After last weeks return to winning ways against the Queens Head, we knew this week was going to be hard against the A Team Boys. Historically we always seem to underperform and manage to get thrashed every time we play them and, worst still, we were at home and this year we have played worse at home than we have away. As you can probably tell, we were really feeling confident about this one!
Arriving at the Club in our usual dribs and drabs starting around 7-00, we noticed that most of their team was already there and practising (had they really been there since 11-00 in the morning, were they worried?) Moreover they had taken up position in the prime seats of the Home Team (the significance of this will be revealed later) The draw done and time for the first game which saw a brave effort by Clint and Yid with a high score each but we could not win the leg. Hos partnered by Shoot em up and then Oz and Moysie also lost and we were 3-0 down and thinking here we go again! We then realised that we hadn’t witnessed much of these games because we couldn’t see a thing. Between the A team in our seats and a crowd in the middle watching football, we were stranded in the bar area feeling like the away team.
Hold on a minute, we play better away, hmmm! Next up after this realisation were Bungle and the Legend and, lo and behold, they won to get us a leg on the board. First singles saw me up against Spence and our boys were getting into away support mode popping up now and again to see if they could see anything. I have to say this was a cracking leg and but for a timely 134 Spence would have hammered me but after he missed with 1 dart at a double I managed to take out tops to take us to 3-2. Shoot em up next against Paul Harrod and before long there was the trademark triple salko as Dave hit the finishing double to take us all square. Hold on boys, we’re back in this with the next of our dynamic western duo on next, Clint beat Eddie Lark to get us ahead 4-3. The eighth game saw Moysie lose to a good game from Craig George before Hos was up against Kelvin and after a couple of high scores from Kelv it looked like we would go behind. Then Kelv decided to show the benevolent side of his nature and not hit the finishing double. This allowed Shawn to not only get down to the double but to also have several chances himself before finally hitting double 8 to take us 5-4 up (yes UP). Bungle then played Matty Hook and with the latter a bit off his game, Billy took advantage and secured us a point at 6-4. Time for Flatty to text the Home Guard and tell them we had got 6 legs (noticeable that THEY didn’t ask for a photo of the card to prove it!) Two games to go and a chance of a famous win. Goochy had a very difficult task against Links but played well enough to have a dart at bull and two more on the wire of tops but it was not to be and Links held his nerve to hit the double. One more chance for real glory and Ozzie on last played out of his skin against Bardy but one poor score of 26 let Danny back in. Oz still had one dart for an 84 finish before Danny finished a really good pressure game to earn them a draw. On the whole, a good night’s work by our boys and a point we didn’t expect which helps strengthen our current third place. We have a few crucial games to go but if we can keep the momentum going we could have a great season.
Next up is a trip to the football club on Friday.
See you soon Quiff
