October 18th 2012

No darts this week so i thought I'd leave you with this:- The Oche the dojo to hurl wolfram and feather Gladiators divided yet still close together The rattle of the wire the odd one bouncing out Sixty on the floor the supporters do shout A fight to the death but contact there’s none Hit one hundred and eighty the games there to be won The contest continues and no quarter is given And the doubles are missed but are they forgiven

Rose & Crown v Evergreens October 11th 2012

After a run of 2 straight defeats the Rose & Crown were aiming to go into the two week break with a morale boosting victory against a depleated Evergreens side. Any thought of this however was dismantled and disappeared faster than Jimmy Savilles headstone. What looked liked a relatively straight forward two points turned into anything but as a disorganised Rose & Crown looked impotent and out of touch seemingly failing to come to terms with the new format against the visitors. The visitors who, lost their most inspirational player in Ashley Rudge at the Start of the season to the Mermaid, followed quickly by Jimmy Meryick at the 11th hour for personal reasons. It could be argued however that the Rose & Crown had lost their vice skipper and who for many throughout the darting world thought as their most influential player Tony Scott but what can't be argued is the devastating loss of Neil Crosby which has come as a hammerblow to the St. Michaels outfit this season. His replacement but a shadow of the former junior and St. Albans District Darts league Doubles champion. Where once a youthful but enigmatic Neil "The Dude" Crosby would stride out confidently muscling his way to the oche to take the all important first single, there is now only a balding, middle aged and predictable player with less enthusiasm to elbow his way to the front than a group of special needs children on a backstage visit to the BBC studios. In truth the blame for this dismal performance doesn't lay solely at Neil's feet and some of the senior players must shoulder some of the blame, Paul Mullins for failing to convert a one leg lead in the final doubles of the evening and the "Brothers Grimm" for a performance the Brothers Marx would surely gave been proud of as the Evergreens virtually laughed their way to the first doubles of the evening. Big Ron could only watch from the bar forced once again to sit out and endure at best this abject display that began to unfurl. The only bright spark coming when veterans Dave Noble and Skipper Alan Turner stole the second doubles of the evening honing their predatory instincts on the board like a Radio 1 DJ inside the confines of the children's ward of the local hospital. 2-1 down and the pivotal single fell to the person who was once Neil Crosby. Gone was the swagger, gone was the youthful exuberance, the boundless energy and the non stop insessant chatter, replaced by a now sullen look, receeding hairline and all the accuracy Of a West Yorkshire Police officers account of the Hillsborough disaster. Now 3-1 down the home side were facing an uphill battle to salvage anything from a game which on paper should surely have yielded two points and safe passage to mid table. If things could get any worse they were about to do so. Big Ron who must of been scratching his head for most of the season wandering what he'd done not to warrant a doubles so far was about to find out why. The usually dependable big Ron summed up the Rose & Crown this evening. An evening which lacked the electrically charged atmosphere which propelled the Rose to such famous victories in the past, an evening devoid of nouse and urgency, an evening filled with nothing but desperation and inacuracy. It was as if Big Ron had sucked in the amtmosphere and ambience and then let it manifest it's self painfully over two gruelling legs of darts. 4-1 down and Rose and Crown were all but done needing 4 of the last 5 legs to secure an unlikely victory. Hopes were raised momentarily as Ian defied his earlier doubles performance to secure a hard fought and unlikely victory against the conqueror of the previous undefeated pairing of Crosby and Mullins. Mullins further raised hopes in a comfortable 2 straight legs victory to bring the Rose back in to the game at 3-4. The mountain however, was still insurmountable and Kevin yet again tasked with reaching the summit came up short and handed the spoils to the overjoyed visitors. John Goode made the score respectable but in truth it was a dead rubber which only masked this most inadequate of performances.

Thursday October 4th away to the "Billet" Colney Heath

The red glow that greeted us could almost have been mistaken for the deep red of the setting sun across the African savannah and the local wild life reminiscent of a heard of wilderbeast as they gathered around the local watering hole to quench their thirst before the long night set in.  But this was no Kenyan safari , this was the Crooked Billet, Colney Heath, one of St. Albans furthest outposts. The red glow was no setting sun but instead a shrine of membeobilia dedicated to the once great Arsenal and the wilderbeast, the dart players that supped their Ale  as the sun's heat became a distant memory. Football programmes denoting past sucesses adorned every wall from Bob Wilson and the epic Double winning team of '71 to the invincibles of 03-04 but recent times have been barren and indeed  It has been many years now since the trophy cabinet at the emirates was furnished with any silverware and judging by the performance of the Billet last night they look set fair to emulate the trophy less years of the once mighty "Gooners". They may have won (albeit 5-4) but in years gone by, before the league decided it would  slice open the underbelly of the "little teams", the "unfashionable" ones and then reach inside  pulling free their intestines and leaving their soul to bleed dry, this would have been a well earned draw and probably the most that could be expected. For those who are not blessed with superstar county players that are only too happy to corral themselves in the top three to four teams all clamouring to add yet another "ornate pot" to the already overcrowded mantelpiece that overflows with the very best re-cycled plastic that money can buy, the ability to skilfully play as a player and orchestrate the draw as captain earned themselves a sense of worth and the thought, even if it was for the briefest moment that they too were superstars if only for one night have now had this cruelly stripped from them. One must surely then question the very wisdom of those who voted to increase the format to six singles thus preventing the draw and in the process exorcising the most fundamental of sporting results, for who can declare Benn Vs Eubanks 2 a "waste of time" and who asked for their money back as there was no "winner" on the night as the two fighters fought and slugged their way to what is probably the most famous draw in British sporting history ( barring the 1877 boat race)  .  So i digressed, anyway, Awash with superstars the Billet struggled against a not only underpar Rose and Crown but also a depleted one that lacked the nouse and experience of the inspirational Tony Scott and the sharp wit and quick tounge of the "Director" and they could have easily been embarrassed but for the inaccuracy of "the dude" who luckily missed by a country mile when sacrificing his own throat!!  A strong start saw the Billet ease in to a 1-0 lead as the brothers Grimm were no match for Nick Webbley and co. But Mullins and "the dude" restored parity for the Rose paving the way for Skipper Alan Turner and Dave Nobel to hopefully send them into a 2-1 lead. Alas this was not going to be the case and despite taking the first leg the Billet sailed into the singles one point to the good, all "Big Ron" could do was watch from the sidelines. It was now make or break. The first single was going to be pivotal, lose this and a two leg deficit was going to be virtually insurmountable, the Rose needed a mountaineer, they needed their very own Sir Edmund Hilary....what they got instead was Neil Crosby. So 3-1 down now and with Sherpa Tenzing nowhere to be seen John Goode adorned his crampons and quickly climbed in to a one leg lead and with momentum behind him now he reached the summit hauling the Rose & Crown up with him. 3-2 was soon to become 4-2 however as Kevin was unable to follow in John's footsteps. "Big Ron" who patiently waited all night finally got his chance and he didn't disappoint as he pulled one back for the St. Michaels outfit. Two down, one to play Mullins on next, surely 4-3? A nervy start saw Mullins fail to register a double early on and in so doing conceding the first leg but this proved to be nothing more than a blip as Mullins secured the next two legs (albeit not with his usual confident manner) to draw the sides level and leave the decider to Ian. Facing Derek Ralph Ian succumbed fairly quickly in the first but grew in confidence in the second and had the beating of his taller opponent but unfortunately for the Rose couldn't hit that all important double and the Billet claimed the game at half past eleven five games to four.