Team BFH Match Report for 19/03/14: BFH 5 - 4 Oak Tree *** APOLOGIES FOR YET ANOTHER LATE PUBLICATION! *** For their twentieth encounter of this season’s Ledbury Town and District Darts League this week, BFH were up against G. Hobby’s Oak Tree side at home following a steady string of 7-2 defeats over the course of the last four weeks, after suffering their second complete 9-0 whitewash of the season away at Newent at the hands of J. Goodwin’s fourth-placed Black Dog A+ side last week - the first time that C. Ponter’s side have suffered such a defeat since an ill-fated home encounter against League Chairman M. Greening’s Brewery Rebels team five weeks previously. Fortunately however, fortunes changed for BFH on this occasion as they pulled off what was undoubtedly one of their greatest ever comebacks in over six years and nearly ten seasons of playing competitive darts in this league, coming back from being 4-2 down at the end of the singles section of the evening to claiming a terrific and very welcome 5-4 victory. The team were once again operating on the bare minimum of six players due to Vice Captain S. Crews and J. Crews attending a gig, M. Cale being on Sainsbury’s security duties and reserve player T. Gardiner living it up in Glasgow (leaving remaining mathematicians C. Ponter and M. Morris extremely busy that night scoring-wise as they frantically alternated the pegging between them, with the Assistant Vice Captain opting not to step up to the whiteboard on this occasion), but thanks to BFH regular KO player B. Ponter offering to look after Baby Boswell that evening, the parental duo of H. Boswell and T. Boswell were fortunately able to participate together for the first time since the second encounter against J. Loveridge’s Three-in-a-Bed side four weeks ago, and along with M. Morris making a surprise first appearance for the team since a home game played against the Brambos side on 16th January, the team were eventually saved from having to use their final lucky dip fallback of the season. Taking full advantage of the absence of both J. Crews and M. Cale, a sneaky J. Baker swiftly handed his £1.00 player fee over to C. Ponter minutes after BFH’s Captain had taken his pew alongside the oche this week, marking Bake-a-Cake Baker’s third early payment win of the season, although the contest for this season’s most efficient payer of player fees award very much remains a two horse race between The Masterbaker and the former Butlins worker, with the latter player currently leading by nine early payments to J. Crews’ eight with just four more opportunities to pay fees in early to the Captain this season. In the absence of J. Crews, C. Ponter chose to put himself forward first as he faced T. Balcombe in the evening’s initial singles encounter. The Captain was able to find a 76 and two 80+ scores, but it just wasn’t enough to stop a hugely on-form opposing player who scored a quartet of tons during the encounter as C. Ponter struggled just to throw his arrows straight during the second leg, leading to an inevitable early 2-0 defeat for the hosts as the Captain marked the 65th leg of the season played for his side very much not in the style which he would have liked. C. Ponter also chose to take two foxtrots with Len Goodman during his latest singles encounter, moving himself up into pole position just ahead of S. Crews in terms of the number of dances taken with the Strictly Come Dancing judge so far this season, and these two scores of “SEVVVUUUHHHNNN!!” also cause a hapless BFH Captain to overtake J. Crews in the team’s single digit score stakes, with fourteen of these rather less desirable scores now suffered so far this season to The Masterbaker’s unlucky thirteen, even if S. Crews still stands the biggest chance of having to don the BFH Single Digit Hat at the team’s next Presentation Evening due to be held this summer. J. Baker then lost out 2-0 to S. Fish, despite the Ice Age character producing another string of consistently high numbers with two 60+ scores, four 80+ scores and a 98, with the tons just eluding him on this occasion as he desperately tried to take advantage of J. Crews’ absence to pull away from his arch tons rival in terms of the number of 100+ scores achieved as the end of the current season continues to draw ever closer. The Assistant Vice Captain then went on to produce her second singles win in the space of a fortnight, along with her fifth successful leg of the season by overcoming young player J. Hobby with a comprehensive 2-0 win, finding two 60+ scores and an 85 as well as snacking on BFH’s first portion of egg and chips of the evening and falling foul of a score of ‘cinq points’ along the way. H. Boswell did also manage to achieve that rare phenomenon in BFH circles of the elusive reverse Brush, managing to strike the finishing double of the first leg before her opponent had the chance to find the often-troublesome starting double. A ton-scoring A. Fish then achieved his side’s third 2-0 win of the evening by overcoming T. Boswell in the fourth singles game, although not without the Daddy of BFH scoring a pair of 60s, a 77, two 80+ scores and a 90 to take him to over eighty scores of between 60 and 99 achieved so far this season, even if the Meadow Cheese worker did take BFH’s second tango with Len of the evening whilst snacking on a further two servings of des ouefs et des frites. Who says that men can’t multitask? T. Panter then suffered a further 2-0 defeat against skilled player M. Locke, despite Johnny Cash (finally, THERE’S a new pseudonym for this particular BFH player!) finding an early 60 away shot, a further score of 60, a ton and a superb shanghai on the 20s to see his total number of scores between 60 and 99 struck so far this season hit an impressive second-placed total of 120. Bruce Springsteen’s opponent truly displayed however just why she is a formidable county player by striking a pair of 100s and an impressive ton-forty during the encounter. M. Morris, in both his first singles game for BFH in nine weeks and also his 15th game played for the team this season, them managed to keep his side’s hopes of acquiring the league points this week just about alive by what seemed at the time like the narrowest of threads by overcoming the opposing captain with a fine 2-0 win. The Youth Within drummer feasted on a further plate of egg and chips as well as striking a 60, a pair of 80s and another fantastic 120 to announce his long-awaited return to the team in superb style. BFH then found themselves facing the unenviable task of winning all three doubles games if they had any hope of achieving victory that night. The team’s husband and wife pairing rose boldly to the challenge however, going on to score a fantastic 2-0 win over T. Balcombe and J. Hobby, with the former Oak Tree player banging in two more tons for an extremely impressive total of six scores of 100 achieved in total that night, even if one of the tons scored in the doubles, as the opposing captain pointed out afterwards in what was becoming rather a habit for C. Ponter during the latter games of the evening, was not recorded on the results sheet. BFH’s Captain was clearly starting to flounder with accurate recording of tons without the eagle eye of usual team bookkeeper M. Cale to help him, although he blames the copious amount of pegging which he had to do that evening for this incompetence - readers of this match report are of course free to draw their own conclusions on that one. H. Boswell nibbled on another portion of egg and chips in-between hitting scores of 61, 84 and 100 during a doubles encounter which marked both her third successful game and 30th leg of the season played for BFH, achieving over thirty scores of between 60 and 99 struck so far this season in the process, while T. Boswell, also marking the 45th leg of the season played for his team, made a Germanic call of “NEIN!!” after striking a 66, 90 and another great ton, before coolly finishing off the opposition with a swift 63 game shot. The unlikely pairing of C. Ponter and J. Baker then became engaged in an extended duel against G. Hobby and M. Locke, with the latter Oak Tree player again hugely impressing by finding two further tons and a 121. There was some danger for the home duo during the third and final leg when the Captain inadvertently left a double-1 finish, but J. Baker eventually managed to get the pair out of the Mad House to secure a crucial 2-1 victory during the Captain’s 30th game of the season played for his team, which also marked his 20th successful leg of the season. C. Ponter picked up a 60 and three 80+ scores during his latest doubles encounter, but did also feast on two more servings of BFH’s favourite darting food, presumably to keep his appetite at bay as a result of the sausages and chips that night being served slightly later than usual due to a miscommunication between M. Morris and LTFC chef and emergency BFH reserve player J. Boyle. In doing so however, the Captain takes himself ahead of J. Crews in the team’s egg and chips stakes by a single portion, consuming a rather fitting twenty-six scores of 26. J. Baker on the other hand, during a game which very impressively marked the 95th leg of the season played for his team, continued his extremely impressive run of form by striking two 80+ scores, a ton and a terrific 121 before being once again unable to resist the temptation to add yet another score of 26 to his far and away leading total within the team of 34 plates of egg and chips. The newly-reunited pairing of T. Panter and M. Morris, after the former player won the darts raffle again that night for the fourth time this season to nearly equal BFH reserve player T. Ashworth’s record raffle haul of five wins back during the 2010-2011 season of darts, then stepped up for a tense final doubles encounter of the evening against the family double of S. Fish and A. Fish. After managing to secure the first leg, the BFH duo’s hopes of securing victory for their team then took a severe blow when an incredible 126 out shot from S. Fish forced proceedings to a third leg. The sweat pouring off the brows of all of the present members of the host side during this final deciding leg was clearly visible (not helped by the rather hot radiators and sizeable number of darts players present at a crowded Ledbury Town Football Club that night as two other matches were taking place), but in the end, despite a further ton from A. Fish and a pair of 100s from his son, the BFH pairing struck the final finishing double first to seal the team’s fourth vital pair of league points of the season. M. Morris picked up a tenth plate of egg and chips of the season to go along with a 68, 70, two 80+ scores (including an 85 away shot at the start of the second leg) and a pair of brilliant tons scored during an encounter which featured his 25th successful leg played for BFH of the season, while Freddie Mercury struck two further 60s, an 85 and a 25th ton of the season during what was also the rock legend’s 30th game of the season played for BFH, featuring the 75th leg of the season played for his by-now extremely jubilant team. Following these latest doubles wins, J. Baker and Clark Kent continue to be inseparable in terms of the number of individual legs won, with 42 leg victories now acquired apiece, and with the two ton+ scores achieved this week in J. Crews’ absence, J. Baker now moves three scores ahead of his arch tons rival in the continuing quest for this season’s coveted BFH silver tons trophy, requiring just two more scores of a hundred or more to hit an extremely impressive total of forty. Bake-a-Cake Baker, after another solid display of scoring this week over both his singles and doubles encounters, also now stands just one score of between 60 and 99 short of hitting 160 of these highly commendable numbers so far this season. For announcing his long-awaited return to the team in truly stellar style however, winning both his games, bringing his total of scores hit between 60 and 99 so far this season to seventy and now standing one ton+ score behind T. Panter’s third-placed total of 25 scores of a hundred or more as the two players matched their tons hauls exactly this week, M. Morris thoroughly earns the title of BFH Man of the Match this week for the fourth time this season. This puts BFH’s very own Dennis ‘The Menace’ Priestley (although the Captain still believes that the length and curliness of The Youth Within member’s hair still needs to be restored to its former glory in order to fulfil this moniker) well in contention for the new ‘Most Man of the Matches’ award which the Captain already plans to introduce at this season’s team Presentation Evening due to be held in the summer, with T. Panter being the only BFH player so far this season to achieve five of these accolades, including the joint award which he shared with J. Baker at the end of the away match played against The Talbot side five weeks ago when BFH suffered from a severe shortage of players. H. Boswell also comes highly commended this week after matching the drummer’s feat by winning both of her encounters on the oche. This admittedly somewhat surprising victory given just how far the hosts were behind their rivals by the end of the fifth singles game now keeps BFH in contention with arch home rivals AC/DC, with this week’s result gaining even more significance seeing as League Secretary C. Brandt’s team managed to overcome bottom of the league Dilligaf last week to keep a whisker ahead of C. Ponter’s side, who will face their arch home rivals once again in a fortnight’s time in the hope of securing the coveted BFH v LTFC (as C. Brandt’s side were formerly known) local derby trophy for the very first time following three failed attempts over the last two seasons. Before this long-awaited next meeting between BFH and their arch rivals takes place however, C. Ponter’s side have the luxury of their second Bye of the season next week, which could provide the perfect opportunity to stage the latest inter-team KO tournament after the last such contest was won by J. Baker after defeating former BFH player D. Butcher with a 2-1 win in a thrilling final played during the team’s eighth season of darts back in November 2012, which was the now-AC/DC player’s third attempt at the title after previous 2-0 and 2-1 losses against T. Panter and J. Crews respectively. Cash prizes from the team kitty will again be made available for the top three finishers and also for the most tons scored, the most consistent scoring and the highest scores, away shots and game shots achieved during the tournament, and of course, J. Baker will be seeking to defend his coveted golden darts figurine. Assuming that the tournament goes ahead, a full report of this latest prestigious contest between the ever-determined members of Team BFH will feature on this page next week! Tons scored: T. Panter - 2 x 100, 120 M. Morris - 2 x 100, 120 H. Boswell - 100 T. Boswell - 100 J. Baker - 100, 121 BFH Man of the Match: M. Morris
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 23:30:22 +0000