Before reporting on this great win in the Knock Out Cup, the team's
performance in the league's singles knock out is worth a mention.
All thirteen players were registered to play in the singles but
in the end only eleven took part. The competition is held over
two successive Mondays with the last 32 playing on the second
night. Of our eleven entrants five made it to the second week,
Steve 'the Dart' Davies, Mark 'Big M' Franks, John 'Smokey' Savage,
'The Old Bill' Townsend and Deano Willis.
Steve was slightly unlucky in getting drawn to play first game
and, although he threw steady darts he was knocked out in the
first round. Bill also threw steady darts but lost. John was not
on best form due to a quantity of rum consumed before the game.
He still managed a 160 break in the second leg and had chances
to win the match. Big M threw well to progress to the last 16
as did Dean, who continued his reported good form of the week
before. Both players lost in the next round although both had
darts at a double to win their match. One item of note is that
Deano threw his first competitive 180!!
Back now to the match. This was the second round of the Knock Out Cup and we were up against The Toby Jug who play in the league above ours. 'Bomber' Bob Harris went first and was his normal consistent self winning 2-0. Jeff 'No Fear' Tune played an ex County player at number two and, although he lost the second leg, he threw very well to win 2-1. Deano threw at number three, throwing steadily to win 2-1. The Old Bill Townsend occupied his normal number four slot, won the first leg comfortably, broke with a ton in the second and then went to pieces. He somehow managed to pull himself together in the last leg and won 2-1. Match score now 4-0.
As is often the case, the wining game proved to be the hardest to achieve. Alan "The 'as been" Smith played at number five and looked to be in control but lost 2-1. Big M was at number six and also looked to be in fine form but lost 2-1. Steve 'the dart' Davies couldn't repeat his singles form and lost 2-0. Match score now 4-3.
A good player to have at number eight is 'Smokey' John Savage. In both the legs he played he sped down to a double and then struggled. Fortunately his opponent did likewise and John won 2-0 finishing both legs on double one. 'Bulldog' played at number nine and threw very well to win 2-1 and to close off the match with a cracking 6-3 win. We are now into the quarter finals of this cup and are still in the second round of the Alf Austin Cup. We are also standing second in the league. Wins in our next two league games could see us top of the league for Christmas, but let's not count our turkeys.