Watching Ronnie Corbett vs the Terminator in a Scottish pub!
LAST Friday Adrian Gray and I headed off to Stansted Airport yet again for a trip to Irvine in Scotland where we had a Grand Slam of Darts qualifying tournament and also two Players Championship competitions.
We arrived at Prestwick where we were picked up by legendary Scottish cabbie, Jim. This man is the biggest darts fan you'll ever meet, and the Irvine weekend he has his fleet of cabs running around taking us all wherever we want to go. He doesn't charge much, he's everyone's mate, and on one journey, he stopped to run across the road to a rival cab and starts having a word with the driver for ripping the players off – taking them "the long way round" to get to the venue.
Once we'd had some food at the hotel, we went off to the Magnum Centre, for the first of the weekend's competitions. I was drawn against Dave Ansell in the first round, and although not scoring as well as I liked, my finishing was superb (even if I do say so myself!) Each shot at a double hit the target, and I won 4-0.
My next opponent was subjected to the same level of finishing...until the fourth leg where I ended up having 12 darts at double one to win the match. I missed, and he mounted a comeback and knocked me out. The winner of the competition was Steve Maish, and he takes his place in the Grand Slam on Saturday, which is being shown on ITV4.
Saturday we were in Players Championship action, and my first round opponent was the very much in form, Mark "Flash" Dudbridge. The match was pretty even, and although Mark won 6-2, I had shots in a couple of legs which could have made it 6-4. Wes Newton won the day's competition.
Now, all the talk on Saturday was where were we going to watch "the fight", you know the one I'm talking about – Ronnie Corbett versus The Terminator (or Haye against Valuev as they seemed to call it).
In the foyer of the hotel, it seemed every dart player wanted to watch the fight, so Adrian rang Jim "the Taxi" and told him to send cars and take us to the fight.
At this point Jim replied, "round here you can go to any pub and you'll see a fight". Despite having this in our minds, I, Adi and Jamie Caven, along with his mate Matt, headed off in a cab to a pub.
Jamie was a bit nervous about getting out, but we persuaded him to come in. We were pleasantly surprised when we got inside, a nice clean pub, with huge screens showing the boxing. The locals seemed to be a bit shocked seeing every dart player they have ever heard of stood in their pub to watch a boxing match. Even Anastasia Dobromyslova was there, but she was the only one backing the huge Russian. Anyway, by now we all know the result, and fair play to the Hayemaker – he wins the match with a broken hand!
Back to the darts on Sunday, and I met Wayne Atwood, a great player, and somebody that I had a close run match with in Dublin a few weeks ago. The match was one of the best I've played in the PDC, and despite falling 4-1 behind, it was a close match.
At this point I began my clawing my way back. A 104 finish put me at 4-2 down, then in the next leg I hit 140, 140, 171 and had left the bull after nine darts. I opted for 18 double 16 and took the leg in 11 darts.
The next leg was mine and we were level, and then Wayne went ahead 5-4. I needed the next leg to stay in the match. Both of us again scored well, and I was left with 100 to level the game. I threw the first dart and it rested just below the treble 20, two double tops would do it... second dart, it's in, just going to throw the third, and the dart slipped in my grasp.
I stepped back and re-composed myself, just under tops, I had missed the last double. Wayne stepped up and took his finish out to win the match. Although disappointed with the result, I am really pleased with how I played.
At the end of the game, a number of people came and congratulated us on a great match, most notably Michael Van Gerwen. It is a great feeling knowing that people are beginning to recognise that I can play this game.
The next year I feel sure will see me qualify for the 2011 PDC Tour Card where only the top 128 in the world will play in professional competition. Sunday's winner was Colin Osborne.
Back at home, and on Wednesday I played in the singles league in Hastings. This week I am up against Dan James from Heathfield, Bob Bartholomew, and Shayne "The Bulldog" Burgess. With Bob at second in the league behind Adi Gray, and Shayne in third I was in for a tough night. I beat Dan by five legs to nil, then played Bob in a hard match which I won 3-2. Last game of the night was against Shayne which I won by a 3-2 scoreline also, but with bonus points added for each finish of 100 or more I gained a 5-2 scoreline by hitting a 124 and a 104 outshot. In two weeks I have gone from 14th in the league to 2nd position.
A bit of good news for all darts players who like to play in the Eastbourne Open at the Winter Garden. I have spoken to the new promoter this week, and it is definitely going ahead - keep the last weekend in January free. More details next week.
I am now off to pack a case, as a group of us are off to Great Yarmouth for the Vauxhall Darts weekend. Not saying it's cold there, but we have been known to keep all four gas rings alight on the hob all night – it really is that cold in their caravans!
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
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
