West Midlands get a match win on the board
The West Midlands secured their first win since promotion for the new county darts season in impressive fashion against Cleveland.
Match victory on their own turf came after opening their campaign with defeat at Hampshire last month,
The hosts welcomed their visitors to Gilberts Bar in Willenhall, for their first home game since going up to the BDO British Inter-Counties Championship Division One.
Play began for two days with the women's B teams first to the oche, the West Midlands setting their stall out with a 5-1 victory.
The home side's actually lost the first game of the weekend, Cleveland's Valerie Skidmore prevailing 3-0 with an average of 13.79 against Kirsty Shaughnessy (13.44).
Jacqueline Maiden top scored for the West Midlands, notching 17.80 over a 3-1 vanquishing of Melanie Holland, whose 16.89 was the highest losing average.
They held their position with a 6-6 draw in the men's B clashes, where they squandered a 6-3 lead and allowed Cleveland to pull level.
Robert Smith excelled for the West Midlands, racking up 29.47 in a 3-0 landslide win over Graham Badger (20.57).
The pick of Cleveland's replies was also by whitewash, with Michael Evans gleaning 27.33 against Jack Routledge (18.19).
A 6-0 shut-out going the West Midlands' way in the women's A ties left the Cleveland throwers with a mountain to climb.
Gemma Barrett struck first blood for the home side, notching 16.52 in a 3-0 drubbing of Tracy Marran (14.60).
There was no room for error from a Cleveland perspective in the men's A final but, instead, it was the West Midlands who pinched the win.
Scott Chatterton had tried to get a fightback going, but his 24.75 in a 4-3 last leg battle with Jonathan Platt (24.24) wasn't even his county's highest average of the weekend.
That went to Stourbridge's Nick Fullwell as he raced to 30.94 in a 4-2 defeat of Sean Jowers, whose 29.34 was the highest losing average.
The West Midlands took the last two games to win the A pairings 7-5, with Michael Baker (24.40) rounding it off with a 4-2 verdict over Brian Henderson (24.11).
They prevailed 27-12 overall, counting three extra points as the winning county. They next travel to Gwent on the weekend of October 29-30.
