BOBBY’S REPORT 22/01/2012

Last Thursday saw the men and women make a return to Super League involvement and the women’s results saw the lead change hands once again following the outcome of the matches. The Auld Shank travelled to Kennoway for their second meeting in the space of a week with the Sunbeam Inn and suffered a dent to their title aspirations as the Sunbeam ladies exacted revenge from their previous meeting and won with a reversal of the score-line by winning 4-1.Meanwhile in the CISWO, Kennoway Bowling Club game out of their match with a narrow 3-2 victory and in the other match Dunfermline inflicted a 5-0 win over the Railway Tavern in their match at the Barley Sheaf.

The above results mean that the Auld Shank lose their grasp at the top of the table and Kennoway Bowling Club regain pole position with 28 points and now have a lead of three points over the Auld Shank. Following Dunfermline’s excellent win, they have now moved onto 18 points and go up into third slot while the next two teams; the CISWO and the Sunbeam Inn share 16 points with the CISWO ladies ahead on leg difference. The Railway Tavern remains bottom with two points.

In the men’s games, Cowdenbeath continued their unbeaten run and recorded a 6-2 win against their opponents Dunfermline A. Lochgelly B suffered a home defeat at the hands of Glenrothes and East Fife ran out 7-1 winners over Dunfermline B. These results mean East Fife have moved to first place and sit top with 46 points. Despite being idle with having the bye, Lochgelly A are second with 44 points but have been joined by Cowdenbeath, who also have 44pts but Lochgelly A have a superior leg difference giving them the higher placing, as well as having the advantage of having a game in hand over their near rivals. In fourth place are Glenrothes who move up to 43 points so with only three points separating the top four teams it is a very closely contested competition this season. In fifth place are Lochgelly B with 25 and Dunfermline A sit sixth and are one point behind the Lochgelly side with 24, while bottom of the table are Dunfermline B with thirteen points.

Last Saturday the Scottish Mixed Doubles finals were held at Bannockburn Social Club and Fife had two pairs represented at this stage. Unfortunately Lauren Torrance and Stuart McGaulley bowed out in the first round losing 3-0 to the Grampian pairing of A.Barry and G.Leslie but Lynn Cowan and Stewart Rattray made steady progress throughout the day. They came through their first match with a narrow 3-2 win against S.Neish & J.Anderson from Renfrewshire in the last sixty four before then winning 3-1 against Highland duo E.Callander and S.Christie. In the last sixteen round the Fifer’s ran out 3-0 winners against the East Renfrew duo of J.McFarlane and M.Sheehan before deposing of the Central partnership of Sharon Macfarlane and Duncan Hastings in the quarter finals but it was in the semi’s where their magnificent run would come to an end and Lynn and Stewart lost out in the fifth leg decider losing 3-2 to Susannah Young and recent Lakeside qualifier Gary Stone from East Renfrewshire. In the final Susannah and Gary met Jenni Tully and Craig Baxter and they won the title with a 3-2 victory to become this year’s champions.

The weekend before last saw the Granite City Youth Open being contested at the Station Hotel in Aberdeen and Fife had a few representatives competing. In the Under-15 mixed boys and girls competition Jordan Forbes made it through to the last sixteen and won his game in that round 3-0 before then losing to John Reid in the quarter finals by the same score which was no mean feat considering this was the first major youth event Jordan was playing in. John progressed to the final but the U-15 title went to Ryan Sinclair.

In the Under-18’s Jordan lost out in the last thirty two round but Danny Robertson and Brendyn Donnelly winning 3-2 and 3-1 respectively. Danny then fell victim in the next round losing 3-0 but Brendyn made it through winning 3-0 before going on to win his quarter final match by the same result. In the semi finals Brendyn made his exit as Gary Dee won their tie 3-0 to go through to the final but Gary lost 3-2 to Stuart Robertson.

The three Fifers all competed in the Under-21 competition as well and Danny bowed out in the first round (last 64 stage) after he lost his game 3-1. Both Jordan and Brendyn made it through to the next round courtesy of receiving byes and Jordan left the field of play at this stage as he lost 3-1 but he gained some valuable experience at this level of competition during the weekend. Brendyn won his match in this round winning by the odd leg in five before then putting out Ben Scott with a 3-1 win in the last sixteen. He then went on to won his quarter final match 3-2 to set up a meeting in the semis with rival and Scotland Youth Europe Cup team mate Liam Duguid and as expected it was another classic encounter between the two which went all the way with Brendo winning the deciding leg to win 3-2 and make his way through to the final. In the final his opponent was Sean Ryan from Aberdeen and this was another great match to round off the weekend. The first four legs were shared and with the score standing at two legs each, Brendyn had three darts at double top to take the title and agonisingly he wired all three only to see Sean then check out with his last dart at tops to win the match and take this year’s title.

There were also girls U-18 and U-21 tournaments played as well for the first time this year and the two finals featured the same two players, Sophie Elrick and Emily Davidson and it was Emily who was triumphant in both. She won the U-18 title by winning 3-0 and in the U-21’s a 3-1 victory gave Emily her second title of the weekend.

This Sunday Fife’s Inter County darts team have a trip to Dundee to take on Tay Valley. The venue for the match is the Stobswell Sports & Recreation Club in the city’s Raglan Street and starts from 10.30am. All players are reminded that if they are unable to attend, or if they are travelling to the venue by means of their own transport that they should inform their team managers. Pick up points and times for the bus are as follows; Golden Acorn, Glenrothes at 8.30am, Chapel Farm roundabout at 8.45, the flyover at the Cowdenbeath junction at 8.50 and Lauder College, Dunfermline, 8.55am.

A reminder in ending that the closing date for the Scottish Open is the 31st of this month so anyone who still hasn’t submitted their entry forms only has until close of play next Tuesday as no further entries will be taken after then. Copies of the entry form can be downloaded off the SDA and Fife Darts websites, or you can obtain one from your team rep or a member of the Fife committee but be quick.