WITH only three weeks left before the final play-off positions are settled its looking like a two-horse race between Andrew McDermott and Danny Aplin to see who takes the honour of finishing top of the table in the Weymouth ADC League.

Both players claimed three out of three wins but it was Andy Masters who produced the darts of the night, winning all four of his matches and dropping just two legs and hitting three 100-plus check-outs along the way.

On a night that saw 20 180s hit and nine 100-plus out-shots the competition building up to finals night is stepping up a gear.

Masters opened up the evening with two 4-1 wins over Wayne Jordan and then Billy Short, hitting a 147 out-shot.

In a battle of father versus son, Andy Masters dominated son Stewart Masters, whitewashing him 4-0, this scoreline would be repeated in his success over Scott Gannon.

McDermott’s night was made easier with the last-minute withdrawal of Sam Ward, whose absence meant McDermott, Short and Nathan Smith claimed 4-0 wins over the champion.

Dave Butler had no answer to McDermott’s high scoring and clinical finishing, losing 4-0 before a great game against Mel Burton saw both players hit a maximum each in a 4-2 victory for the current leader.

Danny Aplin sits just a point behind McDermott as he dropped only the one leg all night and that being to a fantastic 15-dart-leg from Matty Betts.

Two 15-dart-legs in Aplin’s first match saw him triumph 4-0 over Chris Burton and he then ended with the same scoreline against Jordan Caughlin.

Four 180s on the evening from Arnie Quinn helped him get back to winning ways, after a recent run of poor results.

Quinn started by beating Scott Gannon 4-1 before a very impressive comeback against Paul Dormer saw him come out eventually with the 4-2 success.

Terry Tucker also put up a spirited performance, just coming up short in the end as Quinn clinched his second 4-2 win of the evening.

Mark Samways carried on from last week’s great performance by claiming another three victories and a draw in his four matches.

Trailing 2-1 to Paul Paice, Samways once again dug in and came out with the 4-2 win.

Samways had back-to-back 4-0 successes and two 180s against Tucker and then Drew Tweedy, which made it three out of three before ending the night in a great match with Simon Churchill.

Samways trailed on two occasions but pegged Churchill back every time and forced the draw.

Despite a 4-0 lost to his dad, Stew Masters once again played some super darts as he opened up with a 4-0 win over Dormer before hitting two 180s in his draw with Paice.

Paice was 3-1 down and struggling to live with Masters high scoring but hit the crucial doubles at the right time and claimed the draw.

Trevor Honnor went home disappointed as he suffered his first defeat in three weeks, as Matty Betts whitewashed him in their first game of the evening 4-0.

Honnor did manage to claim one victory on the night, hitting a 116-out-shot in his 4-2 win over Churchill before ending it the same way it started by losing 4-1 to Dormer.

Mel Burton hit his 21st and 22nd 180 of the season on a night where Adam McKay was unlucky to come out with nothing in their match as Burton won 4-2.

Finally, Drew Tweedy condemned McKay to another 4-2 loss as well as opening up with a 4-0 triumph over Tucker. Check-out of the night went to Wayne Jordan who took out 132 on the bullseye to win his match with Billy Short 4-1, Nigel Davis Inflicted the same scoreline on Jordan in their contest. Davis had one of his best weeks as he took a point off the inform Smith as they drew 3-3 before ending the night in convincing fashion, beating Gannon 4-0.

Chris Burton kept his slight hopes of a play-off finish alive by hitting a 106 out shot in his 4-1 over Gannon and then ending the night beating Betts 4-1.

Dave Butler had a 105 and 102 out-shot on the night his only point come in his 3-3 draw with McKay. Butler was unlucky not to get a draw in his second match as Paul Paice had a little to much for him and came out with a 4-2 win.

Billy Short and Jordan Caughlin shared the spoils in their match 3-3.

180s: Quinn (4), S Masters (2), M Burton (2), Samways (2), McDermott (2), Tweedy, Aplin, Honnor, Jordan, Churchill, A Masters, Betts, Tucker

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