Keystone A and Cafuffals among the teams to progress to next round
A new darts season is upon us as the Paisley and District League gets off to a flying start.
Unfortunately, the league has said goodbye to a couple of teams from the last campaign as Pickwicks left and the Pirates teams amalgamated. However, they have welcomed teams from Gryffe Inn, St Peters and Hagg Bar so the league now has 25 teams with 12 playing in Division One and 13 playing in Division Two.
In the first week of the new season 18 teams met in the preliminary round of the P&D League Cup trying to get to the first round proper where they would join the seven teams who avoided a prelim draw.
In the first game it was home team Keystone A that overcame the challenge of Charleston Arms (formerly Pockets Red) with a convincing 5-0 result.
They will meet Arthurlie Arrows (formerly Burgh Bar) who travelled to Hagg Bar C and left with a 5-2 win under their belt. The tie between Keystone A and the Arrows team will take place in Keystone.
At Arthurlie Inns it was the home team that held their nerve when they played local rivals Fereneze (formerly The Kelburn) as they ran out 5- 2 winners.
They will now face a new team as they play Hagg Bar B at Hagg Bar next week.
The next team through to play in the first round are St Peter’s after they defeated Flying Horse B 5-1 – with the victory earning them an away match to Hazel Pirates.
Finishing off the top half of the draw are The New Saints from St Peter’s after they too had a 5-1 win at Pockets. Their win means that they will now face Flying Horse A in Barrhead for a quarter-final spot.
The first game of the bottom half of the draw pitched Inkerman Bowling Club against new boys Gryffe Inn and the Inkerman team showed their experience as they ran up a rapid fiveleg whitewash win.
The victory means that next week Inkerman will play Court Bar for a place in the last eight of the competition.
The next match saw The Clachan Bar ( formerly Gleniffer Hotel) face near neighbours Cafuffals and it was Cafuffals that held on to win the tie 5-3.
The win gives them a game against Railway Inn where a place in the last eight is up for grabs.
Railway Black Cats also booked their spot in the next round (formerly Hazel Arms) after they held off a fiery challenge from Keystone B with the result going to the Cats by a 5-3 margin. The reward for their triumph is a visit to Tartan Rose to take on the team that just missed out on fourth place in Division Two last year.
The last team through to the last 16 were defending champions Hagg Bar A, who came through 5-3 against Court Bar B with the Court team causing the champions some problems along the way.
The Hagg team now play Kelburne Cricket Club in the last 16 as they look to repeat their winning form of last year.
With it being the first game of the season there was a bit of rustiness in the arms this week and it showed in the highlights as there were only four maximum scores in the matches.
Dean Fitch Jnr of Pockets had the quickest game of the night as he finished one of his matches in 14 darts with the only high finish of the night coming from Arthurlie Arrows player Richie Watson with a 110 checkout.
Next week the players will contest the first round of the P&D League Cup tournament as the teams strive to get to the quarter-final stage.