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!

Chelmsford 3 - 7 Chopwell Central

I know the Wheatsheaf will be keeping an eye on our last two games of the season against Chopwell Central as they will have a bearing on the title. They won't like to see us losing, but it could have been far worse for us last night as we found ourselves 0-5 down and struggling to take the minimal chances that came our way. We usually fell well behind in the scoring but were then unable to take advantage of Copwell taking several attempts at the finishes.


We rescued three points from this match in the Singles games though. Welcome wins for Alan, Kris, and Willie game us at least some return for our efforts.


The dominoes were mixed for us, with a 3-2 win in the Singles games, but defeat in the Doubles game.


It is the last game of the season next week, but I know Kris has some more of his mini competitions to run during the close season so we'll be keeping the Tuesday habit.

Chelmsford 6 - 4 Wheatsheaf

We played a good game and took our chances well against a Wheatsheaf team who were not playing as strongly as the previous week.


After the Team and three Double games we were drawing at 2-2, but from that point we had a great showing in the six Singles games, with just two defeats in them.


Peter was our Man Of The Match. He's had to miss a third of this season's matches but made an impact with high scoring and winning finishes in his Doubles and Singles games.

Wheatsheaf 7 - 3 Chelsmford

Firstly, we received the very sad news that our ex Landlord Lyndon died on Friday, aged 62. I believe the funeral is on Friday 1st June but I don't have any further details yet.

On Tuesday we played league leaders The Wheatsheaf up at Leadgate. Although they were outscoring us in many of the games and building large leads we managed to hang in and get down to the doubles. At around the mid point we were just 3-2 down, but the remaining 5 Singles games proved tough for us and we had to settle for just the 3 points on the night.

We'l really have to concentrate hard in our final three games of the season because we have the return leg against this strong Wheatsheaf side followed by equally tough games against Chopwell Central. Its a good job we picked up so many points in the last two months.

Chelmsford 7 - 3 Derwentside A Team

We have really put some points on the board in the last few games and we repeated a 4 point margin win against Derwentside A Team in our return game on Tuesday night. We took a 3-0 lead with Peter's 32 finish in the Team game, followed by a couple of wins in the Doubles games.


We weren't scoring particularly highly, but our finishing was decent, and we took at least two points in games where we were trailing. Peter scored another 180 to add to his tally, but I'll have to Man Of The Match to Michael for his important 104 finish in the final game of the night.


I think it is Dominoes Singles cup on Tuesday coming, and we'll then start out on the last 4 games of the season.

Derwentside 3 - 7 Chelmsford

A good start for us saw us forge a win against The Derwentside last night. We took a 0-4 lead by winning the opening team game and all three of the Doubles games. From that point the Singles games were evenly shared, so the importance of the strong start was evident.


We had the use of their concert room upstairs which I think worked better than playing in the downstairs side bar. Great hospitality as always and a choice of two cask conditioned ales including their excellent "Blonde".


Peter was our Man Of The Match with three winning doubles, including a well taken 66 finish in his Singles game which (I think) was  T10, S18, D9. Four Brownie Points to him then, and at this stage in the season it seems only Peter himself and Alan can win this blog's Player Of The Season trophy. There are just two points between them, and they're 10 points clear of the chasing pack.


We look forward to seeing The Derwentside team back at The Chelmsford for the return game - it'll be close.

Chelmsford 9 - 1 Jolly Drovers

We continued our recent run if good results on Tuesday night, but it was always going to be a struggle for the Jollies ; they were a man down on the night which means they had to forfeit a Singles point, be heavily disadvantaged in one of the Doubles games, plus they missed one throw in six during the opening 1001x Team game.

We won the Team game by a large margin, but the score went to 2-1 when they won a Doubles game and it may have been a different result if they had their full compliment. From that point in the game they were unlucky to lose all of the six Singles games, as several of games had close finishes. All of our finishes were small shots at D16 etc.

Alan P was yet again our Man Of The Match, hitting three of our winning doubles, but an extra Brownie Point goes to Peter for the 180 in his Singles game.

Jolly Drovers 2 - 8 Chelmsford

The dartboard pictures are back!

The game started off far closer than the final score implies. We trailed throughout the opening team game and considered ourselves lucky when Kris sank the D4 to pinch the point. The Doubles games also were close affairs, as The Jollies brought it back to 2-2.

The six Singles games were a different matter though. We had started to score well and settle on their board, and although most of our finishes on the night were shots at low doubles we played a very strong game and won all 6 of the Singles points.

I'll give Kris Man Of The Match for his important finish on the opening game in which we struggled as well as a great 74 finish in a game against their strongest payer on the night (Paul). Forgive me for a quick humble mention to my 180 followed by a 135 too!

We now have two weeks away from the League. The Chelmsford will be the neutral host of the Team Cup competition semi final on 3rd April and there will be a Race Night at Chopwell Central on 10th April.

Chelmsford 9 - 1 Cricketers

Although we didn't play particularly well last night we were allowed to scoop another 9 points against The Cricketers who did not build their scoring as well as they did two weeks ago in the Away leg.

We started well and got down to the double fairly quickly in the opening Team game, with Peter finishing it on D4. By the time the Doubles games were played we had a 3-1 lead, but after their good scoring in the earlier game I thought they'd be good for a few Singles points.

Although we won all of the Singles games they were a really mixed affair and several times we had to rely on The Cricketers missing their doubles and having some bad luck. Two points from the two games for them really isn't a fair reflection on their efforts, but as always it is the finishes that count.

Peter was the Man Of The Match, getting three of our winning doubles.

Singles Cup Night

What a great night for our 4 team members who made it through to the last 16 of the Darts Singles Cup. The games were played at The Derwentside last night and many of our team went up to support them.

Peter was first up for us, but lost 2-1 to Alan W from Coach & Horses. Alan played a very steady game with good scoring. He rarely strayed from the 20 bed and was impressive all night.

We were guaranteed a success though as Roger and Alan were drawn against eachother. Roger edged it 2-1 to progress. Kris too made it into the next round with a 2-0 victory over NC.

To top off a great night for us Roger booked his place on Finals Night with 2-0 victory over Thomas, and Kris called upon his AAA game to beat Steve Dawson 2-0 and join Roger in the last 4 on Finals Night.

Cricketers 1 - 9 Chelmsford

We picked up some useful points on Tuesday night after a long string of 6-4 results which have seen us slip down to 10th in the League Table. We played a reasonable game but The Cricketers were let down by some poor finishing and would have scored two more points at the very least if they had finished off the games they were doing well in.

Our finishing was better than in previous weeks with a 76 from Peter, 55 from Alan, and a 68 from Roger being the best three.

Alan P was again the clear Man Of The Match for us, hitting three winning doubles in his Team, Doubles, and Singles games.

Chelmsford 6 - 4 Stanley Masons

Yet another 6-4 result to report from Tuesday night, and again it was in our favour. We were scoring well and getting down to the doubles first, but several times we faltered on the finishes.

We took the lead on the opening Team game and won two of the three Doubles games, but from this point the Singles games were shared and we had to just take a narrow victory on a night where better finishing would have seen far more points for us

Alan P was again the Man Of The Match for us, hitting half of the winning doubles for us.

Doubles Cup Night

It was the Doubles Cup on Tuesday. One wining team of Doubles partners went through from each of the four venues to Finals Night.

None of our players from The Chelmsford made it through, but myself and Roger enjoyed our game up at Shotley Club, losing 2-1 to Peter and his partner. Whittling the eight Doubles teams down to one worked well on the night with not too much waiting around to play the games.

Stanley Masons 4 - 6 Chelmsford

Derwent Walk, Winter 2011 / 12

For the third game in a row the result was 6-4, but this time it was in our favour. There were some high scores being hit, but the finishing was generally poor. The one exception was a D16, D16 finish on 64 for Stanley Masons in the Singles Games.

Alan P hit a 180 for us in the opening Team game, but it was not enough to prevent us losing this leg as they finally hit a D1 after several attempts. We won all three of the Doubles games and a good start in the Singles games saw us take a 2-5 lead. Stanley Masons hit a 180 of their own in a strong finish to the Singles games, and the 4-6 result was a fair one.

We played in a small room up at The Masons. The board's lighting was a little too dim, and I feel they could improve it by moving the existing spot lights to the beam which is nearer the board. The board is a Unicorn Eclipse Pro which sounded great as the darts went in.

Alan P was a clear Man Of The Match for us, finding the T20 bed with great regularity in all three of his games and he was averaging over 100 at several points in the evening. This is one of those rare occasions where 4 brownie points are awarded to a single player (the MoTM award, the 180 in the Team Game, a winning Doubles finish, and a winning Singles finish).

Chelmsford 4 - 6 Leadgate Cricket Club

It was a really good night of darts in The Chelmsford last night. There was a high standard of play from both teams and there were some bid scores being hit.

We got off to a great start by taking a 2-0 lead in the Team and first Doubles game, but from that point LCC really cranked up the pressure. They won the next five conecutive games to make it 2-5 before Peter and Chris had fine Singles wins to bring it back to 4-5. We lost the final Singles game however, and the final result was a 6-4 defeat for us as it was in the Away leg a couple of weeks ago.

It was a very enjoyable night of darts though. I won't award a Man Of The Match this week, but those 4 points were so hard fought for I'll award double Brownie Points to all those who hit winning doubles (KC, MB, PMc, and CM).

Doubles Dominos Cup 2012

It was the League's Dominoes Doubles Cup at The Jolly Drovers last night. The Chelmsford were well represented there but sadly none of us made it through to Finals Night. Myself and Angela made it through to the 3rd Round before being narrowly beaten 5-3 by Ian and Shaz.

I must admit I'm not always fully motivated in the Dominos cup games but last night was great, and I could't have tried any harder.

Its back to the darts next week for the Return leg against Leadgate CC.

Leadgate Cricket Club 6 - 4 Chelmsford

Photo by Deborah McIntyre

We were at full strength minus just one player for the first time in a good few weeks and I was expecting a better performance from us on Tuesday. Kris was the only one who played at all well in the opening Team Game (one brownie point awarded for showing the way) and we lost the game disappointingly. There was a damaging string of five scores which were all under 30, and it is really difficult to recover from such low scoring.

I prefer the Cricket Club's new oche of a line on the carpet rather than the aluminium bar they used to have, but we were finding it hard to put some decent scores together. It seemed the harder we tried the more T1 and T5's we were getting. There was no shortage of effort though.

We only picked up 2 of the 6 Singles points, and Roger finished his 32 really well to get us the last point of the evening and keep the scoreline reasonable.