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A picture from the Away leg a fortnight ago
A result that flatters us a bit, but seven valuable points nonetheless. We won the opening Team Game to give us a 50% success rate in Team Games for the season so far. Punch Bowl immediately equalised in the next Doubles game but from that point we showed some good finishing to built a lead.
I was pleased with my own game and managed to show some proper focus. I think this is the result of a reduced practice regime, meaning that I approach match nights as a change rather than just part of a weekly slog. I just have the one practice session a week now to try and improve my throw and become steadier.
Some good news is that Peter Mc will be available for all of the games up to January at least so there'll be some good competition for selection.
Remember the new puppy I blogged about in May? He's fairly grown up now (7 months) and has rapidly become a really well trained dog. This is just the breed rather than my skills though. Labs are just so compliant you can't go wrong with them.
He has loads of commands and tricks. The one and only darts command he has is visual; When I point at my darts he gets up off the floor and walks away from the practice oche, well out of bounce-out range.
One command I'm proud of with him though is "other side"; he'll be walking to heel off lead and swaps over to the opposite side. This is really handy on the Derwent Walk when cycles and other dogs approach.
And with Labs they'll stick to the rules you set like sitting calm when a sheep or other dog appears even if you are 40 yards away - he'll just sit and wait for you to catch up with him.
Top dog. I can't wait to see what he can do at a year. Maybe retrieving the bounce-outs might suit his breed - and save my back :o)
Practice shot on the Mad House
Roger and I got through to the next round of the Cup Doubles competition last night at the Wheatsheaf in Leadgate. We didn't play very well but managed to scrape through 2-1 against Buck and Dawn from Stanley Masons in a game where none of the four will have been happy with our performances.The other games on the night were of a much higher standard, and Roger and I will have to play far better than we did to get any further when the next round is played next March.To take a positive I thought our finishing was decent, but that usually happens when the score building isn't good.Meanwhile back at The Chelmsford Alan P and Peter M got through with a "bye".
We had our first trip to League newcomers The Punch Bowl of Edmundbyers last night. It's a smart country pub in the traditional style with an open plan layout, and it's a 7 mile drive through the back roads from Ebchester.
They're a comparatively young team and although we got off to a good start the matches started going their way. We needed to win the final two Singles matches to secure a narrow victory.
One of their players finished his 501 game in 19 darts and it would have been even less if he hadn't slipped up on two throws.
We have the Cup Doubles competition next week before we host the return leg against the Punch Bowl on the 25th of November.
The new range of Deflectafrips
I noticed from the new Tommys Darts catalogue that the humble Deflectagrip stems have undergone a bit of an image change recently, and their online store Puredarts reflects the changes.
I'm all for change and trying new products, but the Fluro, GLO, and 2 Tone additions to the usual choice of just plain old Black / Blue / Red / White seem to have undermined the age old beauty and selling point of the Deflectagrips : They're boring. Unashamedly and utterly boring. No matter how many dart barrels and flight shapes I've tinkered with the Deflectagrips are the constant where you fit a set and know you're not going to be replacing any broken ones for months on end. Sometimes I swap between Short tand Medium, but that's it.
I enjoyed using the aluminium and titanium ones earlier in the year, but I wouldn't dream of taking them on a trip away from base like the the Barbados tourney because the spares I'd need would take up too much luggage space! With the Deflectagrips I'd take four sets with me and bring back two unopened.
So, it's nice to have a wider choice, but I don't think I'll be exercising that choice thanks. I prefer to think of them as dependable rather than boring ;o)
As expected the Blackhill Cricketers put last week's poor start behind them. Consistent scoring ond good finishing saw them win the opening Team Game and all three of the Doubles games. This put us 0-4 down and we needed to scrape a few points in the remaining six Singles game to avoid a heavy defeat.
7 points from 2 games are a reasonable return for us against The Cricketers though, and believe me when your opponents are disappointed with throws like 135 you know you're in for a tough time and every point counts.
They're hosting a competition at the weekend, and I'll do my best to enter it. It's all good experience and I'm sure it'll be a great event.
Sadly The Castleside Inn have dropped out of the League, and all points scored against them are void.
It's really sad to lose a team and I suspect they've suffered from the problems that most pubs and clubs have been facing for the last few years.
The Beer & Pub Association report that pub closures are approaching 30 a week (source), and it's worrying times for a game like darts which is heavily dependant upon the pubs that we play in. Special events and unique selling points can only go so far to compete for the pound in your pocket during times of economic uncertainty.
All the best to Noel and co. up there, and I hope they're able to field a team at some point in the future.
Picture from Stevie's phone camera, thanksWe had a great night up in Blackhill on Tuesday. The Cicketers are one of the League's best teams so we had the chance to pit ourselves against a team who will be in the top two at the end of the season.
There was EPL football being screened in the main bar so we had to play in the side room, but this turned out to be a good thing as they erected their full size professional standard oche. The lighting was flawless and the throw was absolutely perfect. If the other bars have made no changes to their boards from last season I can confiedntly say that this is the best throw in the league. Strangely I think they only use this set-up when the main bar can't be used. The stage must take some setting up I suppose.
On a night where Cricketers took a while to settle we took some good early points in the opening Team game and the Doubles games. This settled us, as no matter how positive you feel mentally there's always the chance of getting beaten soundly against the top three teams.
I predict a backlash from them next week. This will feel like 4 points lost to them and we'll need to be focussed.
Photo from the Blackhill Cricketers site
The Blackhill Cricketers Darts Team now have an online presence at Blackhill Darts. There are a few sections under construction, but it's a great idea to have a team site and I'll check it for updates throughout the season.
They're certainly piling the points on in the League.
We had a strangely low key and quiet night up at the Coach & Horses, Leadgate tonight. I endured the best and worst of my own game to scrape through to the last 16 for the first time. At one point I had the dreaded 1-0 lead and throwing really well against the darts to clinch it, but my finishing deserted me and it had to go to the wire in the 3rd leg.
I was a bit disappointed to get all of the poor mental game that I've done so much to remove from my League games come back on Cup night, but I did just enough to make it through to the second round where the heat will really be on and we can see those problems properly magnified :o)
Pictured : On my wish list - the John Part Unicorn "Hero Golden" 95%Most of the players from both teams "upped" their games from last week, and this resulted in a very close match where all of games went right to the wire. The Turf brought good support with them which made for a great atmosphere.
Sadly for us our newest player Kris has switched job and wasn't there. He's now working up at Slaley Hall and is unlikely to make many more appearances for us. On the other hand our old stalwart Chris picked up the darts for his first game during my time with the team, and he played a very strong game despite losing his Singles game.
I personally had a few problems score building, but my finishing was good. I never seem to get both aspects together these days.
A very enjoyable evening and I'll be watching for The Turf in the League, as I think they'll pick up a lot of points and do well this season.
A good result for our team, and I had to console myself with a "team" performance, getting the winning doubles in the opening Team game and my Doubles game with Roger, but losing in my Singles game. Too many of my first darts were straying into the 5's.
Peter and Alan were our most consistent players on a night where we never felt comfortable or settled. The Turf's board is Unicorn Eclipse like my practice board (excellent, and needless to say there were no bounce outs on the night), but it is the stark lighting which takes some getting used to.
After my long walk home from The Turf last season I made sure I was first on the team bus :o)
We had a break from the League last night and played Stanley Masons at home in the The Blackhill Ward Knock Out, 1st Round.
The format is a mix of darts and dominoes. The darts consist of three team games of 1001 DSDF, and although we got the right result with a 2-1 win in the darts none of us really settled and played well. In one game both teams struggled to even get a steady 60.
The other two legs were OK though and I was pleased to get the D9 finish in the opening game.
The dominoes result went the right way too, and we've progressed into the next round which will be played on the 16th December 2008.
A neat practice shot. They landed in the board from left to right.
C&H played a much better game than last week, yet we were still able to score 4 points to take the total to a reasonable 25 from 4 games. After going 0-3 down with C&H showing impressive form it was a relief to get something out of the game, and C&H only secured the win in the final leg of the night.
Performance of the night has to go to C&H's Billy who hit the winning finished in his Team, Doubles, and Singles games. Every time he was looking at a double he hit it.
C&H's Ian scored a 180 and immediately followed it with a 123 which was millimetres away from being a consecutive maximum.
Alan P from our team finished from 66 in impressive manner; after bouncing out on the T10 with his first dart he then succeeded with the 2 dart out shot of S16, Bull.
I was fairly happy with my own game overall, but like the rest of our team I was a bit of a slow starter.
Unicorn Hero 95% T/A, 27gWe got off to a bad start last night, trailing by 300 points in the opening 1001X Team Game and allowing C&H the luxury of a leisurely point.
From this point though C&H seemed to ease off and a couple of them didn't play to their usual standards. This allowed us into the game and we managed to pick up 4 points and even feel we could have had more.
Kris and Alan P both hit a string of high scoring shots in their Singles games, and I was pleased with my own game. I think practising less is making me feel a bit more relaxed on match nights, and I'll post about this soon.
Good vertical accuracy on a practice board 180
Castleside made some minor changes to their team from last week, and most of the games were close despite the score. I found from my chats with them last week that many of them don't play that often. This always rings the alarm bells for me and I went to great lengths to stay focused and take nothing for granted. The points they won in the Singles game against our rising player Kris and the Doubles game with our senior player Peter demonstrates this point.
The performance of the evening went to one of their players from Wigan who is currently contract working up here. He hit the highest finish of the night by taking out a 91 finish against Kris in a Singles game with an unconventional but effective T20 / S11 / D10.
Castleside also had an older player who hit the bull on most of his shots in the Singles game. This was helping him to score build very well, and I think the surprising number of bulls was rattling his opponent, Mark H. The game was tight to the end, with Mark very relieved to hit the winning double.
I was pleased to get a good string of steady 60's as well as some high scoring shots. Steady 60's are the holy grail for me. I'm sick of having to try to rescue 45's and 26's with 80+ shots.
Practice darts
Our opening game of the season went well with a victory against some new faces in the Castleside team. Castleside were capable of getting more points from this game, but we finished well in most of the games to minimise their chances.
We fielded our new player Chris, and he did well in his first League game. He's only just bought his own set of darts and started practicing but he fitted in well and won a Singles point.
My practice on the lower doubles during the week paid off as I finished a D19 quite well, but I struggled to get a good first dart into the 20 on a few occasions, often trying to rescue shots by covering on 19's.
Elsewhere on the night The Wheatsheaf beat The Turf 9-1 away.
The Unicorn Hero 95% 27grmsI've just being doing some very light practice in the last two weeks. Typically I'll play a game of Bob's 27, three games of 301 DS/DF, and three games of 501 straight in.
DartPro is really very useful in recording my progress in these three formats, and when playing the 301 & 501 games I class it as a defeat if my average for the leg is less than the prevailing 3-year average which I've built up over the years on DartPro. This adds a bit of pressure on the finishing shots, as slack finishing ruins the three dart average for the leg.
One slight difference to my grip has come about while trying to improve accuracy on the low doubles such as D3. I noticed I got better results by holding the dart nearer the tip, and in tightening up on the low doubles this grip seems to do well on the mid and high targets too.
I think the hat was meant to be a tennis stick coverSurely all of us dart players know what it feels like to be beaten by someone who picks the darts up for the first time and just play the game for a laugh. It hurts. They never play you again, or anyone else for that matter, so you don't get the chance to exact any sort of pathetic revenge.
So imagine my glee to beat Deborah at tennis whilst on Holiday. She used to practice and everything. She thinks she's dead good. I beat her on pure serve and volley 6 love. To top it all I've laid the old tennis bat down and I won't give her a chance to, erm, exact any sort of pathetic revenge :o)
A picture from the Away leg a fortnight ago
