Railwaymen pip Vulcans in thriller

Sheffield Darts Franchise League:Leadmill Premier Division
Sponsored by:                            The Leadmill
                                                      Red Dragon Darts
                                                      Projectdarts
                                                      Winmau Blade 4
In Association with:                   Sheffield Star

Russ Simons of the Panthers

We start the round up with the Panthers trip to the Wilton to play the Wizards
and it was a tasty opener with Brad Ellis just shading Martin bell 3-2 with all
legs going with the throw.  John Lieber spent the entire 1st match looking for the Beard butthen rattled in a 3-0 victory over Tony Easril.  Sie Simons then went down 3-1 to Potter Hulley and John Schultz rallied to beat Michael Slack 3-1. Sarah Gregory and Lee Slack went down 3-0 to Russ Simons and The Manic Ryan Goffin for a panther 6-0 win. Lester Big red Bowers got theMagic off to a good start and it was followed by Chris Markham, Steve Marfleet and Gav Markham to take the visitors to
a 4-0 lead before Paul Harris and Chris Keane wrapped up a 6-0 win over the Warriors.
Newbold Aces played host to the Black Eagles and what an opener as John Walton just got home against Rich Swainston 3-2.  Steve Briggs did likewise against Trev Tye before Trev Burkhill turbocharged himself to a 3-0 win.  Simon Birkett then put the
visitors 4-0 in front hitting a 120 out for a 3-1 win. Super Daffs then hit legs of 19,13,15 to win and put the away side 5-0 up.  Darren Brown made his darts perform magic to beat Jelger Tuinstra 3-1 in the last giving the aces something from the game with
the final score Aces 1 Black Eagles 5.

Frecheville Vulcans took on the Station Railwaymen and away win for Andy Bradbury and co.

Pete Bramley was perfect as he got the visitors off to a flier beating Phil The Power Lambert 3-1.Jordan Payne then made it 2-0 before Steve Stacey and Chris Gray levelled the game at 2-2 with win over both Gurrans Mark and Tom.Gav Pilling hit a 21 dart legto put the Railwaymen 3-2 up before a nailbiting last game which went with the arrows as both captains squared off and it was Andy Bradders Bradbury who got his side home for a 4-2.The Cumberland won 4-2 at home to the academicals with Steve Ewington hitting a 160 finish.  Allstars was too strong for the Wolves this week with Mark Lawrence taking the opener against steve naisbit.

Dave Copley with a 13 dart leg made it 2-0 before Danny was to good for Pat Finney with John daniels winning 3-0.

Cumberland Sausages 4-2 Academicals.
The Academicals slipped to a second successive 4-2 franchise league defeat in an entertaining game at the Cumberland pub in Beighton.

The game was poised until the end and with a bit more composure on the doubles (Thomas Wright) it may have been a different result.

We arrived at the meet point in jovial mood and this was improved further upon hearing of John Henderson^s pro tour drinking exploits - perhaps our own drinking levels aren^t so bad after all.....

After an arduous journey involving a flat tyre and several wrong turns (sorry!) we arrived at the Cumberland; a nice country pub with a decent darts set up and most importantly a drink for only £2.60 (come on uni arms sort it out!)

MATCH 1 - Brad Clowery v Marc Ellis. The Pizza boy made his long awaited return to the oche in the first match of the evening against what appeared to be a giant (he was pretty good at darts thought to be fair). He opened up with a 21 dart leg but after that Clowery upped his game and for the most part matched his opponent^s scoring. However it wasn^t enough to stop Ellis winning 3-0.

MATCH 2 - Matthew Eardley v Matt Pryor. A star performer last week, Matt Cardley again produced some brilliant darts to level the tie. Pryor opened strongly with a 24 darter but a last dart D8 finish in the second leg made it 1-1. The turning point was late in the second leg when with his opponent around 200 points ahead Eardley hit a 140 followed by a an 83 finish on the bullseye to take the leg.

He then followed this up with a D5 finish in the fourth leg to win the match. Preeeeeeeeemium Tungsten!

MATCH 3 - Danny Hall v Ben Beardmore. The reigning champions league winner was up next and was unfortunate to come up against a very consistent opponent in his first match back. Hall played some solid darts throughout but could not match Beardmore who^s highlights included a 22 dart leg and a 66 finish.

So at the half time interval we were 2-1 down and still well in a game. After another pint and some superb curry we settled down for the second half of the tungsten feast.
MATCH 4 - Thomas Wright v Peter Bell. Next up was a quite excruciating game. Both started well on scoring but let themselves down on the doubles. Bell took a 2-0 lead before Wright managed to pull one back by hitting D8. The onlookers were then subjected to a marathon 4th leg which saw Bell wrap up victory on D1 with a 73 dart leg!!!!

MATCH 5 - Adam Warner v Shaun Greenfield. So once again we went into the 5th game needing to win in order to keep the game alive. The first leg was a sloppy affair by myself saved by a two dart 62 finish. Greenfield then hit back in the second leg hitting a 180 and levelling the game. The game then turned again when i set off in the 3rd with two 140s before finishing in 18 darts (watch out John Walton). Greenfield edged the fourth leg but could not find a double allowing me to finish off for a 3-1 victory.

MATCH 6 - Ed McCosh v Steve Ewington. A win in this game would^ve seen us take a creditable point but unfortunately it was not to be. Ewington won the first leg with a 63 CO but McCosh managed to hit back with a D10 finish. The turning point was in the 3rd leg when with the leg evenly poised, Ewington hit a fantastic 160 CO, the highest of the league season. He then comfortably won the 4th leg to keep up the sausages^ 100% league record.

So overall it was an improvement on last week with 4 of our players registering leg wins and an overall improvement in the standard of our play. Of course it has to be remembered that we are all still learning and have a lot more learning to do. Bring on next week at the fortress!!

Report by Adam Warner