So the final darts have been launched in our league matches, and we are nearly ready to reward our winners.

Division 1 saw Wicor Mill ‘A’ Just stay in front of Trinity Tavern ‘B’, holding on to an 8 leg lead, with both teams on 18 points.

Wicor Mill was a strong favourite from the outset with a win streak of 5 games at the start of the season. Joe Paxton ended that streak with a 6-3 win. Wicor never regained a strong streak after that, but instead finished their matches with a good lead instead, giving them 69 legs out of 108.

Trinity Tavern ‘B’ also started on a high with 4 wins, then Wicor Mill ‘A’ broke the run. Rallying with 3 then 2 consecutive wins kept them level on points, but even with an 8-1 win over Funtley they could not muster enough legs to close the divide enough and took 2nd place.

DOC Limes finished third only 2 points behind, while Q-Battery broke even with a 50% win ratio, favouring the home games as did the Duke of Connaught who had all their wins at home; Funtley SC had the opposite and had an all-away win stat, with Joe Paxton in 5th place mixing it up a bit.

Division 2 played out as a Hill Park final, but from the outset of the final match Hill Park ‘A’ were certain winners with the leg difference enough to keep them out of danger. Even with the 10 leg lead, Hill Park B still kept up on points with both teams finishing on 18

It was quite a mix of wins and losses across all teams in the division; the highest win streaks of 5 by both Hill Park teams. Stats wise, Portchester SCW was actually stronger on legs than Hill Park ”B’, with Al’s Bar matching them. Trinity Tavern ‘A’ almost there with 1 leg less, but alas the wins are also needed and one more loss makes all the difference.

White Horse and Jolly Miller ended up matching each other on stats, although Jolly miller had a better home win ratio with White horse doing equally well away. HMS Collingwood finished our line-up matching the Jolly Miller win percentage.

As we saw in Division 3, it was a 3-way tie for top place up to the last minute. But in the head to head, The Bugle took a 6-3 win over Portsbridge and took the top spot, pushing Portsbridge into third place on 16 points.

The Bugle also had our strongest win streak of 6 this season, with Portchester SC just behind on 5.

DOC Lions held on with 14 points to take 4th position. Cross Keys and Golden Lion ‘B’ shared 8 points, with Cross Keys holding a 9 leg lead. Commiserations to Golden Lion ‘A’ who didn’t find their form this season, but we hope will be sufficiently practiced for the forthcoming Winter Season in less than a week.

All that is left is to finish our Individuals Competition that was so in intense we had to split it up this year, then we’ll dish out those trophies and let you get into the groove for the entertainment on Saturday.

In Division 1 Trinity Tavern “B” are in the lead on 18 points, 2 points clear of Wicor Mill “A”. Both teams have one match remaining, so a win for Wicor and trouble for Trinity could bring them down to the wire, as they only have a 4 point leg difference.

Wicor Mill will be facing Joe Paxton; they did not fare so well in their away game, so a home advantage might swing the results back.

Trinity Tavern go up against DOC Limes, and their previous matches have been close, but they have had the outcome in their favour each time. However, as the competition matches show, anything can happen, and DOC could sour the track record.

Division 2 is a Hill Park lead with both A and B teams on 16 points, 4 points ahead of the pack.

Hill Park “A” have the leg lead on 9 points, and will be up against the Jolly Miller, who beat them twice last season, but lost in their earlier round this year: so who knows which way that match will go.

Hill Park B have HMS Collingwood, who have come close each time in the last 3 matches, but Hill Park maintained the wins.
Whichever way the matches fall, both Hill Park teams have their dramatic head to head to end the season, which will decide the winner either way.

A three way lead in Division 3, also on 16 points with 4 clear for Portsbridge, Portchester SC and The Bugle Hotel. 6 legs separate the teams.

Portchester have the disadvantage of a bye in the last match, but in another stunning draw, Portsbridge and The Bugle also have a show-down in the last round, which should give a decisive finish. Portchester SC go up against the DOC Lions, and the last 3 rounds have been in Portchester’s pocket so we could expect more of the same.

Both Portsbridge and The Bugle have had prior wins over their oppositions too. Portsbridge played their match early against Golden Lion “A”, so that outcome is fixed – no spoilers here though (but if you know where to look you can find the results before the league table updates on Monday).

All in all, it’s very narrow margins as we clear our last 2 matches, and any of our games could upend the expected outcomes still!

Well, what a night! All four teams gave it everything, and the crowd were treated to a proper darts spectacle.

In the John Kirby Cup, Wicor Mill got off to a flyer with P. Winter Snr & R. Vince edging out D. Eade & C. Shaw 2–1. But Portchester SCW weren’t having it—wins from M. Thomas, T. George, D. O’Hara, and the pairing of T. George & F. Penn turned the tide, making it 4–1 to Portchester.

Game over? Not quite! Wicor Mill dug deep with wins from P. Winter Snr, and the pairing of B. Szabados & S. Warner. L. Bentley—who threw seven perfect darts (180–180–60) before narrowly missing the treble 19, took the leg and levelled the match at 4–4.

It all came down to the decider: D. Eade (Portchester) vs J. King (Wicor). Both came out swinging, but Dan held firm and took it 2–0 to seal a 5–4 win for Portchester SCW and lift the trophy!

Highlights:

• P. Winter Snr: 125 checkout
• T. George: 108 checkout
• L. Bentley: 2×180s
• D. Eade: 1×180

In the Darren O’Hara Plate, Hill Park “B” faced off against DOC Limes in another nail-biter.

D. Cole & M. Holdaway got Hill Park off to a strong start, going 2–0 up. But DOC Limes hit back, with D. Baker nailing a 156 checkout to level things. Wins from R. Cook and the pairing of T. Rowen & P. Booker made it 3–1 to DOC.

Hill Park weren’t done yet! J. Bradley, D. Cole, the pairing of D. Coates & T. Haines, and M. Ayres all stepped up to flip the score to 5–3. The final game saw J. Louis (Hill Park) take on P. Booker (DOC), who kept his cool and took it 2–0— leaving Hill Park on a 5-4 victory!

Big thanks to all who chalked and checked on the night: R. Livingstone, M. Roberts, J. Bartlett, M. Tiller & A. Bridges.
Thanks to C. Eden for running the blackouts.
And a special shout-out to Emma & Fern behind the bar, plus the kitchen crew at the DOC for keeping everyone fed and watered!

Another brilliant night of darts—what a way to round off the league competitions!