Gontier holds his nerve as Guernsey edge a thriller
ADAM GONTIER was just the hero Guernsey needed in a tense finish to their annual two-day clash against Kent’s Medway side.
Guernsey currently has more darts talent than ever according to statistician and joint-organiser Peter Allen, but there is a heavy weight on the shoulders of any player tasked with the decider of an important encounter.
Yet, with the scoreline delicately poised at 4-4 in Saturday’s trophy match, Gontier edged a back-and-forth contest against Liam Ambrose to push his team over the line at the Wayside Cheer oche.
Guernsey consequently retained their trophy and maintained their unbeaten record in a competition that has been running eight years, but as always the match against Medway – who play to a high level in Kent’s Superleague system – proved a hit for players across the board.
The home side, which included debuts for Geoffrey ‘Ringo’ Tostevin, Chris Hamon and notably past Channel Islands champion Shaun Allez, gained valuable exposure and soaked up a special atmosphere, which included walk-on music and a new stage built by Rob Davidson.
Action started with a lighter curtain-raiser on the Friday, with a different cast of Guernsey players combining to come back spectacularly from a 4-0 deficit and win 7-5.
That enabled the Sarnians to improve on last year’s draw, despite the outcome looking set to be so much worse.
Mick Ogier jnr won man of the match after a clean 3-0 victory over Gareth Cook.
Guernsey then brought their big guns out for Saturday’s showdown and even then they truly had to fight for it, coming close to their first loss in the competition’s history.
Simon de la Mare hit a 180 for Guernsey, as did Carl Gauvain and Callum Ferbrache, but the ‘Night Train’ lost 3-1 to a man of the match performance by Medway’s Lee Wood.
In the decider, Gontier lost his first leg to Ambrose, who soon made it 2-1, but the Guernseyman won the next three – the last two of which ran exceptionally close – to seal a decisive 4-2 victory.
Allen described that decider as ‘very, very tense to say the least’ and highlighted Guernsey’s current standard of play.
‘Regarding the Saturday team, we have got such an abundance of talent now – more than ever, I would say,’ he said.
‘There’s no shortage of players to pick from.
‘Ones we had expected to play really well did not, and vice versa.
‘We had a full-strength team out, and it’s a case of getting five of our nine to win. It does not matter who does it, as long as we do it.
‘It was such a fantastic weekend.’
