BARRY MOODY'S DW (November 2008 ) PAGE HERE

COUNTY DARTS         LONDON V SUSSEX

After the disaster in Norfolk, Sussex had high hopes of a return to winning form when they travelled to Wandsworth, to take on a London team still looking for their first bonus points in the Inter Counties League season. Sadly for Sussex, the match proved to be a repeat of last season’s “close run thing” at Brighton, when we were fortunate to scrape a 19-17 win.

This time Sussex had to settle for a draw at 18 all, despite leading twice by three and four points. Fifteen of the weekend’s thirty-six games went to the fifth leg with Sussex missing vital doubles in eight of these.

The Mens “B” side showed five changes from the team that drew in Great Yarmouth and they began on Saturday with two wins in the first four games, thanks to Andrew Sexton. Newhaven and Russell Vanner, Brighton. Sussex Ladies “B” are still looking for their first win of the season after going down 2-4. Glenys Laker, Littlehampton celebrated her return after holiday with an award winning 16.34 average and Debbie Oakman, Lewes grabbed a 3-2 win to put Sussex one point ahead.

The third session proved successful for Sussex with Ken Sowerby, Worthing, Chris Gatford, Bognor and Jake Watts, Newhaven all winning, to gain a 7-4 lead. London then pulled this back to 7-7, with their Ladies “B” team taking all three games. The day’s final session kicked off with Newhaven’s Michael Donegan winning 3-1 in a stunning man-of-the-match performance, recording a 29.28 average, the best of the day in Division Two.  James Packer. Eastbourne extended the lead for Sussex and Roffey’s Pete Crossley hit two maximums and eleven tons winning 3-2, to set up an overnight lead of two points in a 10-8 score-line. The 8-4 win puts Sussex Mens “B” side top of their Division

The Mens “A” had three changes from the side defeated 8-4 in Norfolk and they started the day with two wins. Andy Derrick, Hastings fought back from 2-0 down to win followed by a match award winning game from Brighton’s Geoff Taylor, 3-0 in 25.91. The unchanged Ladies “A” team could only provide one winner in their first three games, Rhonda West, Lewes coming good by 3-2.

The third session proved to be a disaster for Sussex with all four men losing, which meant London had notched six straight  wins to set up a 16-13 lead. Sussex Ladies “A” finally got their act together, winning all three games to finish with a 4-2 result to keep them in third place in their Division. Lisa Tanner, Eastbourne, Donna Rainsley, Littlehampton and Trish Kidd, Littlehampton were the winners with Trish taking her second match award this season for her 22.10 winning average.

With the match score level, both sides now looked to reach the magic nineteen wins to grab the bonus points. Jason Hills, Bognor won well in 3-0 but, Dave Creasey, Eastbourne lost 2-3 to put the pressure on the last two players. Eastbourne’s Paul Russell took the next by 3-2 to earn the first bonus point but Keith Price, Brighton went down 0-3 in the final game, Sussex losing a second consecutive Mens “A” match by 4-8 and leaving the match drawn.

Sussex drop to sixth place in the promotion table and will need a good win at home to Nottingham at the end of the month to get back into contention.       See Full Results sheet and averages HERE

MENS “B”  LONDON 4  SUSSEX 8

LADIES “B” LONDON 4 SUSSEX 2

MENS “A” LONDON 8 SUSSEX 4

LADIES “A” LONDON 2 SUSSEX 4

 Barry Moody - Sussex Press Officer - bdmoody@msn.com - 01293-414699