MISSED doubles proved costly for Guernsey men’s darts team as they lost on the oche to Jersey for the first time in four years. But on the plus side, Guernsey men’s captain Mick Le Gallic managed to arrow his way into the record books with a new record of seven individual wins on the trot - beating his opponent 3-0.
The Sarnian men’s team lost to Jersey 5-4 in a reversal of last year’s score in the Seabird inter-insular at the Ommaroo Hotel, Havre des Pas, on Saturday night.
‘Doubles missed cost us,’ said Le Gallic.
‘They are all gutted - it hurts - for each one that lost it’s hard to take. You are waiting for your game all year and you want to go up and throw your best darts. Throughout the team we didn’t and I don’t know why.
‘A lot of them have been playing very well at home but on the night it just did not happen. There was good team spirit and the crowd were good.
‘They hit their doubles and we basically missed. We had a lot of chances to hit doubles but did not take them. We all tried hard and there was not a lot we could do. On a different night it would have been a different story,’ he said.
Guernsey though are confident of regaining the team trophy next time on home soil.
‘We have told them it’s on loan and we will get it back next year. It hurt a lot of them quite a bit and they will be back.’
Guernsey received the perfect start - going 2-0 up through wins for Colin Prigent and Rob Foss.
In the game of the night Micky Ogier lost 3-2 to Dave Eusebini.
Le Gallic said it contained some ’superb darts’ with the Jersey player hitting a 13-dart leg and an average of about 105.
Ogier had won the individual darts championship the night before.
Jersey captain Eddie Le Bailly praised Eusebini.
‘His performance, down from 501 to a double finish in 13 darts on the last leg gave the whole team a lift - it resurrected us. After that the team spirit was magnificent,’ he said.
‘A lot depends on which of you can hold your nerves the longest. In the men’s competition that man had to be Dave Eusebini. His win gave us all heart. It made all the difference and without that win we might not have regained the title after losing it three years in a row.’
Guernsey debutant Mark Fletcher was beaten 3-0.
‘He just found it a little bit hard and it can be quite overwhelming when you go up there. He tried hard but it did not work out for him,’ said Le Gallic.
Le Gallic was next up on the oche and made no mistake to create his little bit of history.
‘At that time it was more about getting a result than individual records. I was not too concerned but wanted to get the job done for the team.’
John Cusack was next up but found the going tough and went down in three straight games, before Rob Davidson lost 3-1.
‘As for the ones that lost it was not a case of not them trying but they were trying too hard,’ said Le Gallic.
The other Guernsey debutant Terry King went on stage with a lot of pressure on his shoulders.
‘He played well for his first island game and lost 3-0. It was all over but Jason Allez did what we expected and won three straight.’
Guernsey had already lost when he went on.
‘He looked a bit down in the dumps when he went on and it was how the whole team felt at the time but he performed well.’
‘It was a good weekend apart from the results and plenty of headaches,’ joked Le Gallic.
Earlier in the evening Guernsey women’s team were defeated 6-3.
It was a similar story as the men’s match - down to accuracy with doubles.
‘I would put it down to they hit their doubles first and we didn’t. It was a night of missed doubles. They were extremely disappointed,’ said non-playing captain Yvonne Le Gallic.
‘The scoreline does not justify the match. Just one game went two legs - the rest went three.’
‘A lot of the experienced ones were nervous. People don’t realise how nervous people get up there, even the experienced players. That was our downfall,’ she said.
Julie Murphy impressed on her debut and won her game.
Article posted on 1st May, 2007 - 12.00am
Loading ...
Most Commented: