THE Crewe Liberal Club Open Darts and Dominoes League winter season is up and running.

It consists of ten teams in the Premier and Divisions 1 to 3, eight in Division 4 and six in Division 5, the latter two having additional fixtures allocated to bring them into line with the 18 matches played by the rest.

Four teams resigned prior to the start of the season, namely Imperial, Earl of Chester, Brunel Arms B and Rileys Club B, with White Lion Ford Lane B falling by the wayside this week.

This latest resignation of a relatively successful team causes the League some concern, and also means unavoidable bye weeks in Division 1.

Unfortunately it doesn’t stop there as the league may have an addition to the resignations list of one further team who are known to be struggling for players.

Meanwhile, due to the closure of their home locations Rileys Club A have relocated to the Imperial and the Raven to Cheshire Cheese (Shavington).

The winter season started with Round One of the Team Knockout Cup competition that turned in it’s usual surprise results with five teams losing to lower division opposition, four of them at their home bases.

Arguably the most notable of these losses was by Premiership team Cosey Club who won the darts 5-2 but were humiliated 7-1 at dominoes, putting Division 2 side Bridge A through 9-6. Cosey’s Jules Wilde was top darts performer with a 15 dart win, with team mate Craig Simpson hitting a 180 but having to give best to Bridge’s Jamie Hawkins who won in 19 darts.

Cheshire Cheese (Wheelock), newly promoted to the Premier, found opponents Amalgamated B from Division 2 extremely resilient especially at dominoes, where their last pair Paul Greensmith and Matt Flanagan withstanding the pressure to gain the crucial winning point for an 8-7 aggregate scoreline.

The Nantwich Road derby clash between the A team and ASLEF was won easily by ASLEF 10-6.

Two Division 1 teams, Hop Pole A, freshly relegated from the Premier and Amalgamated A, were beaten by respective Division 4 opposition Dishers Club B (8-5) and Liberal Club (8-7) from Division 3, again mainly due to losses at the board game, although the two Liberal captains Bill Armstrong and Shaun Young claimed their pairs darts win was the crucial turning point and not Shaun’s last pairs dominoes win with his better half Caroline.

Somewhat less of a surprise was Division 3’s Captain Webb’s 8-7 defeat of Rising Sun A from a Division higher, again clinched by a last pairs dominoes win by Reggie Cooper and Danny Welch. More predictable were wins by Premiership teams Pioneers Club A (9-4), freshly promoted Delamere Arms (11-4) and West End LMR B (9-6) over Sydney Arms, Pioneers Club B and Willaston Club, all gained mainly due to big darts wins and average dominoes efforts, with Vine A’s 8-5 defeat of Nantwich Road B a combination of edging the opposition out 4-3 at darts and 4-2 at dominoes.

Horse Shoe, Kings Arms B, Broughton Arms, Vine B and the Imp saw off lesser capable opponents Cheshire Cheese (Shav), Flying Lady B, Brunel Arms C, Cheese Hall and Coppenhall Club with comparative ease.

The all Division 2 clash of Express and Woodside was a nail biter, with an understrength Express just edging to a narrow 8-7 victory with four wins at each game.

Division 5’s Hop Pole B did very well to eliminate Division 4’s Coach & Horses 8-4 and Flying Lady A caught Prince of Wales A on the hop with an easier than expected 8-4 win. Rising Sun B eased Foresters Arms B out 9-6 and Swan & Chequers and White Lion Ford Lane A had their ties conceded to them.

Other Darts hotshots were Daron Riley (Coach) and Aaron Russell (Delamere) who included 180’s in 16 dart wins, and Pioneers B’s only winner Daz Downey, whose 17 dart win claimed the scalp of Clive Lucking, who himself hit a 180 as well as partnering Justin Vickers in a 22 dart pairs win at 31.86 PDA. Carl Dennell (LMR B) won with a 17 darter and partnered Daniel Ayres in a 26 dart pairs win at a more sedate 26.96 PDA.

The Imp took the initiative from the word go with three of their first four players, Ben Snape, Ken Greenall and Stuart Wilson winning in 17 darts. Sean Morrey (Hop Pole A), Dave Bickerton (LMR B) and Kev Alcock (Ch/Cheese Wheelock) won with respective 128, 110 and 107 checkouts and Gareth Wood (Kings B) registered a maximum 180.

The Draw for Round 2 is :- Swan & Chequers v Dishers A, Pioneers A v Broughton Arms, Delamere Arms v Dishers B, The Imp v Express, Hop Pole B v White Lion (Copp), ASLEF v Horse Shoe, Duke C v Kings A, Rising Sun B v Vine A, Hawk v Flying Lady A, White Lion Ford Lane A v West End Band Club C, Kings Arms B v Liberal Club, West End LMR B v Oddfellows Club, Captain Webb v Brunel Arms A, Prince of Wales D v Duke B, Amalgamated B v Vine B and Bridge A v Commercial. These matches to be played on Monday 13th October at the first named location.