Another trip 'Oop North'
OH good…another trip up the motorway. For the third weekend in succession we headed 'Oop North' for a PDC weekend. This time to Wigan.
The journey lasted five hours, and we arrived at our hotel at 11pm. We checked in and headed off to our rooms. Adrian Gray opened the door and went into our room. He quickly stopped in the doorway and let out a worried sounding "no, this isn't right." We had been given a double bed! We left the room as quickly as we went in, only to meet our travelling buddies Dave Askew and Tony Ayres in the corridor with a similar story.
I went back to reception and explained the situation, to which I was given the answer " We know, there aren't any twin rooms left." This provoked a fair amount of sarcasm, and the receptionist finally admitted it as their mistake, especially as all of my paperwork was in order. She sorted the problem, and came back smiling, only to tell us she'd got us twin rooms…in a sister hotel in Warrington! Great, back in the car and down the M6 again. We got to bed around midnight.
On Saturday, I drew Michael Van Gerwen in the first round, someone I've played a couple of times before. My scoring in our match was superb, I reached the double first in each leg, the only trouble being that I missed my opportunities at said double and, from being in a potential 5-0 up scenario, I found myself losing 6-1. My finishing had let me down big time. A few weeks ago I couldn't miss.
On the Sunday, I drew Michael Barnard, who is currently ranked 66th in the world. I started well, and went one leg up. Michael fought back and was soon 3-1 up.
My finishing was letting me down again. I'd missed shots at a double in each leg. At this point I was really angry with myself, and fired off with a 180 in the next leg. Amazing what a bit of anger can do!
I left myself 212 and then hit my second 180 of the leg to leave 32, which I checked out in one dart.
I was back on track. The next leg, I hit three consecutive 140s to leave 81, which I took out in two darts for an 11-dart leg. It was 3-3.
In the next leg, Michael regained the advantage, after I missed a 120 out shot. Then I had three darts at double 16 in the next, and missed, and, finally when going for double four in the last leg, I dropped just inside double 13. A case of what might have been I'm afraid. I must now practice my finishing.
The Tuesday Harvey League saw our Kings Head Horsebridge side take on the Kings Head at South Road. My luck continued, and I lost my singles game, despite scoring heavily. We were 4-1 down when the opponents mentioned they only needed one more leg to win. I reminded our team we only needed all of the next four games and we would win. Captain Sheebo got the team motivated, and we did in fact win the next four and the match, Hughie Weaver and Sheebo taking the final pairs game to seal the win.
There won't be a diary next week, as I'm off on holiday to Scotland, and then on the way back, playing in Wigan yet again.
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Weather for Lewes
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 0 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -5 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
