Still suffering from last months disappointing defeat at the hands of local rivals Derbyshire, we were hoping that December would bring us some festive cheer and put us back on form to remain top of Division 2.  We were hosts to Sussex for the final game of the year and a weekend of close games and good darts was expected.

The proceedings did not start well for Notts with missed doubles for Shirley Truman and Karen Staton granting victory to Sussex in the first two legs.  On third for Nottinghamshire was Barbara McColl who scraped through with a 3-2 win against Hayley Gatford, scoring a 16.71 average and securing the Lady of the Match award for the day.  Another point soon followed from Sue Page-Looker with another close 3-2 win and 15.58 average over Mandy Perry.   Next on for Notts was Dawn Speed in her first ever County game, but unfortunately for Dawn it just wasn’t her day and the fifth leg ended in favour of our guests.  With the current score standing at 2-3, all eyes were on Vice-Captain Margaret Shipley to secure the draw and she never looked as though she would disappoint with her 14.59 average and 3-0 win over Bridget Guildford.

With a 3-3 score line, our focus turned to the Mens ‘B’ where again an unfortunate start meant that the first two legs went in Sussex’s favour.  The first win for Notts was secured in the third leg, with John Speed hitting a 25.61 in his 3-1 victory over Chris Catford.  The next five matches were very closely contested with almost all going to 5 legs, but unluckily for Notts we only managed one more point on the board, supplied by Andy Kerr winning his match 3-1 with a 21.15 average.  Newcomer Darren Breedon was amongst the unfortunate in his 3-2 defeat but with a 25.00 average in his first county game, we are sure to see good things from him in the future.  With the score now standing at 5-9 to Sussex, the Men had to regain some momentum and play hard for the last four legs.  As ever, our Men did not disappoint us, with wins coming from Matthew Padgett (25.05), Steve (Captain) Kirk (23.86) and Trevor Ellis (23.51), before the final match of the day was secured by Marc (Gus) Dewsbury, who received the Man of the Match honour for his fantastic 26.37 average and 3-0 win over Jason Hills.  This left the score standing at 9-9 after the close of the first day.

Sunday began well for Notts, with Laura Tye taking the first set with a 16.23 average and 3-1 win over Rhonda West.  This performance was enough to secure the Lady of the Match honour for the Ladies ‘A’.  A closely fought 3-2 victory followed from Eleanor Dunn hitting a 15.15 average in her game against Glenys Laker. Sussex fought back in the next two legs beating Leslie Allick and Julie Wilson, before Nicola McNamara took to the stage and regained Notts advantage hitting 13.89 in her 3-2 win over Sue Sexton. On last for Notts was Sharon Beastall, but missed doubles cost us the final leg with the Ladies ‘A’ ending in a 3-3 draw.

With the score standing at 12-12 overall, all eyes were on the Mens ‘A’ to play to form and secure the victory. Notts couldn’t have asked for a better start than from Dave McGarry who set the ball rolling with his superb 29.45 average and 3-1 win over Rod Hawkins.  Another 3-1 win followed from Gary Bennett hitting a 24.99 average in his game against Neil Smith.  The next four games went with the darts giving us wins from Dave Brown (22.40) and Micky Pitchford (23.86) leaving the score 4-2 in Notts favour at the half way stage.  Next on for Notts was Paul Harvey who hit a fantastic 28.75 average winning 3-1, before Tim Broadhurst took to the stage for the eighth leg. Legs of 18, 15, 13 and 20 darts secured Tim a 3-1 victory and an awesome 30.06 average which was enough to take the Man of the Match honour for the Mens ‘A’.  More points followed from Chris Cooper (25.37), Neil Birkin (27.97) and Jay Foreman (22.77) before Sussex seized the final leg of the day.  The Mens ‘A’ finished 9-3 in favour of Notts, making the overall score for the weekend Nottinghamshire 21- Sussex 15.

Next game is away to West Midlands on the 19th/20th January.

Barbara McColl
PRO/Webmaster
Nottinghamshire Darts Organisation