Evergreens (away 13.11.08)

New Greens Club, typical of so many clubs in the aera, dying institutions that have been, over the years pillaged by many management committee's who's legacies are reduced memberships, 1980's furniture and the obligatory cheesey disco every Saturday night. The fruit machines still rattle but not nearly as much as they used to, on line gambling has seen to that, these establishments simply can not cope with change and the very people who have the power to change, have been living in their own little bubble for the last 25 years, always sitting in the same seat, with the same friends, in fact all that has changed is their hair colour and waistline.
So you could be forgiven for thinking that the dart team would be very much along the same lines.
For a number of years now the Evergreen's have been niggling away at the mid-lower end of the table. They are a team of wily characters who, on their day are more than a match for anyone in the division and were indeed more than a match for the depleted Rose & Crown, who found their backs to the wall before even the first dart was thrown in anger. Injury this week took its toll, as once again Carl Bolding was unavailable for selection. But perhaps more surprisingly the late withdrawal of Paul Mullins due to illness was a big blow to the Rose & Crown. Mullins has been ever-present this season and his partnership with John Goode is still unbeaten and would surely be missed against the Evergreen's.
The early exchanges went as skipper Alan Turner would have predicted in so much as the Rose & Crown found themselves 1-0 down, the skipper once again partnering the Director of Darts who was unable to repeat last weeks heroics, the pair eventually slipping to an inevitable defeat.
But this has all been part of the master plan in recent weeks, so when the "Dude" and stand-in player "Badger" levelled the scoreline it was looking very much like another day at the office for the skipper and his team. But the next four games yielded nothing for the visitors and the Evergreen's had gained what was for them a first league win and a rather comfortable one at that, only Tony Scott was able to find a way though in what was a consolation only as the Rose & Crown crashed to a 6-2 defeat, their heaviest of the season.