Darts teams sail into Hagg Barr Trophy semi-finals

This week saw the much-anticipated quarter final stage of this year’s Hagg Bar Trophy take place across Renfrewshire.

The last eight teams in the Paisley and District Darts League competition battled it out for a place in the finals night on Monday, April 11.

The first game of the night took place at The Hazel Arms between Second Division promotion hopefuls Charleston Arms and First Division title challengers The Clachan Arrows.

And it was the Arrows team that took the initiative early as they took the first two doubles matches, with David Carmichael and his partner Joe Duffy getting them off to a good start followed by Paul Hanvidge and Gordon Brown.

Charleston were determined not to give the Arrows team too easy a game though and struck back in the third doubles through Steven Bain and Stephen McCombe.

Arrows extended their lead to 3-1 in the first of the singles, as David Carmichael won his match 2-1 before Greg McColl got the score back to 3-2 with a 2-0 win.

Paul Hanvidge reasserted the Arrows lead as he won his singles match 2-0 before Gordon Brown finished off the match with a 2-0 win that put the Arrows through to the semi-final stage.

Facing The Clachan Arrows team would be the winners of the match between The Clachan Bar and Railway Inn, with the match being played at the former’s venue.

Andy Bryan and Garry Jardine got things off to a positive start for the visitors as they took the first of the doubles games.

The Clachan team evened up the match after the next doubles as Alan Ferguson and Gary Thomson won their game.

In the last doubles match it was Kenny McCormick and Craig Moore from Railway that took the honours to give their team a slender 2-1 lead going into the singles matches.

The match was soon wrapped up for the Railway team though as Bryan, Jardine and Chris Dowling all won their singles games to put the Railway team through to the semi-final.

The bottom half of the draw saw current holders Hagg Bar A face Second Division opposition in the shape of Keystone C, who had already defeated two First Division teams to reach this stage.

The game was played at Tartan Rose and it was Keystone C that took the first of the doubles as George Millar and Danny Brown won their game 1-0.

In the next match it was the Hagg Bar A team of George Dickson and Dean Fitch that prevailed, with George Dempsey and Evander Stevenson then putting the Hagg team in the lead 2-1 when they won their doubles game.

In the singles the Hagg team extended their lead to 3-1 as Richie Baillie won his match 2-1.

Danny Brown for Keystone had the same result in his singles to make the score 3-2 and give his team a fighting chance, but a 2-1 victory for George Dickson - followed by a 2-0 win for Dean Fitch - finished the match 5-2 in favour of Hagg Bar A and ended Keystone C’s run in the tournament.

The last game of the night saw Second Division champions Pockets A face Division 1 high-flyers The New Saints at Pockets Snooker Club.

And it was Pockets who took the first game of the doubles through John McCallum and Joe Kilday, before Alan Ferguson and his partner Willie Baillie levelled the scoreline.

Laura Grant and Davy Hendry gave the New Saints a 2-1 advantage going into the singles with all still to play for.

In the singles games it was Pockets A that had the upper hand early on as John McCallum and Joe Kilday both won to give their team a 3-2 advantage.

But wins from Alan Ferguson Jr, Willie Baillie and Laura Grant meant that New Saints came back fighting to go through with a 5-3 winning score to set up a tasty looking semi-final clash against Hagg Bar A.

Next week the league campaign resumes, with the pick of the games in the First Division a match between Hagg Bar A and The New Saints in what could be a preview of things to come in their Hagg Bar Trophy semi-final tie.

In Division 2 all eyes will be on the matches involving Gryffe Inn, who host Tartan Rose, and Charleston Arms as they play neighbours The Clachan Bar.

The legs won and lost will be crucial as the teams are all tied on points in second place.