Worthington’s Sponsored Merthyr & District Darts League 2014/15 Season. Lee’s Computer Systems Challenge Cup Preliminary Round Devil In Disguise As Angel “B” Stun Farmers “A” In Cup While Rose Prove To Be A Thorn For Baili “A” In Near “CupSet”. IT’S BACK WITH A BANG The 2014/15 Season of the Worthington’s Sponsored Merthyr & District Darts League exploded back onto the calendar with the Preliminary Round of the Lee’s Computer Systems Challenge Cup providing some cracking games with high scores, high finishes, high drama, high tension and what we shall now call “CupSet’s”. ( U will get the drift quite easily). The early form shown by the teams in the results so far received show that we are in for a fantastic season with teams from the top league to division five showing great promise for the nine months ahead as we set out on another long hard season. The Merthyr & District Darts League is right up there with the best around and on the very early showing it’s easy to see why. Silver Bullet 0 v Hills Plymouth Cricket Club 4. The Bullet won a hard fought “play-off” last season to gain promotion to division four for this season and they started their cup campaign with a very tough home fixture against the HPCC who where returning the League after a long absence and will be playing in division two this season. The visitors took the first leg with R. Lee beating C. Howells for an early lead and then a break of throw from J. Harnedy saw him beat K. Newton in a hard fought game for a 2-0 advantage. A. Walters kept up the momentum for the visitors with a fine win over A. Norris for a 3-0 lead and victory and a place in the first round proper was made complete in the fourth leg with C. Clayton edging past M. Birch. Richards Arms 4 v Martyrs Club “B” 0. The Richards Arms, formerly the Merthyr Rugby Club “A”, a very, very experienced outfit indeed entertained one of the Leagues newcomers from the Martyrs Club “B” and when the names came out of the hat in the draw for the match it was one of the most experienced players around, Adrian Thomas, who came out first for the Richards and his class shone through as he beat J. Macnamara to give the hosts a 1-0 lead against the throw. Tony Hedges, another who has many years under his belt, held throw in the second match to beat D. Wells and a break of throw in game three saw Roy Element battle past L. Osborne for a 3-0 for the home side. The Martyrs continued to battle hard but the experience of the home side continued with Phil John holding throw to beat A. Norman and seal a 4-0 win and a place in the first round proper. Morlais Tavern 4 v Cyfarthfa Arms 0. The visiting Cyfarthfa Arms knew that a trip to the Morlais Tavern was always going to be a difficult game and this was made very clear in the first game with J. Toye losing the opening game with throw against S. Davies as the home side took an early lead and 2-0 quickly followed with Jimmy Winstone holding throw to beat K. Driscoll. G. Scott 2x100 kept the Morlais heading in the right direction with victory over Dominic Illari in game three and a fine performance from Jason Gillespie in game four saw him hold throw to beat H. Jones and get the home sides season off to a winning start. Imperial Hotel 0 v Guest Keen Bowls Club “A” 4. Great credit must go to the Imp who battled very hard against the big guns from the Guest Keen Bowls Club “A” with the 0-4 score line not really doing the home side justice. Rhys Donovan 100 put up a stern resistance in the opening game against Scott Bayliss but it was Scott with 101 and a 117 checkout how took the game 2-0 with throw to give the away side an early lead. Adrian Williams 140 battled hard for the hosts in the second game but it was Justin Davies 100,103 who found the winning doubles to make it 2-0 to the visiting Guest. A fantastic third game saw Anthony Prosser 3x100, 115 in great form for the home side but again missed doubles cost dear as Andrew Coombs 100,125, 3x140 took the game 2-1 and with it a three zip lead for the Guest. Victory was then made complete in the fourth game for the visitors with Craig Morgan 2x100, 140 beating Dai Davies 2-0 as the home based player struggled to consistently find his range. Martyrs Club “A” 4 v Winchester Bar 0. The “Winch” were another team who did not have the help of the darting gods as they fell to a 4-0 defeat on their visit to the Martyrs Club “A”. T. Williams hit 121, 180 in his game with former Summer League Singles Champion John Sales 125 but it was to no avail as John put the home side into an early lead. The second game saw Eugene Wells clock up 3x100 for the Winch but again the point went to the home side with Alun Pearce 100 finding the winning doubles. Bradley Howe broke the throw of I. Peters 100 in the third game to extend the lead further and victory was made complete in the next game with Ray Phillips 140 getting the better of Alan Owen 118 in another hard fought game for a place in the first round. Heolgerrig Social Club 4 v Farmers Arms “B” 1. The Farmers “B” travelled to the Heolgerrig Club with hopes of causing an upset but they did not get off to a good start with Josh Elliot losing the opening game with throw against Gary Watkins by a 2-0 margin. The second game was much better for the visitors with Neil Roberts levelling the match with a break of throw over Richard Cahalane again by a2-0 margin. The vastly experienced, ok old, Ray Williams took the third game again against the throw with the aid of 3x100 in a hard fought 2-1 win over Jason Edwards to regain the lead for the home side and this was extended to 3-1 with Bob Watkins 2x100 getting the better of Chris George 2-0. The fifth game then proved to be the last as the Farmers ace Stewart Charleston lost out to the old warrior from Heolgerrig Iory Haines 100 by a 2-0 score as the former missed several shots at the winning double. Lantern Inn 1 v Merthyr Ex Club 4. This was a high class contest from start to finish with both sides giving their all in pursuit of a place in the first round proper of this cup competition. Liam Russell 5x100 was in excellent form scoring wise for the hosts in the first match but missed out shots saw the game go the way of the Ex as Jason Davies 3x100 took the game with throw to put the visitors one nil ahead. An excellent second match saw the sides draw level with Tracy Goode 3x100, 125 out in great form to beat Andrew Davies 3x100, 174 but parity was short lived as the Ex regained the upper hand with new import Jason Baynham 2x100 edging past Kyle James 120 to go 2-1 ahead. Wayne Jones made it 3-1 to the visitors with a hard fought win over F. Connors and 4-1 and victory came in the next game with Mark Nichols 100,121 holding throw to beat M. Hadley 100 in another close game. Ye-Olde-Express 1 v Guest Keen Bowls Club “B” 4. This was a real blast from the past with Ye-Olde-Express returning to the league after an absence of many, many years and despite the score line they gave an excellent account of themselves and will give many a team a hard battle in the coming season. Doug Wills 100 was first up for the home side and he battled well against Adam Pollard 100,2x140 before eventually losing the opening game. Ian Protheroe with the aid of a splendid 105 finish levelled the match with a break of throw over Wayne Robinson 3x100 but back came the Guest to regain the lead with David Spencer 100 edging past Steve Ball 100. Guest talisman Wayne Benbow 2x100 then made it 3-1 with a fine win over Matthew Fealey before Carl Jones 100 wrapped up the win beating Kyle Jones in a hard fought game. Merthyr Vale Ex Club “B” (Daggers) 4 v Colliers Arms 2. Division one outfit the Merthyr Vale Ex “B” entertained the Colliers Arms from a division below in a very entertaining game that started at a fast pace with John Jones 3x100 holding throw to beat D. Phelps 100,121 by a 2-1 score giving the visitors an early lead. D. George 100,140 hauled the sides level with a fine win over F. Grey 100 but the Colliers were quick to regain the lead with D. Thomas 100, 2x125, 90 out getting the better of Neil Baldwin 2x100. Battling Bobby Terrett 119 edged past Jordan King 100,140 by a 2-1 margin to level the match at two apiece and then the home side took the lead for the first time with John Terrett 4x100 in excellent form to break the throw of young Damion Lewis by a 2-0 score line. With their noses in front dynamite Derek Dobbins 2x100,140 held his nerve and throw to beat veteran Jimmy Rees 100 2-0 and steer the Daggers into the first round. Angel Hotel “B” 4 v Farmers Arms “A” 3. This result was a “CupSet” with the Angel “B” from division five beating the visiting Farmers Arms “A” from division three in a cracking game (pity you didn’t fill in the leg score lads). Dai Jones hit a fantastic 180 for the visitors in game five while Mike O’Neill was the hero for the home side with victory in the last game over Shawn Price. Penydarren Social Club “A” 3 v Aberfan Social Club “A” 4. This match was almost another “CupSet” with division three outfit the Pen “C” pushing division two’s Aberfan Social “A” right to the very limit. Jonathon Evans took the opening game for the home side with a 2-0 victory over Josh O’Keefe but the lead was brief as the old stager Ken Davies beat P. Mc Carthy with a break of throw to level at 1-1. The Pen struck back in game three to regain the lead with another break of throw with A. Collins getting the better of M. Lewis by a narrow 2-1 margin. The excellent Warren Rees with a brilliant 160 out produced yet another break of throw to beat R. Beynon 2-0 and level the match at two each as both sides battled hard to extend their run in the competition. Kevin Downing won a hard fought battle, 2-1, with Nigel Owen to produce the first hold of throw of the match and give the away side the lead for the first time but they could not take advantage as G. Jones overcame the challenge of Charles Davies ,2-1, to square the contest again and set up a last game shoot out. Home captain Phil Bond was in action for his side but despite a gallant effort it was Lloyd Davies who took the game 2-1 and with it the match 4-3 to drag the Aberfan into the first round. Rose & Crown 3 v Baili-Glas Inn “A” 4. This would have been the “CupSet” of the round had the home side pulled this one off in a pulsating game that had the visitors from division one hanging on by their finger nails against their division four hosts. An understrength Rose side had to give away the opening game as a ‘bye’ and this ultimately proved to be their undoing in a very hard fought nerve shredding match. With the visitors automatically 1-0 ahead Kristian Dowd beat Jamie Phillips in a fantastic game to level the scores at 1-1 and then despite starting well Nigel Meek succumbed to the pressure of Steve Evans as the latter took the game2-0 against the throw to give the Rose a 2-1 lead. Cled Jones dug deep to uproot B. Edwards in match four to level the contest at 2-2 and then three consecutive “tons” from Matthew Hughes helped him to a 2-0 win over A. Jones giving the visitors a vital 3-2 lead. Phil Hughes held throw to beat Andrew Morgan 2-0 and set up a deciding last game between S. Beale for the Rose and Baili debutant Matthew Davies. With the pressure on the shoulders of both young players it was Matthew who held his throw and nerve to drag the Baili into the first round proper . Please note that some of this week’s result sheets were not filled in correctly. Although it’s still a few weeks from Christmas the League Committee will be generous on this occasion and not fine the culprits. Please be sure in future that all cards are filled in correctly with names of the competing teams on top of the card, players names in full and all leg scores and match results completed. This week sees the first round of League fixtures take place with roll call at 8-15pm for 8-30pm start in all divisions. Best of luck to all teams taking part in the League this season. Today, Monday 1st September 2014, we said our final fair well to our great friend Peter “The Rabbi” Evans and it is also with the Greatest of Sadness that over the weekend the League has learned of the sudden passing of another of one of our members and great characters Dai “Hoppy” who played for the Merthyr Football Club. Dai also played for the Troedyrhiw Ex Club, Pentrebach Labour Club and a spell at the Imperial Hotel. A very much liked and popular player Dai will be sadly missed by all who knew him through, family, work or social connections. The Officers, Committee & Members of the Merthyr & District Darts League would like to express their DEEPEST SYMPATHY & CONDOLENCES to Dai’s family at this very sad time. RIP Dai. As with all players who have left us before gone but NEVER FORGOTTEN by your extended darts family.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 21:23:25 +0000
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