DANNY Aplin kicked off the defence of his Weymouth ADC title with three wins out of three in the Premier Division but it was far from convincing as missed doubles from all his opponents could have easily seen results go the other way.

Aplin defeated Stew Masters and Trevor Honnor 3-1 either side of a 4-0 victory over Drew Tweedy.

Last season’s league leader Andrew McDermott started off convincingly with an opening 13-dart leg in his 4-0 win over Honnor before condemning Tweedy to his second defeat 3-1.

Simon Churchill should have handed McDermott an early season loss as he hit a 13-dart first leg but six missed match doubles to win 3-1. McDermott saved a point by hitting double eight and securing a point in a 2-2 draw.

Arnie Quinn produced arguably the darts of the night despite not winning a game in the first week as he came from 2-0 down against Andy Masters to hit two 14-dart legs and claim the draw. Another 14-darter saw him lead 2-1 against Mel Burton before the latter responded with a 15-darter himself and another draw. Quinn’s third draw came against Stew Masters.

Stew Masters ended the night with his only victory in a 3-1 success against wildcard entry Chris Burton.

Unfazed by the Premier Division, Burton drew his only other game of the night 2-2 with Andy Masters after trailing 2-0.

Mel Burton only took two legs to open up his 180 account and then hit a 106 out-shot in the next leg during his 3-1 success over Churchill, who claimed a great win in his final match beating Mark Samways 4-0.

Samways and Tweedy shared the points in their match that saw some great scoring by both and clinical double hitting while their opponents were waiting to take the match.

Andy Masters picked up the points in his match with Mel Burton with a 3-1 win.

In the Championship Division, Shaun Lampard carried on from his great end to the winter season and will be one of the favourites to gain promotion to the Premier Division as he won all three matches on the evening.

Opening up the night against another player who should be in the promotion hunt, Lampard beat Simon Sharpe 3-1. Another 3-1 win over Billy Short was followed by a 4-0 success over Terry Tucker to see Lampard sit at the top of the table.

Three new players entering the ADC league had mixed fortunes on their opening night.

Lloyd Honnor, brother to Trevor, showed opening night nerves and only managed to claim the one leg as he suffered a 3-1 loss to Matty Betts before two 4-0 losses in his next two matches against Billy Short and another newcomer in Barry Stratford.

Stratford picked up two wins with his second being another 4-0 win over the depleted Scotty Gannon. A 180 from Terry Tucker saw him win his contest with Stratford 4-0.

Gannon and Tucker picked up a point each in their match that ended 2-2. This draw would be Gannon’s only point as he opened his season with a 3-1 loss to Short.

The third addition to the ADC comes in the form of exciting prospect Eddie Knell who at 17 played some fantastic darts at times.

A nervy first game against the experienced Nige Davis saw the latter claim a 3-1 win before Knell picked up his first victory in a 3-1 success over Paul Paice.

Taking on Sharpe in his last game Knell hit a 121 out-shot to claim his only leg as Sharpe hit a 109 to win the match 3-1 making it his second win of the night.

Sharpe’s first win came over Davis 3-1.

Davis’ overall night yielded two wins as he added to his triumph over Knell by beating Betts by the same scoreline.

Paice’s slow start to his opening match saw Betts take the initiative and go into a 2-1 lead before Paice claimed the final leg and a draw from his two matches.

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