Ford's Focus Firmly On Tons
Alfie Ford showed his undoubted class as the week's highest scoring player with no less than fifteen three figure scores; a haul which contributed to a fifty-six ton team total in the Plymouth City Superleague.
However, his Octagon side slipped further out of title race thanks to dropping three points in a home win over Fawn A.
Fawn's Mark Hempsall did manage to put a leg on the scoreboard against Ford with a fine 92 checkout but found the veteran in fine form as he ran out a 3-1 winner with a 13 darter to boot.
Octagon's next best scoring player was Neil White with twelve tons whilst teammate Fred Goldsmith reached double figures.
Goldsmith though went on to lose a narrowly 3-2 to Dave Roberts who scored eleven tons and joined Ford in hitting a maximum in the match.
The other player to record three trebles in the same visit was Roberts' teammate Mike Nancholas who also knocked in a 180 in his 3-1 singles win.
At the business end of legs, it was Octagon's Lee Hellings (26.84) who was most clinical with a 102 checkout in his 3-0 victory that was aided by legs of 17 and 18 darts.
Kings B returned to form after a mini slump before the Christmas break to inflict only a second defeat of the season on Steampacket.
Despite the defeat, it was the Devonport side's George Beckett who was the most outstanding player with two maximums in a fourteen ton plus individual performance.
Teammate Mike Connell recorded the second highest checkout of the week with a 130 kill that beat Roger Backway's 111 and Paul Carpenter's 94 ripostes for the Oreston side.
Despite the fact the King Billy went 1-0 down, they kept up their march at the top with a 10-1 victory away at Victoria to retain their four point lead.
2021 Champion of Champions John Mann was arguably the star of the show with a thirteen ton haul that included a maximum and a 114 kill.
Teammate Paul Palmer chalked up two maximums whilst both Antony Hayman and Andy Bates registered eleven tons on a successful night for the Devonport side.
Another player with two maximums for the week was Victory C's Lewis Dare as his side returned from their trip to Saltram with an 8-3 triumph.
Dare also won his singles 3-1 with legs of 17,16,13 darts against Dave Algar who also chalked up a 180 of his own.
Scott Cook repeated Dare's feat of hitting a 13 darter and followed with a leg in 17 in his 3-1 win, which also included a maximum.
Saltram's Warren Gordon took a leg in 18 with a 102 checkout, which was the highest of the contest.
James Stoodley notched up two of three maxis by the Bluebird A team in their 10-1 win against St Levans.
Teammate Alan Masters hit the other as Glenn Halford top scored with a fine twelve ton plus haul.
Victory A kept up their faint hopes of doing damage in the race for the title after a 10-1 mauling of Kings Arms A.
This success owed much to the form of Mark Shears and Mark Gilbery who both hit maximums and had eleven and ten tons respectively.
Shears won legs in 17 and 18 in his 3-1 singles win over Colin Sloman who notched a 180 of his own in the defeat.
Gilbery however went one better with a leg in 16 as their stablemate Quinton Taylor also put a 17 darter on the scoreboard.
Youngster Liam Page checked a fine 80 kill in his 3-2 singles loss in his first game in the league and should not be too disappointed that this effort was beaten by the much senior Shears, who finish 93 in one visit.
Cherry Tree were as many as 5-2 down before winning the last four singles to take a fourth success of the campaign against Clifton.
Despite the result, Dan Jewell top scored with thirteen three figure scores that included a 102 checkout in the last game that the Greenbank side would win on the night.
Steve Mills held his nerve in the deciding set of the match to run out a 3-0 winner to give the spoils to the Pennycross side.
That win meant Fawn B dropped a place after their 8-3 loss at home to Ker Street as Keith Brown was in fine form for the victors with a maximum and a 15 dart leg.
It wasn't all doom and gloom for the Greenbank team with Alan Brady checking a fine 87 for the highest effort of the matchup.
Fawn B can be slightly aggrieved with three of the six singles going to final leg deciders and Ker Street taking the lot to put the tie out of reach.
Bluebird Bandits came away from their home tie with Victory B with a narrow 6-5 win in a really tight affair with seven from eleven being decided by a single leg.
However, it was the defeated team who produced the moments of magic with Ryan Harris hitting the only maximum and Chris Beale checking from 100.
Andy Hawes produced the biggest checkout of the week with a 146 three dart combination but ended up on the wrong end of a 7-4 defeat as Hyde Park lost a fifteenth match in a row to Colebrook.
