DARTS

WITH games running out thick and fast in the 2017/18 Season of the Worthington’s Sponsored Merthyr & District Darts League any slips now could prove very costly come the end of the season at the end of May.

Another night of frenetic action saw the usual batch of high scores and high finishes but the main thing the teams were after was the high win with the more points the merrier. As the saying goes, points make prizes and the more points, the bigger the prize. then securing a fine 2-1 break over veteran Iory Haines 3x100 giving the home side a 7-2 lead. Ron Morgan 4x100 held throw (2-0) over the out of sorts Bob Watkins with Jason Baynham 4x100,140 completing the rout with a 2-0 break over Ray Williams 121 in the final game.

MERTHYR VALE EX CLUB “B” (DAGGERS B) 7 PENYDARREN SOCIAL CLUB “C” (SEASIDE) .... 4

A good start here for the home side with Warren Rees 100, Kevin Downing & John Terrett 100 breaking the throw of Drew Bradley, J. Stent & Ceri Richards and a following hold from Karl Manns, Derek Dobbins 125 & Lloyd Davies over a battling Johnny Murphy, Gavin Galleozzie & John Sedgemore 100 saw the hosts take a 2-0 lead heading into the pairs legs.

Johnny Murphy 140 & Ceri Richards held in the first pairs over Phil Morris & Lloyd Davies halving the deficit and then an earth shattering break from Barrie Gilby & Gavin Galleozzie over Derek Dobbins & Kevin Downing saw the sides draw level at two apiece. The final pairs saw the tide slightly turn with the “Seaside” duo of Drew Bradley & Nathan Morgan holding over Warren Rees & John Terrett 100 apiece to give the away side a 3-2 lead going into the vital singles battles.

Lloyd Davies 100,135 levelled the contest with a hold (2-0) over Ceri Richards 2x100 and a break (20) from Karl Manns 121, 2x140 over Barrie Gilby saw the tide turn again as the Daggers struck back to go 4-3 ahead. Warren Rees 2x100,2x122 regained the two point advantage for the home side with a (2-0) hold over Nathan Morgan 100,125 and then in a great game Drew Bradley 100,2x135,140 held (2-1) over Phil Morris 5x100 to pull the Pen back to within a point. Kevin Downing 3x100,121 held 2-0 over John Sedgemore 2x100,101 for a 6-4 lead with Derek Dobbins 2x100,105,121then completing the win with a 2-0 break over the Pen’s Johnny Murphy for a fine 7-4 victory.

YE-OLDE EXPRESS ...... 4 BAILI-GLAS “B” ............ 7

A battle here between two heavyweights of the first division saw the former champions from the Baili B keep in the hunt for this year’s crown with a hard fought 7-4 win over their hosts. Geraint Thomas, Jeff Pearce 100,140 & Andrew Rough 180 got the visitors off to a good start with a hold over Wayne Titcomb 100, Kevin Hyde & Owain Davies but the Grawen were quickly back in the game with Peter Locke 118, Steve Nicholas & Paul Thomas 123 beating Matthew Quinlan, Steve Haman & Mervyn Matthews for a level game heading into the pairs.

Matthew Quinlan & Geraint Thomas 100 regained the lead for the Baili with a hold over Dean Thomas 125 & Owain Davies 100 but back came the home side again with Peter Locke 100 & Steve Nicholas 100,137,140 battling past Steve Haman 100,140 & Kevin Roberts 100 in a tense battle. The final pairs encounter went the way of the away side with Jeff Pearce & Andrew Rough 180 holding over Wayne Titcomb & Kevin Hyde 2x100 apiece with the home duo missing the doubles as the Baili scraped a 3-2 lead heading into the singles battles.

The first of the singles games went the way of the home side (2-0) with Peter “The Great” Locke 100,134140, 72 out, 120 out holding over Mervyn Matthews 125 as the sides drew level at three apiece but the Baili quickly regained the upper hand with Andrew Rough 2x100,2x140 holding (2-0) over Dean Thomas 100,139 for a 4-3 lead and then a splendid break from the Mighty Quinn Matthew Quinlan 2x100,121 95 out, 101 out (2-0) over Steve Nicholas 135,140,180 saw the away side go 5-3 ahead. The Typhoon Geraint Thomas 4x100,105,124 held throw over a gallant Paul Thomas 2x100,135,140 for a 6-3 lead before Wayne Titcomb 3x100,140,180 held throw (2-1) over Jeff Pearce 2x100, 121, 123, 140, 180 in a magnificent game putting a fourth point on the board for the Express. In a hard fought final game Steve Haman 2x100, 140 edged past Owain Davies 3x100, 125, 140 with a 2-1 hold to complete a vital win for the visitors that just keeps them in the hunt for the title this season.

GRAWEN ARMS ............ 6 MERTHYR EX CLUB ..... 5

Division one stalwarts the Grawen Arms have endured a tough couple of weeks results wise and their latest game saw them struggle to a narrow 6-5 win over the visiting Merthyr Ex. D. Cook 100, Steve Mahoney & Jason Davies held the opening triples with victory over Kerry Green 100, Jason Launchbury 100 & Lyn Jones putting the away side into an early lead, which then surprisingly became 2-0 with Shane Williams, Andrew Davies 100 & Lloyd Price 120 breaking the throw of a stunned Phil Locke, Marcus Davies & Steve Thomas 100 as the sides prepared for the three pairs legs.

Steve Thomas 100, 84 out & Marcus Davies claimed the first pairs with a break over Matthew Sullivan & Lloyd Davies to halve the deficit before Shane Williams & D. Cook 100 claimed a shock break over Phil Locke & Lyn Jones 100 to restore a two point lead. The final pairs saw a fourth consecutive break as Kerry Green & Jason Launchbury beat Andrew Davies & Jason Davies 100 apiece to leave the home side trailing by a single point going into the singles battles.

Phil Locke 2x100 levelled matters with a 2-0 hold over Steve Mahoney 100 but again the Ex hit back with Shane Williams 3x100 coming back from 1-0 down to hold 2-1 over Kerry Green 100 and nudge the visitors 4-3 ahead. Steve “KloppKat” Thomas 4x100, 2x125, 135, 140 held 2-1 over D. Cook 5x100, 105, 125, 140 making it 4-4 but back came the away side again with Jason Davies 101 holding 2-0 over Jason Launchbury 2x100 putting the Ex 5-4 ahead with Marcus Davies 2x100 then squaring the match with a 2-0 hold over Matthew Sullivan with one more game to be played. The final game was full of tension which saw local hero Lyn Jones 2x100, 140 break Andrew Davies 100, 135 by a 2-0 margin to claim the match for the home side with a narrow hard fought 6-5 victory. but the Bowls then got rolling with Wayne Robinson 140 & Wayne Benbow holding over Gwyn Jones & Les Thomas 100 in a hard fought game. The final pairs went with throw as Eddie Jones & Josh O’Keefe 100 edged past Dai Spencer & Mark Virgin 121 for a 4-1 lead going into the singles encounters.

Josh O’Keefe 100,140 took the opening singles against the throw with a 2-1 break over Wayne Benbow 2x100 and then a 2-1 hold from Tony “The Tiger” Galliers 2x100, 2x140 over Steve Esterbanez 2x100, 109 out saw the away side go 6-1 ahead. Kerry Morgan 4x100, 140 secured a second point for the home side with a hard fought 2-1 hold over Eddie Jones 105, 127 before Gwyn Jones 118, 123 67 out played out a 2-1 hold over Wayne Robinson 3x100, 123. Mark Virgin 100, 123, 135, 140, 71 out claimed a vital third point for the hosts with Graham Price 121, 125, 140 nabbing the eighth point for Pentrebach with a 2-0 hold over Dai Spencer 100,123,140.

PENYDARREN SOCIAL CLUB “A” ........................ 8 LORD RAGLAN ............. 3

Amid all the action in the Penydarren Social Club with the International Darts taking place in the main hall, the clubs A side were the star attraction and main draw with a splendid win over the visiting Lord Raglan. Sam Clark, Peter McCarthy & Jonathon Evans opened the hosts account with a break in the first triples over Kevin Snowden, Karl Hunt & Lance Thomas 100 and the Pen then doubled the lead with Michael Bond, Wayne Lee 100 & Richard Beynon breaking Mike McLaughlin, Keiron Meek 121, 140 & Brian Meek.

Glenn Jones 100, 140 & Wayne Lee extended the lead to 3-0 with a break in the first pairs over Mike Matthews & Mike McLaughlin and the next game saw a hold with Nigel Owen 100 & Phil Bond beating Kevin Snowden & Brian Meek to put the hosts 4-0 ahead. Lance Thomas & Keiron Meek then finally got the Lord into the game with a hold over Michael Bond & Jonathon Evans to trail by 4-1 going into the singles games.

Michael Bond 3x100 took the first singles for the home side with a hold (2-0) over Lance Thomas 2x100, 120 putting the Pen 5-1 ahead and then the writing was really on the wall for the Lord as they went 6-1 down with Richard Beynon 100 breaking Mike Matthews (2-0). Keiron Meek 140 came from 1-0 down to break Glenn Jones 100,135 and put a second point on the board for then away side giving some respite but this was short lived as Nigel Owen broke back (2-1) from being 1-0 down to beat Kevin Snowden 100 and put the hosts 7-2 ahead. The ever reliable Brian Meek then put a third point on the board for the visitors with a 2-0 break over Sam Clark with home captain Phil Bond 3x100, 140 putting the eighth point on the board for the hosts with a 2-0 break over Mike McLaughlin .

BAILI-GLAS “A” ............. 5 ROSE & CROWN ............ 6

With doubles being bought from behind the bar by the bucket full the Baili players could not buy them on the dart board missing shot after shot as they suffered a poor result in their search in pursuit of points for promotion. John Wood 100, Liam Russell & Kristian Dowd took the opening triples with throw over a woeful Terry Morgan, Viv Morgan & Brian Roberts 100 and then in the second triples the double ring went into hiding for the home side as missed shot after missed shot proved fatal as Hywel Llewellyn, Andy Morgan & Byron Jones 134, 140 saw their throw broken by Robert Phelps 180, Kevin Morgan & Rhys Donovan as the Rose took a 2-0 lead going into the pairs legs.

Viv Morgan 100, 140 & Alan Mee got the Baili up and running in the first pairs with a break over Robert Phelps 100 & Stuart Hughes and a following hold from Hywel Llewellyn 100 & Byron Jones over Liam Russell & Steve Evans squared the match at 2-2. The final pairs went the way of the away side with Kristian Dowd 122 & John Wood edging past Tim Charleston 101 & Brian Roberts as both home players missed attempts at a winning double.

Byron Jones 119 suffered the double disaster in the first singles going down to a 2-0 break against John Wood 100, 116 putting the Rose 4-2 up which then became 5-2 with Kristian Dowd 100, 127, and a magnificent out of the blue 151 out holding 2-1 over Alan Mee 3x100, 125 as the home player again missed the doubles. Brian Roberts 100, 140, 100 out got the hosts back into the match with a vital 2-0 hold over Robert Phelps to trail 5-3 but then more missed doubles cost the Baili dear as Liam Russell 2x100, 120 edged past Tim Charleston 2x100 with a 2-1 hold. Hywel Llewellyn 4x100 battled past Stuart Hughes 100, 105 (2-1 hold) putting a fourth point on the scoreboard for the Baili with Viv Morgan 100, 125, 140 adding a fifth with a hard fought break (2-1) over Kevin Morgan 101 in a marathon last game.