A Tale of Two Sports: Lonnie Bar Sports teams generate huge wins over County after worrying start against Furness.

If at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again was undoubtedly ethos of the Lonsdale’s Darts As and Pool Bs teams during Week 3, as they dramatically crushed County. Henry Wilde’s side dismantled their Northern foes 8-1, and Viren Pangrekar led his team to win 6-3 – whereas the Pool As narrowly missed out on victory – losing 4-5.

Hoping to begin as they finished last season – top dogs by a considerable margin – Wilde’s side capitulated away at Furness, suffering a 7-2 thrashing.
“We know how much of a disappointment it was tonight, boys, frankly I am gutted”, were his post-match words last Monday. Even in their darkest hour, the captain rallied his team, vowing, “we’re not going to experience this kind of defeat again, never in the same way.”

Indeed, the team’s 8-1 response may explain why Wilde described their loss to Furness as a “minor blip”. Paying credit to his team, he said, “Well then boys, only one thing I can say about last night, and that is…bloody fantastic”.

A special shout-out ought to go to Taylor Hopkinson (aka Hoppo) who claimed a 2-0 victory over his opponent in his first-ever competitive darts match. He then went on to rub in his win in typical fashion with “mesmerising dance moves”, as described by teammates. It was an impressive performance all round from the Lonnie team; with only Paul McCarthy dropping a game, and Lewis Morgan managing to complete a whole match without being punched in the face – unlike last year.

It was far more an uphill battle for the Pool squads. Scraping a 5-4-win in the first round, the Lonsdale As were unable to do the same this week, narrowly losing at home 4-5. This was a heartache that, according to some sources, could have been avoided if not for the absence of star player Paul McCarthy – who also caused the only upset for the Darts squad.

Rohit Jha gave an impressive opening account, described as “an excellent performance”, but home advantage verged on non-existence as the hosts suffered a series of unlucky losses before a 7-ball loss in the deciding frame.

“We were tactically disadvantaged from the start, being a man down, all credit to County for some really great performances, we know what we have to do to improve, and we’re excited to put our best game into practice next week.”

A-Team Captain, John Hutchinson.

The Bs managed to follow in the footsteps of the darts – after a disappointing start to the season (losing to Furness 7-2) – responding with a 6-3 win away at County. Determined not to fall foul of obscure nominating rules this week Marco Fok gave an exhibitory performance and, “thrilled” skipper, Viren Pangrekar wrapped up the match, as well as an incredibly tense and well-fought frame from Muhammad Fathurrahman which lasted almost half an hour!

As usual, the chat from the Lonnie Lions was out in ferocious force, at some points visibly affecting the hosts, who caved under incredible opening performances from Ben Smart and Jai Pangrekar. Despite a masterful performance from the County Captain, Lonsdale comfortably secured a much-needed victory to move into week 3 of the inter-college contest. All three teams go again in Week 4 against Grizedale, hoping to capitalise on this week’s momentous successes.