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Fighting Cas lads are on the climb

30/ 1/2004

Town Darts

CASTLETON'S steady climb to the higher echelons of the Lancashire BDO Third Division continued with a fighting 5-5 home draw against Kirkham.

With three games to play the locals were losing 5-2, but super performances from the battling trio of Simon Derby, Bob Tankard and Paul Chrimes saved the day.

Chrimes, in particular, showed his mettle. He came back from two legs down to win the next three and clinch a remarkable victory which ensured Castleton got a deserved share of the points.

First to the oche was Colin Shaw who rattled home five tons but went down 3-2 to Mark Stoneley.

Paul Whatmough was quick to redress the balance. He blitzed Kirkham's John Valient 3-0 on his way to the day's top average of 66.30.

Kirkham went 2-1 up when Vinny Ashworth beat Castleton's Andrew Rowden 3-0 and a similar score followed in the next game when Anthony Harrison beat Andy Moss. The margin didn't tell the full story as Moss hit a 180, a 140 and a 125 but couldn't quite manage to find his doubles.

Howard Priestley was next on for Castleton. He beat Wayne Webster 3-1 to make the score 2-3 at half-time.

Kirkham then rattled off the next two games, courtesy of Steve Smith's 3-1 win against Alex Lodge and Dave Wood's 3-2 victory over Dave Parr.

Now it was the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party, and messrs Darby, Tankard and Chrimes were certainly in the party spirit.

Darby won 3-1 to pull the match out of the fire. Tankard, reliable as ever, beat Dave Larkin by a similar margin and set up the scene for Chrimes' grandstand finale.