Albyn Video Games: The score was Toby Penwarden 4, Davy Henderson 5 in a very close final.

The 'B' and 'C' league boys took centre stage on Friday night, with the first of the 'B' intercounty ranking competitions taking place in the Legion. Since it began, the Albyn Video Games Shield has seen quite a few of it's victors progress to eventually represent the KDDL Orkney side in the main intercounty fixture in future seasons. With this in mind, numbers were predicted to be higher than the 26 that participated, but it was encouraging to see the bulk of those taking part were under 30 years old. There seems to be a genuine hunger for these boys to make the 'B' county squad, and that can only be a good thing for the local game.

It may have been a competition for the lower leagues, but some of the darts on display was of a very high standard and it was encouraging to see those waiting for their games applauding the best of that on show. Toby Penwarden epitomised this with a show of force that would have challenged the very top 'A' league players on the night. And despite how well he was playing, he still had to survive match darts against in the first round and semi-finals as he progressed to the final.

Meeting him there would be the less spritely Davy Henderson who used every bit of his experience to glide through the draw. A previous winner of not only this competition, but also a main ranking event, a mouthwatering final awaited.

The final was every bit as nerve tingling as predicted, albeit sligthly lacking the quality both had shown in previous rounds. In most legs, both players came down in the scoring reasonably equally, both having shots at the doubles, with Davy using his experience well in timing double-treble visits at the business end of legs to pile the pressure on Toby. With the score sitting at 4-3 to Davy, he put in another big visit to leave himself 32 to come back to, but Toby produced the shot of the night, hitting two treble 18s and tops for a 148 checkout to force the decider. They say the roar at Hampden registered on the richter scale last Tuesday evening, and it would be a surprise if Toby's didn't do the same following that checkout!

Unfortunately for Toby, the danger of a spur of the moment outburst is the sudden surge of adrenaline, which can make it hard to settle into the next leg, and so it seemed as he struggled to find the treble. Hendo meanwhile did enough to put himself comfortably ahead and, despite Toby briefly finding parity, it was only the elder statesman who reached the doubles. It took a few darts to hit, but eventually Davy took out double 5 to seal the win 5-4.

Results:

Albyn Video Games Shield Final: Davy Henderson 5 Toby Penwarden 4

'A' League:

Untouchables 8, Exiles 4

Sanday 5, OGC 7

Tankerness 5, Wanderers 7

Legion 12, Ale Stars 0

'B' League:

Rough 'n' Rowdy 6, Sands 6

Bellevue 7, Quoyburray 5

Quoyburray 'B' 4, Young Loons 8

Muppets 2, Bilco Boys 10

'C' League:

Exporters 5, Vikings 7

Sands '2' 7, Nomads 5

Outcasts 5, Shandy Bass 7

180s were scored by: Robbie Stanger, Billy Ward, Stevie Garner, Erland Ritch, Kevin Sarling, Paul Foubister, Trevor Shearer, Kevin Peace, Gordy Rendall, Erlend Lennie, Jim Brown, Keith Brumpton, Brian Moar, Gavin Linklater, Jamie Drever, Derek Ward, Keith Bain, Davy Henderson, Stephen Griffiths, Brian Stevenson, Richie Ballantyne, Thomas Leslie, Wilfie Tulloch (two), Stevie Linklater (two), Kevin Gray (three), Ally Linklater (three) and Toby Penwarden (four). Derek Firth, Davy Henderson and Billy Ward all registered scores of 171 as well.

High Checkouts: George Low 100, Karl Scott 100, Davy Henderson 100, Ian Findlay 101, Derek Ward 103, Brian Stevenson 103, Robbie Stanger 103, Ivan Rendall 104, Kieran Doherty 106, Jamie Drever 109, Bruce Moar 110, Raymond Foubister 111, Jim Brown 114, Kevin Sarling 114, Graham Firth 115, Erlend Lennie 116, Kevin Peace 120, Billy Ward 123, Andy Green 125, Allu Linklater 132, 116 and Toby Penwarden 148, 104.

Short Legs: Erlend Lennie 15, Kevin Gray 15, Billy Ward 15, Graham Firth/Damian Stout 14, Erland Ritch 14, Trevor Shearer 14, Ian Linklater 14, Toby Penwarden/Michael Montgomery 13, Wayne Monkman 13, Toby Penwarden 13, 14, 15.

Fixtures:

'A' League:

Ale Stars v Untouchables

Sanday v Exiles

Tankerness v OGC

Legion v Wanderers

'B' League:

Bilco Boys v Rough 'n' Rowdy

Bellevue v Sands

Young Loons v Quoyburray

Muppets v Quoyburray 'B'

'C' League:

Shandy Bass v Exporters

Bull Hitters v Vikings

Sands '2' v EMYFC

Outcast v Nomads

Friday December 5, Festive Open Singles (Ranking), Masonic, 7.30pm