Team BFH Match Report for 09/01/14: BFH 4 - 5 AC/DC After a fine exercise in damage limitation last week following a respectable 7-2 defeat away against current league leaders the Legion, BFH faced their latest real test in the current season of the Ledbury Town and District Darts League with another home encounter against the League Secretary’s LTFC side, now participating under the moniker of AC/DC for this latest season. Adding extra spice to the proceedings was the fact that the latest two additions to the BFH team roster, namely M. Morris last season and T. Gardiner, who was inducted on to the team only at the start of the current season, are both ex-players of C. Brandt’s side. It turned out to be yet another incredibly close encounter between these two established rivals of the Ledbury League on the day before BFH celebrated their sixth birthday playing together as a team, with C. Ponter’s extremely well-staffed side during their tenth match of the season (actually boasting NINE players on the night, or even ten if new reserve player J. Boyle is included - quite a step up from the mere five players which BFH was able to put forward at home against both of the Black Dog sides before Christmas) once again JUST losing out by a whisker in the end as the four singles games which they conceded could have easily ended up going their way if not for the final finishing doubles just favouring the opposition at the eleventh hour. With the ongoing battle between J. Crews and M. Cale in the quest for this season’s most efficient payer of player fees title now being drawn back to a 5-5 stalemate, with BFH’s Securitas worker slipping his one pound coin to the Captain almost immediately after C. Ponter had set up camp by the board that night, the ever-reliable usual starting player of BFH was once again sent up to the oche first by a Captain who was prepared to take no chances in trying to ensure that his team gained their next pair of crucial league points in this latest derby clash against their arch home rivals. For the third consecutive occasion, The Masterbaker again found himself up against old rival D. Bird, and with the Captain choosing to spare the cricket umpire a third appearance of the blue plastic stumps from his school’s PE shed, the staunch Manchester City supporter just about managed to clinch this extremely close first encounter of the evening with a narrow 2-1 win after finding a ton and an impressive 125, even if the opposing captain did see fit to threaten the Lord’s regular with a fine for bottling a potential 170 out shot towards the end of the second leg. J. Crews held his own throughout the encounter however, producing four 60+ scores, an 85, a superb 132 (which was his 20th ton of the season) and BFH’s highest score of the season so far of a fantastic 141 hit just before D. Bird’s final dart struck the double needed to win his team their first game of the evening. J. Crews’ big score now saves the Captain the potential problem however of awarding this season’s golden highest score award to five different players who have all hit a ton-forty this season following *spoiler* C. Ponter’s surprise achievement later on in the doubles, although J. Crews also clearly skipped tea that night after experiencing the need to feast on no fewer than four plates of egg and chips during this first singles game. J. Baker then became the second BFH player to walk away from his singles encounter with an incredibly unlucky 2-1 loss as A. Barnes took his team two games ahead by the narrowest of margins, following in team-mate D. Bird’s footsteps by choosing not to go for the maximum game shot at one point but also hitting a ton on the way to his win, which was achieved through eventually managing to find the double-10 as J. Baker made the error of leaving himself with a tricky out shot of three at the end of the final leg. Bake-a-Cake Baker also ended up feasting on his 20th plate of egg and chips of the season during the encounter, keeping him four dishes ahead of nearest rival J. Crews despite The Masterbaker’s voracious appetite that evening, but he also managed to produce a string of consistently decent scores throughout the course of the game, hitting four 60+ scores, a 70 and three 80+ scores. J. Baker now marks his 75th score of between 60 and 99 struck so far this season, staying four ahead of J. Crews’ total after he overtook the BFH stalwart last week to take pole position in this particularly-competitive BFH scoring category. New BFH signing T. Gardiner, playing his first game for the team in seven weeks due to Meadow Cheese shift work, then seemed unaffected by this lengthy break from league action as he managed to claim a game back for the hosts with a fine 2-0 win over P. Taylor, although not the one of PDC fame. Despite chowing down on his second portion of egg and chips this season, the latest newbie of BFH found a trio of 60s and a 78 as he managed to keep his current game win ratio so far this season at a steady 50% success rate. T. Boswell then suffered a gutting 2-1 defeat against the new Ledbury Town Football Club chairman, who took BFH’s Captain quite by surprise by playing himself unusually early in the singles, and this loss perhaps marked the turning point in which the match was starting to go AC/DC’s way. C. Brandt banged in the big scores after a troublesome first leg, producing two tons and a 110 after being helped along by a cheeky dart in the double-18, but the Daddy of BFH (with the Mummy of the team once again looking after Baby Boswell) marked the 20th leg of the season played for his team so far this season by producing a steady stream of solid scores, including three 60+ scores with a 60 away shot at the start of the second leg, a 77, three 80+ scores and an early ton as he also finished the first leg in fine style with a 75 out shot. T. Boswell now hits forty scores of between 60 and 99 struck so far this season, even if two further portions of des ouefs et des frites were also consumed during his latest singles encounter. T. Panter then fell to a fourth very unlucky 2-1 singles loss against D. Butcher during a game which also marked Bruce Springsteen’s 30th leg of the season played for his side, with the hosts now starting to feel the valuable league points slowly beginning to slip through their fingers as the former BFH player racked up a further two tons for his side. Freddie Mercury fought back with a 66, three 70+ scores, two 80+ scores (including a great 88 away shot at the start of the second leg) and a ton of his own, but, along with a huge struggle to escape from the dreaded ‘mad house’ at the end of the first leg, this game also featured what has to be the three unluckiest darts in six years and nine and a half seasons of BFH matches as two darts thrown by T. Panter at one point landed in the treble-20, only to be knocked out of the board by the third dart which itself bounced out of that magic lipstick segment of the board. It was easily the cruellest denial of a 180 which certainly the Captain has ever seen in the league, putting J. Crews’ infamous 165 to zero achievement against the Royal Oak a few seasons ago in the shade as it would seem that the powers that be simply do not want T. Panter to hit a maximum score this season after several other close attempts over previous matches. Some people blamed the Captain for having the team play on a ‘dodgy’ board, although C. Ponter is more inclined to go along with T. Gardiner’s suggestion in that T. Panter’s darts were not sharp enough on the night. The ever-trusty M. Morris then gave his desperately unlucky side a glimmer of hope in the final singles game however by overcoming G. Baker with a brilliant 2-0 win, although the lady of AC/DC certainly made the drummer work for his victory by producing an impressive 114 out shot at the start of the second leg. M. Morris was more than able to hold his own however, striking two 60+ scores, a 70, two 80+ scores, a ton and his second 140 of the season to mark both his 25th leg of the season played for BFH and 15th successful leg of the season in fine style, also bringing his tons total of 18 scores of one hundred or more level with J. Baker’s total, also taking his proportion of scores hit between 60 and 99 this season north of a half century. With T. Gardiner remaining positive that BFH could still pull a win out of the affair after being 4-2 down at the end of the singles, Vice Captain S. Crews, also participating in his first game for the team in four weeks due to UBL commitments, then stepped up to the oche accompanied by the Captain to take on P. Taylor (again, not that one) and J. Barnes after satisfyingly filling themselves with chip butties and sandwiches during the interval. The food provided by club chefs J. Boyle and G. Boyle obviously wasn’t quite enough for C. Ponter however, with the Captain finding the need to snack on his 15th serving of egg and chips of the season to go along with his 60 and aforementioned surprise 140 scored just before the end of the encounter. Despite the 60, 76, 81 and second ton of the season achieved by the Vice Captain (who also tripped over his side’s first single digit score of the evening in the form of a ‘huit points’ as he once again edges just ahead of C. Ponter in this rather less desirable team scoring category), BFH’s leadership duo, during a game which marked C. Ponter’s 30th leg of the season played for his team, just couldn’t put enough pressure on the opposing pairing as P. Taylor found his form after struggling in the singles with a ton and a 101 away shot, putting to bed BFH’s hopes of finally achieving a victory over their arch rivals since their last defeat of C. Brandt’s side four encounters ago back in April 2012 two seasons ago. Still determined to make the final score as respectable as possible, the Captain then sent J. Crews and M. Cale up to the oche as the long-awaited part sibling clash of the Cales (with the real singles battle still yet to occur) took place, with J. Powell and none other than former BFH player J. Cale emerging as the opponents for what was J. Crews’ 20th game of the season played for his side, and also an encounter which marked M. Cale’s 25th leg of the season. The increasingly-reliable BFH pairing started the recovery for the hosts with a superb 2-0 win as M. Cale found an 83, while J. Crews gorged on his FIFTH portion of egg and chips of the night in-between finding an 81, an 80 away shot at the start of the second leg and a third ton+ score of the evening. The BFH regular’s leading tons total within the team now stands four ahead of nearest joint rivals J. Baker and M. Morris, already level with current BFH silver tons trophy holder T. Panter’s total by the midpoint of the league last season, with The Masterbaker also chalking up his 15th successful leg for BFH after this latest doubles encounter. Saving the BFH dream team of T. Panter and M. Morris, reunited once more after a six week hiatus due to the latter player’s work commitments and the former’s questionable injury suffered over Christmas, then proved to be a prudent move on the part of the Captain as the duo scored a final 2-1 victory over D. Bird and D. Butcher. The Youth Within member suffered some ribbing from the opposition after taking his first trip to Homebase of the season after hitting an early 76, although he later redeemed himself with three 80+ scores. Billy Joel meanwhile continued his fine run of scoring that night by picking up a further two 60+ scores (including a 65 away shot right from the off), four 80+ scores and a Dalmatian score of 101, moving himself ahead of the Captain into third place in the team’s 60-99 scoring stakes. For once again being the only BFH player to win both of his games this week however, M. Morris picks up the BFH Man of the Match award for the second consecutive week, and also for the third time this season. As C. Brandt’s side made their joy visibly clear by displaying the BFH v LTFC local derby trophy after defeating C. Ponter’s side for a third consecutive occasion (BFH’s Captain was keen to point out however that the trophy is currently no longer valid seeing as team ‘LTFC’ no longer exists, although he did offer for M. Morris to re-engrave it at a mutually-agreeable price between the two sides ie. handing back the two league points), the hosts were left to contemplate their latest blow in the league as their arch rivals moved one place above them in the table for the first time this season. With ten tons scored in total scored between six of the team’s players however after another highly respectable performance, even the League Secretary (perhaps somewhat inebriated after downing one or two half pints of Jägermeister provided by W. Wilband, participating with the Brambos side down at LTFC that night) was heard to comment that the final result again could have easily gone either way, and praised the great banter and competitive spirit which always occurs whenever the two sides lock horns together on the oche. D. Bird had to be somewhat cruelly reminded however that the trophy which his team had just won was perhaps the only piece of silverware which Manchester City’s local rivals will win this season. Next week, in the penultimate match before the mid-season point, BFH will attempt a recovery as they take on the Brambos side, again hosting the proceedings down at their home venue. C. Ponter’s team scored a highly memorable 6-3 victory over this relatively new side to the league in their very first encounter together during the first match of last season, and although S. Bramley’s side managed to repay the favour later on by overcoming BFH twice with incredibly narrow 5-4 victories in the second league match and also in the Team KOs as both encounters went right down to the final double of the final leg of the final game, BFH will be going into next week’s match optimistic that they can bag that elusive third pair of league points. With the last match before the halfway point of the season being due to take place away against current league champions the Brewery, who topped the league last season after being undefeated in 22 straight matches and have only been defeated once by The Retreat side this season to date, next week’s encounter against the Brambos will be realistically BFH’s last chance of keeping bottom of the league Dilligaf and The Talbot below them at bay by improving upon their position in the league. Full match report as always next week! Tons scored: J. Crews - 100, 132, 141 T. Boswell - 100 T. Panter - 100, 101 M. Morris - 100, 140 C. Ponter - 140 S. Crews - 100 BFH Man of the Match: M. Morris (second week running!)
Posted on: Wed, 15 Jan 2014 21:30:13 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015