Hagg Bar win the battle to top table
Team defeat Pickwicks in race for Division One title
Craig Ritchie
The action is heating up in the Paisley and District Darts League as the season nears its finale.
It was the clash of the unbeaten leaders in the First Division that provided the excitement, as Pickwicks played host to Hagg Bar A.
There were plenty of fireworks as four of the home team and five of the visitors feature on the league highlights table.
There were seven maximums hit during the game, with Chris McGuire of Pickwicks scoring three of them.
When the dust had settled on the game it was the visitors who left with the spoils after a hard fought 6-3 victory, with the result leaving the Hagg Bar team at the top – two points clear of Pickwicks.
Joining Pickwicks in the chase, and only two legs behind, are St Peter’s after they too recorded a 6-3 win at the expense of Court Bar.
Fourth place in the table now belongs to Flying Horse A as they also had a 6-3 win this week as they visited Howwood’s Railway Inn.
Court Bar’s defeat to St Peter’s means that they fail to climb the table and now head up a pack of five teams on six points.
Keystone A are also level after their win over Hagg Bar C and, with Keystone having a game in hand, they may yet take over fifth place before the year end.
Burgh Bar also join the midtable party following a 6-3 win with theirs coming against Pockets Red, with the result costing Pockets ninth spot as they drop down to 10th in the table.
And the last of the quintet of teams on six points is Gleniffer Hotel as they completed a full week of 6-3 results with a win over Arthurlie Inns.
Meanwhile, Ca f f u f a l s continued their unbeaten ways to lead the way in the Second Division, demolishing Hazel Pirates B, 8-1.
Second place in the table belongs to Pockets Black as they held on to beat Tartan Rose in a thrilling 5-4 result, putting themselves two points clear of the Tartan team.
The Kelburn continue their climb as they stay in third place and put pressure on Tartan Rose as they are now only three legs behind them after a stunning 8-1 victory over Hazel Arms, the result pushing the Hazel team down one place into seventh.
Court Bar B jumped two places into sixth position in the table and closed the gap to just four legs between themselves and Inkerman Bowling Club after beating them 8-1.
There was also a tense battle at the bottom of the table as Flying Horse met Kelburne Cricket Club with both teams looking for their first win of the season.
In the end, it was the home team that held their nerve to take the points with a 5-4 win and push themselves up into 10th place.
In the last game in the division Keystone B held on to ninth place as they recorded a 7-2 home win against Hazel Pirates with the result also pushing the Pirates team down into eighth place, only two points ahead of their rivals.
As expected, the treble 20 took a beating this week as there were 18 maximums scored in the matches with Pickwicks player Chris McGuire hitting three along with team- mate Ian Callaghan scoring two. The quickest leg of the night came from Court Bar B player Joe Mitchell who equalled the seasons best with a 12-dart leg.
The best finish came from Court Bar as John Barclay Jr checked out on 156 in one of his matches.
There were two players this week that managed to get their names on all three highlights tables and, unusually, they both came from the same team as Chris McGuire and Ian Callaghan from Pickwicks hit maximums, recorded quick games and both had finishes over 100.