Last Monday saw the opening games of the new season of the Spalding Darts League and in Division 1 last season’s winners faced off against newly promoted and last season’s Division 2 champions Royal Mail Cart.
In the end the experience of Rose and Crown C told, winning 6-3 but they didn’t have it all their own way in the singles. However, going 3-0 up after the pairs matches made it difficult for Cart.
But then Jacob Herd beat Colin Hatter and Paul Faulkner beat reigning singles champion Simon Hill to make the score 3-2 to Rose and Crown.
Mark Horspool extended the lead and rolled back the years with two 180s and an 18-dart leg.
Mail Cart did not give up and Harry Faulkner beat Ant Richardson to make the match close again.
New signing and newly selected county player Logan Goddard then sealed the victory, and Monty Bunn stretched the score to 6-3 with a 180 of his own.
Consti A started off the season with a 5-4 win against Draymans Arms A, but the early leaders were Draymans who went 2-1 up after the pairs games but wins for Jack Chilvers, Chris Fidler and Sam Roberts changed to score to 4-2 in Consti’s favour.
Roberts hitting a 180 and having a 17-dart leg, Fidler matched Roberts and had a 17-dart leg of his own.
Phil Newton started the comeback for Draymans, beating Jason Vines, but Nick Moyses sealed the victory for Consti in his victory against Josh Grainger who had a 180 of his own.
The final game in Division 1 was a 5-4 win for Rose and Crown A against Consti E.
Consti lead the way, going 2-1 up after pairs but Tyger Atkin levelled the scores and had a 180 in his victory over Mick Atkin.
Josh Ford then won for Consti and again Rose and Crown levelled the score thanks to a win from Dan Carnell.
Mark Dixon swung the tie back in the Consti’s favour which was helped by his 110 check-out. Rose and Crown needed to win both games to win the match and obliged thanks to wins from Gary Mace and Ian Lawson.
In Division 2, last season’s Division 3 winners Ship Long Sutton started off strongly with a fine 8-1 win against Draymans C, only dropping five legs all night.
Ship’s Zach Chapman had a fine 127 check-out.
Another strong victory came from Rose and Crown B who beat Holbeach Services 7-2. The match was sealed quickly with Rose and Crown winning all three pairs and then Pete Griggs and Leo Clarkson got wins to put Rose and Crown 5-0 up.
Danny Goddard had a 100 check-out in his victory over Dan Blakey and player of the night was Ian McCreery who beat Mike Ocock 2-1 and had a 116 check-out and a 15-dart leg.
A closer affair was a 5-4 win for Draymans B against Green Dragon A.
Dragon went 2-1 up in the pairs with county player Tom Grooby and his partner Darren Templeman having a 17-dart leg.
However, Draymans fought back and wins for Stu Ewins and Connor Hughes put them in the driving seat.
Grooby and Templeman kept up their good form from the pairs and each won their singles matches to put Dragon 4-3 up. But Dan Merrill and Matt Broderick both won their games to give the victory to Draymans. Callum Templeman had a 180.
On to Division 3 and it was a case of seeing how good the new teams were coming into the league with an impressive four new teams this season.
One of the new teams is Green Dragon B who went close but lost 5-4 to Draymans D.
Draymans went 2-1 up and extended their lead with a win from Josh Burton.
But Dragon fought back and wins for Dan Martin, Harry Tucker and Adam Ledger put Dragon 4-3 up.
However, captain Ant Norman and Jordan Philpott both won and sealed the points for Draymans.
Another new team Pinchbeck United FC had a strong start to the season and beat Moulton Harrox 7-2.
Pinchbeck dominated from the off and went 3-0 up in the pairs and then stretched their lead to 6-0 after wins from Harvey Elderkin, Sam Clift, and Connor Mckenzie.
James Metcalfe beat Liam Dawson and Ian Stephenson beat Lee Lowe to get two singles wins for Harrox. Pinchbeck’s other win came from Tom Elderkin.
Two new teams played each other with Mulberry’s coming out on top beating Holbeach Services 7-2.
Mulberry’s went 3-0 up in the pairs and singles wins for Shane Thorpe, Nathan Sage, Chris Page and Wigs Harrison sealed the points for them.
Chris O’Leary and Hayley McHugh were the winners for Holbeach.
The final game in Division 3 was a 7-2 win for Lincoln Arms against another new team from the Pied Calf.
Lincoln went 2-1 up after the pairs and wins for Lesley Chamberlain, Andy Palmer, Vlad Fomkinas, Nigel Goodwin and Duane Harrison sealed victory.
The lone singles winner for Pied Calf was Ben Killingsworth.
