Last Friday saw 18 teams from the Oasis FM Darts League, battle it out for a
place in the first round proper of the John Lowe Trophy, and what a night of
darts it was.
The pick of the evening's games saw two of the leagues heavyweights going
head to head, Mally Boo's A and Exiles. The atmosphere is always intense
when these two teams meet and passions run high. Friday was no different.
Exiles started well and took a 2-0 lead. Holiday maker Ian, standing in for
an absent Calum, started with a good 2-0 win over Mally Boo's Betty. The
score however, did not reflect the superb darts thrown by Betty, who in the
second leg smashed in a 180. Her finishing let her down and allowed Ian to
claw his way back in the second leg and steal a victory. This match could
have gone either way. Next up saw Mally Boos Daniel against Exiles Captain
Del Boy. Daniel started well with some high scoring as Del Boy struggled to
find consistency. However Del Boy soon found the target, hit some big scores
and pipped Daniel to the first leg. Del Boy's form continued in the second
leg on his way to a 2-0 victory. Next up saw Mally Boo's John against Exiles
Sonic. Sonic flew out of the blocks with consistent scoring while John threw
some uncustomary low scores. 1-0 to Sonic. The second leg saw a role
reversal of the first. Sonics form deserted him and inconsistent scoring
combined with John getting his eye in meant John deservedly leveled the game
1-1. John continued in the third leg to throw steady darts and although
Sonic dug deep, John was just a little to much for him on the night and ran
out a 2-1 winner. Mally Boo's owner Mally, was next up, against Exiles
Bubbles. With the score on the night favoring Exiles by 2-1, and with both
teams eyeing 4 games for victory, the tension mounted. The Exiles lads were
by far the louder, shouting support for their team mate. The first leg, it
would be far to say was scrappy, with both players scoring erratically. In a
close first leg it was Bubbles who came out on top after Mally missed his
double. This first leg win prompted the Exiles team to raise the noise
levels further as the second leg started. With the adrenalin pumping threw
both players, Mally found his form. He banged in a 140 to move ahead in the
leg. This prompted a passionate shout to his team for support. They duly did
and the tension and the noise levels were raised once again. With Mally now
firing on all cylinders, he rapped up a 2-1 victory with some impressive
darts. Next up, and with the match level at 2 games each was Mally Boo's
Graham and Jonny from Exiles. Jonny threw first and with some steady high
scoring, opened up a healthy lead. Graham however was not going to lye down
and responded with big scores including a 180. This meant both players were
throwing for doubles to win the first leg. It was tense as both missed
numerous attempts to win. With both on double 1, it was Jonny who finally
managed to bed his dart. The second leg saw Graham throw big scores, however
Jonny stayed with him. As Jonny waited for his next throw at a double,
Graham stepped up and hit his. 1-1. The decider was a cracking game of
darts. In this leg Jonny scored 60, 100, 100, 60, 100 leaving him 81 with 15
darts thrown. Graham however was responding with similar scores and
regularly hitting the lipstick. With Jonny requiring, on his next visit to
the oche, double top to finish, Graham stepped up and hit a superb 106
checkout to win the game.
Mally Boo's were now in control leading 3-2 and needing to win just one of
the remaining two doubles matches for outright victory. The first doubles
match paired Mally and Graham against Del Boy and Jonny. Del Boy and Jonny
came out all guns blazing and opened a lead and duly won first leg. The
second leg was a different story. Mally stepped up a gear and was scoring
big. Graham followed him, match all square. In the third leg, The Mally
Boos's pairing were just to much for The Exiles boys. Poor scoring from
Jonny and Del Boy combined with consecutive scores of 140, 100, 140 from
Mally and Graham was enough for them to seal a great victory, and steer
their team to the first round proper. The final game of the night saw Mally
Boos's John and Daniel against Sonic and Ian, the Exiles boys running out
2-0 winners.
Elsewhere, Veronicas had a comfortable win over The Beer Engine with a 5-2
victory. Amigos and The Exiles X-Men also enjoyed comfortable wins against
The Target Bar B Team and La Gramola respectively, the score in both matches
being 5-2. Other 5-2 victorys were had by The Phoenix Bar who visited
Sundowners, The Target Bar A Team who hosted Bar Selecta and Paddy O Taffs
who played Mally Boo's B. The Amigos Kittens visited Bar El Sol who blew the
ladies from Los Abrigos away, romping into the first round proper with a 7-0
win. The Veronicas Wanderers visited Mr Booze to play The Booze Brothers.
The Wanderers were just to good for the team from Silencio and secured a
place in the next round with a 6-1 victory. This game saw the great man
himself, Kill Bill hit his second 180 of the season.