Last week saw the end of the Spalding and District Darts winter season with its finals night.
The first competition of the night was the Kelly Foster Cup between Consti D, who won the league, and Mail Cart B.
However Mail Cart didn’t allow Consti to do the league and cup double, beating them 5-1.
Winning all three pairs set the tone and single’s wins for Andy Taylor and Kieran Twitchen sealed the victory.
The sole winner for Consti D was Colin Beckett in his 2-1 victory over Steve Taylor.
The next game was the Dick Morgan Cup which was between Division Two winners Ye Olde Abbey and runners up Green Dragon A.
Green Dragon won the game 6-3 in a similar story to the Kelly Foster Cup.
They stormed to a 3-0 pairs victory, which meant they only needed two single’s wins out of six to seal the cup.
Callum Day beat Dave Norbury to extend the lead, however the Abbey didn’t give up without a fight and wins from Craig Norbury, Scott Lawrence and JJ Bird made the scoreline 4-3.
Next, young Finn Rodgers went on and won 2-0 against Morgan Parker to seal the victory for Dragon.
Dan Martin and Day had a 17-dart leg in the pairs and Lawrence had an 18-dart leg in his victory.
On to the last team game of the night, the Supreme Cup, which was a much tighter affair between Division One champions Tigers C and Rose and Crown.
Tigers won the game 5-4 and took the league and cup double.
They went 2-1 up in the pairs and then single’s wins for Simon Hill and Kev Aldhouse extended the score to 4-1.
However Rose and Crown did not roll over and wins for Gary Mace, Dan Carnell and Ian Lawson made the score 4-4 going into the last game between Steve Dent and Adam Godfrey.
With the match level and the scoreline at 1-1, Dent used his years of experience and managed to beat Godfrey to take the match.
Next were the individual competitions and father and daughter Mark Horspool and Casey Hill won the mixed pairs.
Hill added to her trophy haul by beating Punchbowl A’s Jess Cassidy 2-1 in the ladies’ final.
John Charlton (Lincoln Arms B) started his run of trophies on the night and took the Captain’s Cup 2-0 against Finn Mottram, of Green Dragon B. This was a great achievement for Mottram, who has only been playing darts for a year.
Charlton managed to hit a maximum 180 in the victory.
On to the next final and Charlton teamed up with league chairman Ian Tilley to take on Jonny Pell and Carl Kirk, of Mail Cart B, in the Division Three pairs final.
This was a closely fought game and the Lincoln duo won 2-1.
The Division Two pairs final followed and Steve Rawding and Stu Page, of Mail Cart A, lost a close game against Dan Martin and Scotty Baldwin, of Green Dragon A 2-1.
The last pairs final was Division One, between experienced duo Andy Bingham and Nick Moyses, of Consti A, and Josh Grainger and Josh Higgins, of Draymans A.
Again it was another close game and the experience of Bingham and Moyses helped them win 2-1.
They hit a 17-dart leg and a 180 from Bingham in the last leg to take the title.
Another player to mention is Higgins, who has only been playing for a year and managed to get to a final.
On to the single’s finals and in Division Three, Charlton got his hat-trick by beating Josh Robinson, of Consti D, 2-0.
In Division Two, Jacob Herd (Mail Cart A) showed some quality in his 2-1 victory over Danny Goddard, of Tigers B.
Next came the prestigious Division One single’s final, which was between Jason Vines, of Consti A, and Hank Watson, of Rose and Crown.
Vines played consistently and checked out well throughout the game to seal a 3-1 victory to take the title for a second time.
Other notable trophies given out on the night included Division Three highest check out, which was won by Ady Smith, with a 124 check out.
Division Two’s top check out was won by Scott Lawrence and Division One’s by Chris Fidler.
The Division Two and Three triples champions were the Green Dragon trio of Tim Hester, Scott Baldwin and Simon Horton. Division One champions were Consti A trio Sam Roberts, Jack Chilvers and Chris Fidler.
The 2025 summer season starts this week and the league has maintained three divisions and has 20 teams.
Post Covid the league had 12 teams but it is now going from strength to strength.
A league spokesman said: “A big thank you must go to Ian Tilley for being MC on the night and to all the committee members who were involved in organising the night.
“Also thanks to our sponsor JMC and to the Spalding Services Club for holding the finals night.”
