Southern Regional Darts Final
25th August 2013
Riley’s Victoria was the host venue again for the Regional Final which started off with the presentation of trophies and certificates to the individual pub winners.
Despite it being a Bank Holiday Sunday it was extremely pleasing to see all three players from the Walnut Tree in Maidstone attend; even more impressive was the turnout from the Market House Inn, Cullompton in Devon who not only bought three players but also had six supporters in tow. They had set off from Exeter at 8.30 am and were on the 9.00 pm coach back, due to arrive about 1.00am, truly dedicated darts fans!
The group stage set the standard for the day with 180s flying in on a regular basis and Richard Gumble (Riley’s Victoria) even achieving a magical 170 maximum finish in his 3-0 win over Amos Fuller (Walnut Tree, Maidstone).
Perhaps one of the biggest shocks of the day was seeing London Super League player, John Power (Riley’s, Victoria) failing to qualify for the semi-final; after winning his first two games, 3-0 against Jack Fuller (Walnut Tree) and 3-1 against Darron Cottrell (Market House Inn) he lost 2-3 to Bob Fuller (Walnut Tree) and 2-3 to Steve Boyce (Market House Inn).
Top of the group was Bob Fuller who won all four of his games, dropping only 3 legs in the process, also through to the semi-final was Steve Boyce who at the age of only 17 looks a real good prospect for the future.
Colin Greenslade (Market House Inn) was equally impressive in topping Group two, winning all three games and only dropping two legs; 3-0 against Amos Fuller (Walnut Tree), 3-0 against Colin Butler (Riley’s, Victoria) and 3-2 against Richard Gumble (Riley’s Victoria).
The semi-finals saw Bob Fuller playing Richard Gumble and Steve Boyce taking on Colin Greenslade.
In the first semi an evenly matched contest saw Richard come out a 4-2 winner against Bob thanks to some very impressive finishing.
In the second semi, a clash between Steve and Colin from the Market House Inn, good scoring from both players meant that whoever finished best would decide the result, in the end Steve ran out a 4-1 victor.
With both undefeated group winners losing out in the semis we were left with Richard Gumble against Steve Boyce in the final.
On the day Richard’s impressive scoring and even more impressive finishing gave the score line a slightly false impression with Richard romping to a 5-0 win, Richard saved the best for last winning the final leg of the final in 12 darts with scores of 95, 180, 100 and a 126 finish (19, 19×3, bull).
Congratulations to Richard the Southern Region Champion for Season3, and good luck to all the qualifiers for the National Final in Sheffield on 24th November.
