Mr & Mrs Hellings Star In Premier Thriller

A topsy-turvy Monday Premier League matchup between Octagon A and King Billy eventually went the way of the former in a last leg deciding 6-5 win.

Lee Hellings top scored with fourteen three figure scores; a haul that included a brace of maximums in a tie that saw the lead change hands three times before King Billy built what looked like a commanding 5-3 lead.

In that period, Antony Hayman netted himself two maximums in a 3-0 singles win that contained a leg in just 14 darts.

Andrew Cook was also prominent for the eventually unsuccessful team with a ten ton personally tally that contained another two 180s to make the overall total six three treble visits.

Cook's 3-0 success saw him run out with legs in 15 and 18 darts; a win that was his team's penultimate before the comeback started with Hellings winning 3-2 containing 16 and 18 dart legs.

Teammate Paul Hendy levelled at 5-5 before Lisa Hellings won the match for her team with a last leg deciding 3-2 success in the final rubber of a very entertaining match.

Matt Chegwin's fourteen ton plusses gave Cherry Tree A the platform to bag themselves a 6-5 success over Victory A.

Chegwin was well supported by Mike Whatley who got himself to twelve tons whilst the Honicknowle team's highest scoring player was the man that beat Whatley 3-2 in the singles.

Quinton Taylor added a 120 checkout to eleven more three figure scores to give him a personally tally of twelve overall.

Taylor's individual success came with the help of that finish, as well as what turned out to be a critical leg in 15 darts during the five leg thriller.

The checkout narrowly beat a 116 from Chegwin (25.91) who also added legs in 17 and 18 darts during a fine 3-0 individual success.

Nathan Langdon top scored with thirteen ton plusses for Colebrook, but still found himself on the wrong end of an 8-3 home defeat against Cherry Tree B.

The cherry on top of that Langdon total was his team's only maximum with Marc Webber adding the other in the match for the victorious Pennycross outfit.

Webber also shared the highest checkout honours with teammate Kev Doel as both checked a leg with a 74 three dart combination out shot.

Tradesmans extended their almost unassailable early lead to sixteen points after eleven played in a 10-1 win over Bluebird C that saw Andy Bates, Lee Agar and John Mann share thirty-six tons evenly between them.

Those three were well supported by Mike O'Brien who nailed eleven ton plusses for himself whilst Bates and Mann added a 180 a piece to their totals.

Those efforts were only two of five maximums scored in the match as Lee Roberts, Glenn Halford and Micky Organ all struck for the defeated team.

Despite ending on the wrong side of the heavy defeat, the aforementioned trio all rounded off ten ton totals for themselves.

Whilst the scoring phase was most definitely close, the difference between between the two teams was the ruthlessness of the league leaders and reigning champions in the finishing stages.

Mann and Agar paired for a 19 dart 601 doubles leg with O'Brien teaming with Jaden Whitting for a leg in 20 darts.

The excellent legs continued in the singles phase with Agar's 3-1 success put away with a leg in 15 before two outstanding contests.

First up, Bates won a closely fought contest against Halford 3-2 thanks to 17 and 18 darters with Halford adding a leg in 18 of his own in defeat.

As he so often does, Mann (29.70) then stole the show with an accomplished 3-1 win that was put away with legs in 17 and 12 after opponent Roberts fired an 18 dart leg in vein.

Eleven tons from Chris Edgecombe provided a catalyst for Octagon B to claim a 7-4 success over Bluebird A; for whom Alan Masters and Lewis Whitley threw all of the maximums.

Whitley's brace of 180s in a 3-0 win usurped a sole effort from Alan Masters earlier on in the contest whilst Steve Daley's 75 checkout took the honour as the highest of the match.

Dale Halford's eleven ton haul was the best of the contest, but it still couldn't fire Bluebird B to victory as the Compton side fell to a 6-5 loss at home to Indian Inn.

The Stoke village side owed much thanks to the form of Lee Wyatt who fired a 100 checkout on his way to ten ton plusses.

A handful of brilliant legs littered the entertaining contest with Dan Hurley's 18 darter was matched by an 18 darter from Lee Rice who won the game for his team with the scores tied at 5-5 after a 3-0 personal success.

Those legs were twice bettered as Rice's teammate Pete Cornish won a leg in 17 during a 3-1 defeat to Halford who checked a 16 darter for the lowest of the match overall.

A Victory derby match between B and C saw former get the better of their stablemates in both the 9-2 match result, and 2-1 in the 180 count.

Paul Goundry was joined by Anthony Pearn in hitting one effort each whilst Paul Hoare provided the C team's only three treble visit of the evening.

Scott Cook's 17 darter in a 3-0 individual triumph claimed the best leg of the friendly rivalry between two of the three Victory teams in this particular league.