The race for the titles hots up
Two fixtures remain in Paisley and District leagues
Craig Ritchie
The Paisley and District darts players are closing in on the end of the league season with only two games left to play.
In the First Division, league leaders Hagg Bar A travelled to Burgh Bar determined to keep their hands on the league title – and after a dazzling display where they beat the home side 8-1, they left with both points.
St Peter’s were determined to keep up the pressure on the leaders as they travelled to Railway Inn, but after a hardfought game they ended up on the losing side as the home team won the match 5-4.
In the bottom half of the table Flying Horse were the visiting team at Keystone and left there with a very convincing 6-3 win under their belts. The result means that Keystone will be relegated to the Second Division for next year.
Court Bar were ready to take advantage of any slip-up by the Flying Horse team as they played the Hagg Bar C team in Hagg Bar.
And for the third week in a row the Hagg Bar C game ended up in a 5-4 result with the game going right down to the last doubles which the home team won to deny Court Bar their chance to go level on points with Flying Horse.
With only two games now left in the division, it is still not yet certain who else will be relegated.
In the Second Division the game everyone was interested in was the top-of-the-table clash between Cafuffals and Pockets Red.
Pockets started the game in really positive form, racing into a 4-0 lead before Cafuffals mounted a comeback and brought it back to 4-2 at the end of the singles matches.
Pockets would not be denied their victory though, and won the first of the doubles to wrap up the points for the visitors – and added the last doubles for good measure to end on a 6-3 win.
The win guarantees the Pockets Red team a place in the First Division for next year.
Gleniffer Hotel went to Inkerman knowing that a Pockets win could put them into second place if they won the match, but Inkerman proved just too strong for them as they made the best of the home advantage and ran out 5-4 winners.
Hazel Arms were on hand to capitalise on any mistakes that Inkerman made, and they did just that as they took fifth place in the table from them courtesy of a 6-3 win over Keystone B.
They now hold fifth place by just one leg from the Inkerman team.
The Kelburn are also still in with a chance of third place in the table as they keep up the mid-table pressure on both Hazel Arms and Inkerman BC after a 5-4 victory over Tartan Rose.
The win keeps them in fourth place on leg difference over The Hazel Arms and Inkerman BC.
Pockets Black finally got their first win on the board as they defeated Flying Horse B with a 5-4 result giving them their first points.
The second promotion spot will not be decided until the very last game of the season as either Cafuffals or Gleniffer Hotel could claim the spot, depending on their final results.
There were a total of 13 scores of 180 recorded in the games this week, with Martin Brophy of Flying Horse A hitting three.
The quickest game of the week was from Hagg Bar A player Ian Thomson with a 15-dart leg. The highest finish of the week was 127 from Pockets Red player John Garrity.
Next week competition switches to the final tournament of the year, the Gibby Bentley and Memorial Singles, where all of the players will be playing for a last 16 spot.
With 132 players taking part this year for the 16 places, competition is sure to be fierce.