New Era Begins With Mind Blowing Sucess On First Night at Sheffield Franchise League by Project Darts
Sheffield Franchise League:
Leadmill Premier Division:
Sponsored by The Leadmil
Red Dragon Darts
Projectdarts
Winmau Blade 4
In Association
with Sheffield Star
Vulcans swoop to brilliant start
Sheffield Franchise League Reports
Reports by Pat Finney
Gav Markham
Leadmill Premier Division
Milton Magic 2-4 Cumberland Sausages
Paul Harris 0-3 Marc Ellis (30,26,30)
Gav Markham (27,23,17) 3-0 Ben Dolman
Chris Keane(L,17,L) 1-3 Ben Beardmore (21, L, 15, 16)
Chris Markham (29,L,26,L,L) 2-3 Pete Bell (L, 26, L, 20, 30)
Steve Marfleet (W, 20, L, 20) 3-1 Matt Pryor (L, L, 24, L)
The time has finally arrived after everyone^s hard work putting this league together the Sheffield Franchise League with sponsors the Leadmill,Red Dragon & Projectdarts kicked off with Milton Magic taking on Cumberland Sausages. The first game pitted Magic^s Paul Harris up against The Sausages^s Marc Furniss with Furniss winning the game without reply to put his team 1-0 up. Up next was Gav Markham up against Ben Dolman, Markham was looking to level the scores for his team and he did in style with a 3-0 win with the final leg being a 17 darter, with the scores level at 1-1 next up to toe the oche was Chris Keane up against Ben Beardmore and a good battle with Ben hitting a 21 dart leg to open his account for the night but Keano responded with a 17 darter of his own but then Beardmore hit over-drive and won the game with a comprehensive final 2 legs taking out in 15 and 16 darters to seal a 3-1 win and putting his side back in front on the night. 4th game of the night saw Cumberland Landlord Pete Bell facing Chris Markham in a nervy topsy turvy game which went down to the wire Markham went 1-0 up then 2-1 but he just couldn^t put Bell away and when the landlord equalled the score at 2-2 firing in a 20 dart leg setting up a nervy decider which went all the way but it took Pete Bell to hold his nerve and take out the winning double and put the Sausages in an unassailable lead with 1 to play. In the final match of the night Steve Marfleet and Matt Pryor went toe to toe with Marfleet taking a 2-0 leg lead and a 20 dart leg in doing so, Pryor threatened a comeback taking the 3rd leg but Marfleet weren^t to be denied and finished with a 20 dart leg to win 3-1 but it was The Cumberland^s night winning 4 games to 2.
Station Hotel Railwaymen 6-0 Wilton Wizards
Jordan Payne (20, 180 in 1st leg) 3-0 S. Gregory
Tom Gurran (21, heavy scoring in every leg) 3-0 M. Slack
Pete Bramley (21 darter in 2nd leg) 3-0 M. Slack
Mark Gurran 3-0 T. Cosil
Gav Pilling (21 darter to win the game) (80 finish) 3-0 Lee Slack
N. Moreman 3-0 Darren Bluer
Station started their Franchise League season in fine form taking out Wilton Wizards without dropping a single game. Up first was Jordan Payne who kicked off with a maximum in the very first leg of the night and followed it with a 20 darter. Gregory just didn^t have an answer and went down 3-0. Next up Tom Gurran who was finding the treble 20 bed with ease and hitting big scores mustering up a 21 darter in his whitewash over Michael Slack? to put Station 2 up and in total command of the tie. Pete Bramley stepped up next for the home side against the other Slack.
Bramley got the first leg under his belt them hit a 21 dart leg to take a 2-0 leg and in the third wrapped up the winning double for yet another 3-0. Mark Gurran was up next against Cosil and he also hit the ground running without dropping a leg in his victory. Gav Pilling showed a bit of form on his own taking out a straight 80 finish then hitting a 21 dart leg as he cruised past Lee Slack. The final match of the night their was no pressure on Moreman as he faced Darren Bleur and it showed as he also finished with a 3-0 victory to give his Station team a 6-0 victory.
Woodbourne Wolves 0-6 Frecheville Vulcans
Gareth Baxter 0-3 Russ Lockwood (21, 17, 14)
Ricardo Cruz 0-3 Matthew Cray (20, W, W)
Steve Naisbitt 0-3 Daz Layden (21, 15, 16) (121 finish)
Pat Finney 0-3 Chris Grey (16, 21, 15)
John Smethurst 0-3 Steve Stacey (W, 19, W)
Antonio Cruz 1-3 Anthony Warne (W, 16, 17)
At the Woodbourne Hotel the home team faced a rampant Frecheville Vulcans side who was in fine form on the opening night the first game saw Woodbourne^s Gareth "The Bear?" Baxter against Russ Lockwood. Lockwood managed to start with a 21 dart leg but that was just the beginning he followed it up with a 17 then won the game with a 14 darter leaving Baxter stranded 3-0. Next up was Ricardo Cruz against Matthew Cray and Cray kicked off with a 20 dart leg to take the lead and their was no looking back as he never dropped a leg in his 3-0 victory. The third game of the night Steve Naisbitt looking to pull one back for his team faced Daz Layden who was in fine form starting with a 21 dart leg then followed with a 15 and 16 plus a 121 finish to boot to fire his team 3-0 up at the halfway stage. With Frecheville already 3-0 up at the halfway stage it was up to Pat Finney to try and keep The Wolves in the game but he couldn^t muster up a leg against an on song Chris Grey who started with a 16 dart leg and he kept up the form all the way through the game hitting a 21 in the 2nd leg and finishing the game with a 15 darter to win and put his Vulcans team in command of the tie. In the fifth game Wolves^s John Smethurst played Steve Stacey and Stacey continued the rout as he hit a 19 dart leg in the second game and in the 3rd leg wrapped up the win with ease. In the final match of the night saw Antonio Cruz squaring up to Anthony Warne and after Cruz finally winning the first leg of the league season for the Wolves it was Warne who took out a 16 and 17 dart leg to win the game 3-1 and the Vulcans ran out comfortable 6-0 winners.
Super Sue Edwards sporting the Wolves strip
Frecheville Vulcans under Jim Smith & Phil Lamberts Guidance
By Reporter Pat Finney
Academicals host the Panthers in close call
Academicals 2 -4 Woodbourne Panthers.
The Academicals were unlucky not to take at least a draw from an exciting opening match in the Sheffield Franchise League.
Upon arrival all seemed well - the beers were cold, a new board was on the way and no one smelt noticeably bad (an improvement on our last home game)
Once our opponents arrived we found out that our lights, oche, room, pub and lives in general were not up to scratch - small issues were expected to arise as we are still learning about darts of such a high calibre (the odd sub 25 dart leg)
MATCH 1 - Thomas Wright v John Leiber. It was down to the man famous for being the only Ipswich fan north of Derby to play the Academicals first ever franchise league match. He started well, regularly hitting the treble 20 and forcing his opponent to play well. However, Leiber was too consistent on his scoring and when presented with 3 darts at a double, finished every time to win the match 3-0.
MATCH 2 - Matthew Eardley v Mick Wood. Match 2 saw the Academicals first win of the season. Matt Cardley outscored his opponent throughout playing some lovely darts (the highlight being a second leg 19 darter, leaving 176 after 9). Wood came back into the game but he kept his cool to hit double top for a comfortable 3-1 victory.
MATCH 3 - George Francis v Brad Ellis. I was down at the bar for the first leg of this but I am reliably informed that our man started the game well. Ellis was the Panthers best player on the night and in the end his scoring power was just too much and he ran away for a 3-0 win. Congratulations to George for winning the more important and prestigious 9 dart, high score double elimination challenge though!
MATCH 4 - Oliver Newall v Russ Symons. The second half got underway with another 3-0 win for the Panthers. Neither player really got going in this one but Symons was more consistent and hit his doubles when it mattered to win. Both are capable of much more.
MATCH 5 - Adam Warner v John Shulz. At 3-1 down a win was imperative for the Academicals to maintain their slim hopes of nicking a draw. I played some solid darts in legs 1 and 3 and got away with some shit ones in leg 2 but a win is a win :)
MATCH 6 - Ed McCosh v Ryan Goffin. A win in this last game would have seen us nick a creditable draw but unfortunately it was not to be. The skipper started well hitting some solid scores before missing D16 for a 128 checkout - exciting stuff. Goffin (any relation to David?) was a good player and despite being over a thousand points at more than one stage was able to win 3-1 (just a bit a banter).
Overall it was a good night and thanks to the Woodbourne Panthers for coming down. Good luck next week and we look forward to the return fixture. We still need to iron a few things out but it was a positive start and one to be proud of - we^re still learning but we^ll get there.
Report by Adam Warner
Fun and quality all night
3 players from 3 different teams showing how friendly the league is
Steve Marfleet of the Magic
