Chislet celebrate runners-up spot

Darts

The last week of league games in the Herne Bay & District Winter League were played and the top game came in Division 1 where second-placed Chislet Colliery Club hosted third-placed Huntsman & Horn. Both teams went into the match level on points, so the match was simply a winner-takes-all match, the victor would claim the runners-up spot and promotion to the Premier Division. Chislet won the first two pairs to open a 2-0 lead but The Huntsman won the last pair and both threes games to lead 3-2 going into the singles games. Chislet won the opening singles through Martin Baker to level at 3-3 before The Huntsman regained the lead with Craig Reeves defeating Paul Bunting, only to see Chislet skipper James Wells make it 4-4. Chislet then led 5-4 after David Hards won his singles game and they won the next singles through Ross Llewellyn to secure the win at 6-4 and cue the celebrations. The Huntsman gained some consolation by winning the last singles game through Jeff Buxton, a win which sees Buxton win the Division 1 Averages title. Division 1 champions Angling Club finished with a 7-4 away defeat against the Druids Head. The Druids took a 4-1 lead into the singles games and wins by Tom Hibbert and Stuart Angel secured the superb win at 6-1. The Anglers pulled one back through Les Bates only to see the Druids respond with Dave Anderson winning to make it 7-2. The Anglers won the last two singles games through Andy Sim and skipper Gary Keeley to reduce the deficit to 7-4. The Heron finished their season a with a 6-5 home win over the Rising Sun. In the Premier Division, the key game saw a 8-3 home win for the Divers Arms B over the East Station Snooker Club secured the runners-up spot. The Snooker Club were leading 2-1 but the Divers won both threes games to lead 3-2 going into the singles games, where Paul Dawkins won to extend the Divers’ lead to 4-2. The Snooker Club pulled one back through Anthony Warren but that was as good as it got for the Snooker Club as the Divers won the last four singles games. Wins coming from Steve Coker, skipper Taffy Willis, Steve Moys and Peter Furner. The Smugglers Inn’s chances of second were ended with the Divers Arms B victory but still won, winning 8-3 at home to the Tally Ho. Leading 3-2, Smugglers Steve Peacock won the opening singles to put his side 4-2 up. Jason Cork pulled one back for the Tally, only to see the Smugglers win the next two singles through Colin Hopkins and Nick Smith to secure the win at 6-3. Smugglers wrapped up the win with man-of-the-match Mick Morgan and John Hughes winning the last two singles games.