 finish in 2 darts were probably the most memorable events.
On a personal note from me it was so strange to play without nicotine (I stopped smoking on 25/8/11) plus the shoulder injury from a cycle accident two weeks ago which has prevented any practice, but I was really pleased to play a reasonably solid game. I thought I'd miss the usual pre and post match cigs. I will however be marking the board whenever possible to keep these idle hands busy :o)
Finally, congratulations to our friends from The Shepherds. They have made the finals of the Pubmaster competition, to be played in Coventry on 22/10/11. Also, we're sad to hear the news regarding Lawrence Bell from their team. See the comments in The Shepherd's Progress post for details.
A practice shot
What a relief to get our first points of the season Away to a team who whitewashed us 10-0 in the exact same opening day fixture last season.
As always with the darts, we actually played a very ordinary game but somehow managed to get 4 points. Last season we played out of our skins but couldn't buy a point, and that is just the way it goes.
Our 4 points were evenly spread within the team and our first Man Of The Match goes to Michael for getting the finishing double in his Doubles game plus our highest scoring Singles game, despite ultimately losing this one. There were pleasing Singles wins for Peter and Kris too.
I had a bad fall from my bicycle last Tuesday morning where I took the brunt of the impact on my right shoulder. I have difficulties putting a shirt on, but I threw OK on the night so no complaints :o)
Blackhill are now using a Blade 4 board which looked as beautiful as it played - congrats to Nev for choosing this one. I've not played on the Blade 4 before and I was impressed.
Derwent Walk, late September 2011
