Hertfordshire saw their impressive start to the British Darts Organisation Inter-Counties Championships come to an abrupt end as they suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Merseyside.
After two decent results against Bedfordshire and Cumbria, Hertfordshire were brought back down to earth with a bump as Merseyside cruised to a 25-11 overall victory.
The ladies’ team got off to a good start but Merseyside gradually clawed them back to earn a 3-3 draw.
A 3-2 individual win for Boxmoor’s Leigh Purkis could not prevent the Herts men from slipping to a 9-3 defeat, meaning Merseyside took a 12-6 lead into the second day’s play.
Knowing that they needed a quick-fire start if they were to salvage anything from the match, the Herts ladies quickly went 2-0 ahead – but again they were unable to stop their hosts from battling back to earn a 3-3 draw.
With the overall score now 15-9 in Merseyside’s favour, the Herts men were well and truly up against it, and they subsided to a dismal 10-2 defeat to hand the hosts a cosy overall win.
The defeat dropped Hertfordshire from top position down to fourth place in the league table. Their next fixture is at home to new leaders Sussex at the Shamrock Club at the end of this month.