Summary
The last eight teams in this seasons KO Cup faced off on December 6th for a place in the Semi Finals. While we had five top flight teams in action, we still had three teams representing Division 2. Lets see how they got on.
Wythenshawe CSC 6 vs 1 The Royal Oak
In our first Quarter Final, Division One’s third placed side, Wythenshawe CSC took on Division Two’s fourth placed team The Royal Oak, and it was the Division One side who stormed into a commanding 3-0 lead after the first three games with a succession of 2-0 wins.
First up was Paul McCreevey, who hit his second 180 of the season while beating Oak newcomer Liam Perry, game two saw Martin Power put an end to Lee Medd’s unbeaten record this season and Col Smith made it 3-0 for Wythenshawe with a win over Pete Perry.
Tony Kirby pulled a game back for The Oak with a 2-0 win against Kian Sherlock, but that was to prove a brief respite for the Division 2 outfit, as Wythenshawe repeated the pattern of the first part of the game in winning the final three games 2-0. Captain Dave Peploe hit 6 ton plus scores in the two legs it took him to win game five against Pete DeCordova, Mandy Smith, beat Sharon Kirby in game six, and a comprehensive win for the Division One team was completed by George McCormick, who also managed six ton plus scores in two legs, including a 102 checkout.
The Silver Birch 5 vs 2 Broadheath Central
The Silver Birch won Division Three in the Summer and are riding high in Division Two so far this season, so this wasn’t quite a giant killing against the Summer league Division Two winners, but it certainly laid down a marker to see The Birch win this cup tie, against a team from a higher league, within five games.
Alan Dawson got the Birch underway with a 2-0 win against Lee Marsh, which included a 16 darter, but Andy McCormack equalised for Broadheath with a 2-0 win of his own against George Moss.
The Birch’s Martin Tyson got his third cup win in as many appearances, hitting a 180 in the process, when he won a deciding leg against Leyton Jackson in game three, and Lee Davies repeated that scoreline in beating JonJo Devon in game four. Kraig Loose was up next in an attempt to win it for the Birch in game five, and he continued a fine season so far winning his game against Martin Johnson 2-0 and securing a semi final spot for his team. With the tie already decided, Darren Wood got a consolation win in game six beating Andrew Skinner 2-0, but a good night at the oche was confirmed for the Silver Birch when Rob Moss beat Shane Crellin 2-1 in the final game of the night.
Timperley CC 5 vs 2 The Victoria
The Vic are having a tough time of it this season with only one win from four in the league so far, while Timperley have improved on the woes of the summer season with three wins from their four games. These sides had one win a piece in Division One’s Summer season and so it could have reasonably been expected to be a close match.
As it happened, the Vic got off to a cracking start with Sean Edwards beating Andy Brownhill 2-0, but a burst of four consecutive games for Timperley ended it as a contest after five games. Andy Pearson beat Joe O’Shea 2-0 in game 2, and newcomer Andy Broadhurst opened his Timperley account in fine style with an 18 darter and a 100 finish during a 2-0 win over Vic skipper Connor Wigley.
Game four was arguably the tie of the match on paper, with Timperley’s Gary Sullivan taking on Terry Jepson, but it was Sully who showed his class yet again with a 2-0 win, in a performance which featured a 17 dart leg and a classy 85.89 average. With Timperley on the brink of the Semi Finals, Chris Stone took on Dave Stanley in another interesting match up. After sharing the first two legs, Stone blunted ‘the Knife’ to seal the match and leave his team planning the hotels for Wembley. Or probably the Cringlewood.
Cricket aficionado Lewis Holley took time out from watching a Cricket World Cup that is probably still being played six months later, putting in a good innings of his own to add some respectability to the score line, with a 73.32 average helping him to a 2-0 win over Kev Kelly. Another interesting matchup in the final game pitted Q-School bound Callum Loose against Matt Jepson, but a 75.15 average along with a 14 darter saw Callum pile on more misery for the Vic, his 2-0 win securing a final match score of 5-2.
Ashton-on-Mersey CC 1 vs 6 Ammies Darts
Ashton will (hopefully) forgive me for saying this was one of the more predictable results of the round, with last seasons league games ending in 7-0 and 5-2 wins for the double winners. Yet Ashton would have had high expectations of success in the deployment of their new tactic to try and force a 4-3 result one way or another. Well that wasnt to be, and at the seventh time of asking they have a different score – but not one that fell in their favour.
Ammies Captain Paul Devine got the Division One leaders underway, but despite a 122 finish and five ton plus scores, he needed a deciding leg to finish of Mike Buckley. Individuals Champion Adam Watson doubled the lead with a 2-0 win over James Compton, Andy Tucker had a 16 darter during a 2-0 win against Mark Robinson to make it three, and Ray Dore secured the win for the Ammies against George Hardman by the same 2-0 scoreline.
Next up for Ashton was newcomer Tom Beresford, and he was thrown to the Lions somewhat in his first game for the side, coming up against an on-song Karl Cooper, who won 2-0 with a 15 darter and an impressive 81.24 average.
With five games all in favour of the Ammies, they will have been looking at the 7-0 whitewash, and the only surprise so far was the lack of 180s from either side. Both these things ended in game six as Scott Livingstone hit a 180 for the Ammies, before managing to lose the game 2-0 to end his sides chance for a clean sweep.
Up last for the Ammies was Pete Watson, who also hit a maximum whilst seeing to Andy Mathias by two legs to nil. This gave the Wythenshawe FC based Ammies a fourth 6-1 win of the season in all competitions and it seems likely that if any side is to beat them in the Cup this year, then they will also get their name on the trophy.
So thats it, our Semi-Final line up has now been determined – and going into the draw will be Wythenshawe CSC, Timperley CC and cup holders The Ammies, all from Division One, and they are joined by Division Two promotion candidates and Summer league Division 3 winners, The Silver Birch.
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