Dick and Borland lead West Lothian charge
Once again the West Lothian arrow throwers were in action in Edinburgh at the Murrayfield Sports Bar to tackle some of the best darts players in the region.
And they gave a great account of themselves with four wins from five.
Rab Dick continued his fine run in the Gold League with another excellent 7-4 victory, firing in a 17-darter and a brace of 18-darters.
William Borland is still firing out the big salvos with games finished in 14-15-17-18-19 and 20 darts for an excellent 8-3 win, while Graeme Bird was also on the winning trail with a brace of maximum 180s to add to his growing tally for the year.
Jim Mitchell, with a win and a loss, found doubles elusive at the end of the night’s action and Ian Butler took full advantage to seal an 8-4 win.
In his other game, Jim was also up against a challenging opponent in Callum Smith but he was able to get the better of him, sealing a hard fought 8-6 victory, aided by four sub-18 dart legs.
The Bathgate Friday Night League was back in action and the Coppies in Armadale hosted the first competition of the new campaign, the KO Cup.
Played over six singles and three doubles legs, the talent on show was of a very high standard.
After three hours of play, the final showdown was a match-up between Gordon McMilland and his team from the Cross Tavern in Whitburn and Rab Dick’s Kirknewton Innkeepers.
The singles matches were brilliant affairs and the two sides couldn’t be separated as they headed into the doubles tied at 3-3.
That’s where the Cross Tavern took control, grabbing the first two doubles matches to seal the title, 5-3.
Special mentions from the night’s action must go to Scott Baillie, Jim Mitchell and Callum Wilkinson who all fired in maximum 180s, however the first man to achieve the feat this season was Graham Landels, who grabbed his 180 in the first match.
The West Calder and District Darts League was also back in action with some fine games to open the season.
The Grand Central Railroaders got the better of the Doo Club Flyers 7-2 with their were similar margins of victory for the Kirknetwon Innkeepers over the Almondale Pirates and the Tower Bar Knights over the Grand Central Steamers.
The Central Bar Rebels sealed a 6-3 win over Commercial Nomads as did the Volunteer Highway Men against the Cawburn Highlanders.
Two matches went right down to the wire with the Murray Bar Crofters able to squeeze out a 5-4 victory against the Kirknewton Barkeepers while the Commercial Inn Juniors won be the same margin over the Deans Bowling Club Golden Oldies.
Maximum 180 hitters on the first night of action were Paul Weir for the Doo Club Flyers, Grant Lyle from the Railroaders, Davie Aitken for the Nomads, Lorne Mitchell of the Highlanders and Graham Borland for the Highway Men.
Top finishes went to two players who both hit 111 game shots with Martin Blainey from the newly-formed Kirknewton Barkeepers, and Scott Baker from the West Calder Rebels.