January came and went and once again the leagues were very competitive, maybe even the closest yet, with 13 matches ending with a 9-8 scoreline. Unfortunately a few fixtures weren’t fulfilled which meant that only 56 of the 62 scheduled games were completed.

 

The biggest shock of the month came in League 1 with the undefeated league leader Ivan Leslie losing all four matches to face relegation for the first time. Brian Moar started the month well with two 9-8 victories over Ivan and Bruce Moar before he lost out at the end of the month to Stevie Linklater and Robbie Stanger to join Ivan in League 2 next month. After losing his opening match 9-6 to Bruce, Robbie stepped up a gear with convincing 9-6, 9-2 and 9-1 wins over Brian, Stevie and Ivan respectively to finish top of League 1 just beating Bruce into second place on leg difference. After losing narrowly to Brian, Bruce won all his remaining matches 9-6 to take second place ahead of Stevie Linklater who remains in the top league after beating Ivan 9-1 and Brian 9-3.

 

After Ivan Leslie lost his first match in League 1, Michael Moodie, who was playing in League 2 for the first time, became the last undefeated player left in the league. Michael made a good effort at keeping his 100% record intact but eventually lost out to the more experienced Iain Wilkie 9-6. Michael won the rest of his games to gain promotion to the top league for the first time so good luck in February Michael. Unfortunately Iain’s fixture with Davy Cooper didn’t take place but his win over Michael along with a close 9-8 victory over Lee MacPherson and a 9-4 win over Derek Farmer was enough to see him return to League 1 next month. Not getting his game with Iain played cost Davy his chance of promotion and after going down 9-8 to Michael, his two wins over Lee and Derek were only good enough for third spot. Lee and Derek drop down into League 3 with Lee winning their respective match 9-2.

 

League 3 was the closest of all the leagues this month with 150 legs played in the ten matches. Robert Gatt hit form, winning all his matches, to return to League 2 and he is joined by Michael Muir who climbs into League 2 for the first time. Michael just pipped Ross Donaldson on leg difference with both players finishing with two wins. Michael Bain and Craig Moar drop down to League 4 after they both finished with just one win each.

 

Once again League 4 was spoiled by one of the players pulling out after the month had started, but it didn’t affect Colin Ross who won all his games to top the league. Neil Tait and Sean Stanger finished level on six points however Neil’s crushing 9-3 victory over Sean was enough to see him finish second and move back into League 3 for the first time since October with Sean staying in League 4. Comeback of the month goes to Colin Findlay this month. After being 8-4 down to Neil Tait he came back to level the score at 8-8 and with the pressure on Neil, Colin took the last leg to complete a remarkable fight back. Unfortunately for Colin he lost his other games and slips down to League 5.

 

League 5 was a very close league too. Martin Peace won all his matches to climb back into League 4 and he is joined by Roy Griffiths who won three of his four games. Linda Harcus played well in January and remains in League 5 after winning twice with Noreen Bain and Paul Davis finishing in the bottom two places,Noreen beating Paul 9-8 in their respective game.

 

League 6 only had four players and Linda Ratter won all three of her matches to top the league closely followed by Susie Bain with two wins. Stewart Moar finished third after beating Tracy Mathieson.

 

League 7 started with four players but another withdrawal meant there was only four games played. Grant Harrold won both his games to top the league followed by Mike Lucas and Trevor Pirie with a win apiece. Sarah-Jane Garrioch played and lost all her games to prop up the rest of the league.

 

Fifteen players hit a total of 36 x 180’s in January with Robert Gatt being the top man with six. Other 180’s were scored by Brian Moar 5, Ivan Leslie 4, Robbie Stanger 3, Craig Moar 3, Davy Cooper 3, Bruce Moar 2, Stevie Linklater 2, Ross Donaldson 2 and one each by Neil Tait, Michael Muir, Iain Wilkie, Michael Bain, Lee MacPherson and Michael Moodie. That means Robbie and Ivan are at the top of this season’s 180 table with 17 each. Two players had three 180’s in a match, Robert Gatt had three in his 9-8 win over Michael Bain and Brian Moar had three in his 9-6 loss to Robbie Stanger.

 

Not so many ton plus checkouts in January but still an impressive haul of 19 from 11 players. January’s checkout king was Stevie Linklater with a 153 in his 9-3 win over Brain Moar. Stevie also had a 114 and a 111. Others came from Robbie Stanger 138, 103, Ross Donaldson 130, 116, Michael Bain 129, 102, Lee MacPherson 120, 104, Davy Cooper 113, 102, Bruce Moar 106, 102, Brian Moar 116, Ivan Leslie 115, Derek Farmer 110 and Susie Bain with a 104.

  

There was only one whitewash in January and that was by Grant Harrold over league newcomer Sarah-Jane Garrioch.

 

The February Leagues have been drawn up and have been posted on the Legion notice boards and on the website. http://www.spanglefish.com/orkneydartsassociation/

With a couple of withdrawals and only one coming in there has once again been a bit of a reshuffle in the lower leagues which means there are four leagues of five players and two leagues of six.

 

All players are reminded that it is up to both players to organise the games so don’t leave it to your opponent to always contact you and another bit of advice is don’t leave it to the last minute to organise your games. If anyone changes their contact details please let me know too so that the other people in the league can be notified. Finally all players are reminded to contact (preferably by text or email) the League Organiser with the scores of their games as soon as possible. No notification of the score means no points will be awarded!!