WITH three rounds of fixtures left and the Weymouth ADC Summer League title wrapped up a long time ago it is looking like a four-way battle to see who takes second spot.

In his first season, Sam Ward has dominated the league so far, only losing two out of his 37 matches and with four games still in hand it would take a massive shock for there to be any other winner.

Currently holding on to second spot is winter champion Danny Aplin who has a four game win over fifth spot Andy Masters, in between second and fifth and, only a couple wins behind, is Andrew McDermott and Mel Burton.

Over recent weeks, all four have failed to capitalise on each other’s mistakes and have lost over the last few rounds of fixtures

After going seven unbeaten and Aplin starting off with a 3-1 success against Mark Samways, Paul Paice put a stop to his good run by winning their cagey match 3-2.

Both players scored well in the opening legs but both missed match doubles in the decider before Paice hit double two to continue his good run.

Terry Tucker should have inflicted another defeat on Aplin leading twice and again missing numerous match doubles before going on to lose 3-2.

McDermott had a golden opportunity to go into second spot but once again couldn’t capitalise as he only ended up with one victory out of three on the night.

This would be in his first match where he dominated Simon Sharpe and hit a double at the first time of asking, 93, 100 and 64 to take the win 3-0.

That’s where it ended for McDermott as Arnie Quinn, who hit three 180s, should really have won their contest 3-0 but eventually the latter took out a 16-dart deciding leg to win 3-2. It was the same scoreline in favour of Chris Stones versus McDermott.

The happiest out of the chasing pack was Mel Burton, whose team had a bye so seeing players around him drop points will give him a boost for the next round of fixtures.

Andy Masters won both his contests with relative ease 3-0 versus both Heidi Paice and Chris Burton. Masters highlight was a 117 shot out against Paice.

Biggest cheer of the night came in the husband and wife battle as Heidi Paice claimed a rare 3-2 victory over partner Matty.

Other standout performances came in the way of Adam McKay who has quietly gone under the radar of late but producing win after win, could see him sneak into a play-off position.

On paper, taking on arguably one of the strongest teams McKay defeated Arnie Quinn 3-1, Stones 3-2 and Sharpe 3-1 for another clean sweep on the night.

Sharpe did however, take some consolation from the night winning his match versus Scott Gannon 3-0.

Gannon massively out scored all his opponents in all three matches but came away without a single leg to his name.

First Time Luckies team look like they have the team league wrapped up as consistent good performances from all three team members means they are still undefeated, with Ward in their ranks and him claiming another three wins (3-1 Davis, 3-0 Long, 3-2 Churchill).

Drew Tweedy claimed two opening impressive wins 3-1 versus Long then 3-2 against Churchill before coming unstuck against the dogged character that is Nige Davis.

Not getting the rewards from some good darts this summer, Davis lost his opening two matches to Ward and then Matty Betts (3-0) but won his final match of the night 3-2 over Tweedy.

Betts however, couldn’t continue from last week’s good showing by losing his other two matches 3-1 versus Churchill and Long.

Paul Paice and Trevor Honnor had a heated affair in their match with Honnor taking it 3-2 in the end but cunning gaming tactics came into as Honnor played the player and not the board.

There was a huge roar from Paice as he hit double 16 to draw level and it came down to who could hold nerve and take the deciding leg.

A double two claimed victory in the end for Honnor, 3-0 win over Mel Gregg started Paicer’s night off lovely.

Mark Samways had a Jekyll and Hyde type of evening playing four, he won two lost two with two 100 plus check outs and two down dead and buried versus Gregg he somehow even in the deciding leg and over 200 points behind managed to claim a 3-2 victory.

A good 3-0 win over Honnor was then followed by an impressive 3-1 over Wayne Jordan who himself didn’t play badly at all taking the opening leg in 14 darts saw Samways end with two wins.

Although a good performance from Jordan against Samways and a 3-0 versus Heidi Paice, Jordan didn’t do to many things right in his defeat to Chris Burton who won their contest 3-1.

Terry Tucker once again deserved more from the night than his results showed, really should have beat Aplin in his final contest. He suffered a 3-0 loss to Honnor before winning against Gregg by the same scoreline.