Hagg Bar claim trophy for eleventh time running
This week, the Paisley and District darts players fought to be crowned the Hagg Bar Trophy champions on Monday night – with the hosts going on to claim the accolade for the 11th time in a row.
The first semi-final was between Court Bar and New Saints.
It was New Saints that took the lead, taking the initial 701 doubles game through John Williamson and Alan Ferguson before Court Bar levelled through Ben Barilli and Paul Carruthers.
Court Bar claimed the last doubles game through Murray Houston and Stevie Tepper.
In the singles matches – a traditional 501 game format – it was New Saints that took the initiative with Williamson and Ferguson backing up their doubles form to put their team in the lead 3-2.
The next two games swung the momentum of the match in the other direction, though, as Barilli and Carruthers continued their form into the singles, both winning by a 2-1 margin with Carruthers hitting a maximum during his game.
With the score now at 4-3 to Court Bar, it was all or nothing for New Saints and Rikki Chalmers duly delivered when he won 2-0 to take the match to a decider.
With both sides missing chances, Stevie Tepper finally hit the winning double alongside a 180 score in a 2-1 win to put Court Bar into the Grand Final.
In the other semi-final, Pockets A took on Hagg Bar A, with the Pockets team looking to avenge their recent league defeat.
Pockets took the first two 701 doubles games as John McCallum and his partner Brian Maley got the team off to the best start followed by Darren Addison and Chris Coyle to give Pockets a 2-0 lead.
The last game of doubles went to Hagg Bar A through Dougie Low and Stuart Christie to reduce the lead to 2-1.
In the singles games, it was Hagg Bar that took charge with Dean Fitch levelling the match score at 2-2 after a 2-0 win that included a 180 and a 15-dart leg.
The next game also went to Hagg Bar A, Evander Stevenson giving his team the lead for the first time with a fine 2-0 win that included a 16-dart leg.
Darren Addison for Pockets then brought the game level at 3-3 with a fine 2-1 win that included a 16-dart leg.
Hagg Bar player Paddy McShane regained the lead for his team with a 2-0 win with the help of a 180 score and, when Dougie Low won his game 2-0 as well, the match was over and Hagg Bar A were in the final with a 5-3 winning scoreline.
Court Bar and Hagg Bar A later that evening contested the Grand Final.
In the 701 doubles games, it was Court Bar that ruled supreme as Paul Carruthers and Murray Houston won the early game, Ben Barilli and Mark McKinnon made the score 2-0 before John Hurrell and Stevie Tepper added another to make it 3-0.
The Hagg Bar A players had to up their game and they did so through Dean Fitch who won 2-0 in a game that included a 17-dart leg.
Evander Stevenson kept the momentum going in the singles as he also won 2-0 where he hit a 14-dart leg to start off the match.
With the score at 3-2 to Court Bar, and Hagg Bar looking strong in the singles, it was Ben Barilli for Court that got his team back on track to re-establish their lead at 4-2 with a fine 2-0 win of his own.
Hagg Bar fought back again as George Dempsey won 2-1.
Paddy McShane also had to scrap in his game as he came through with a 2-1 win despite a 17-dart leg from his opposite number. The score was now 4-4.
The Hagg Bar team had been in this position before and it was that experience that helped Dougie Low through to his 2-0 win as Hagg Bar A claimed the cup for the 11th time in succession.