Congratulations to Lon Chambers the forgotten man in northern darts on winning the new chairman's cup very generously sponsored by our brilliant chairman Mac MacDonald the competition played in the Mitre Hotel's function room. Lon is such a good thrower but also I'm sure he'll agree he's a little on the inconsistent side one week hitting 10 tons the next losing with no tons but last night was definitely a Lon night.
First games on were Andrew Hudgeon v Jamie Kelly and it was Hudgie out of the blokes first winning the first set with some fine scorin , to be fair to Jamie he wasn't throwing poorly in that first set as he was throwing good enough to win a set against any of the other first round games, it was just Hudgie was class . The tides turned completely in the way of Jamie as it was now him throwing brilliant darts and finishing to give Hudgie no chance and he was through to play Paul Arthur in the first semi (who had a bye in round on ). On the other board it was the battle of the under dogs Rob Wheatley v Carl Joughin with Carl throwing well and taking the first leg but Rob was having none of it and kicked up a gear and won through to his first semi final but no thanks to Mr Joughin's missed doubles. The final semi final birth was to be played off by the older statesmen Dave Maddan v Lon Chambers both taking time to settle. The game was never going to be an easy game for either player and it was Lon who showed he was the man to beat.
So to the semi's on board one Kelly and Arthur, and it was Arthur who was straight out of the traps winning the first set 2-0 and being 1-0 up in the second it looked like Arthur was going through to the final but with a combination of double trouble and the never say die scoring of Kelly he pulled it back to 1-1 in sets. Final set and Kelly takes control with the first leg, Arthur levels it up with a bull finish. To a decider and steady scoring from both players saw it come down to a battle of nerves on the double. Kelly hitting the winning double and through to his 4th final of the season. The second semi saw what everyone thought would be a miss match with the on form Chambers up against the under dog Wheatley and so we were off with Lon storming through the first set and an easy spot in the final or so we thought but again came Wheatley who hadn't read the script throwing the best darts I've ever seen him throw and to be fair to Rob he is the one player no one wants to draw in the league game with the buffs. He easily levelled up the match 1-1 and carried this into the decider but unfortunately for him Lon pulled something else out of the bag and won through 2-1 to set up a great final. The final is so often a poor game with nerves taking over, but this wasn't to be the case and if anything this was the best game of the night with quality darts being thrown by both players highlighting this was Lon with a 15 dart leg winning the match 2-0 in sets. The presentation followed expertly done by Mac MacDonald and I would personally like to thank him for all his help lastnight I really appreciated it and with sponsoring the cup. I'd also like to thank Selena Joughin and Carl Joughin for letting us have the function room.
Please can all players wanting to play in the Shaun Buckley shield at the Mitre hotel function room next week note that with the possibility of 50 players we need to get started as close as possible to 7pm so if you want a practice be there from 6.30pm. I will be making the draw around 6.45pm so if your going to be late please let me know on 216082 and we'll bypass your game till the end of the round and will only claim it if you are still not there then.
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