SIX Premiership teams progressed to round three of the Crewe Liberal Club Open League Team Knockout.

However, the one casualty among the top flight teams was last season’s winners West End LMR B, involved in what was undoubtedly the match of the round with newly promoted Division One outfit Oddfellows Club.

LMR B won the darts 5-2 but a 4-1 Oddies dominoes lead tied the scores at 6-all. LMR’s Bill Graham won the final singles dominoes game so the Oddies had to win both pairs games to progress, which they achieved with wins by James Nolan/Tony Probin and Chris Owens/Liam Mullaney.

LMR’s Dave Bickerton and Danny Ayres hit a 16 darter and a 180 respectively, Dave Coyne responding for the Oddies with a 16 dart win.

The remaining six top flight teams, Pioneers Club A, Delamere Arms, Nantwich Road ASLEF, Kings Arms A, Vine A and Commercial all had relatively easy passages to the next round with victories over lower division teams Broughton Arms, Dishers Club B, Horse Shoe, Duke of Bridgewater C, Rising Sun B and Bridge A.

Ken Cliffe (Vine A) won in 18 darts, concluded with a 99 kill and Shaun Done (Delamere) hit a 180.

The all Division Two clash between The Imp and Express also went down to the wire. Imp narrowly won the darts 4-3, but a 4-1 Express advantage at the board game put them 7-5 ahead, only for them to lose their way when a singles win by Karl Goodwin, who then teamed up with Berty Edwards for a pairs win and Steve Abbott and Cliff Garner winning the other pairs game put The Imp through with a narrow 8-7 win.

Hawk, from Division Three, gained an excellent 9-3 aggregate victory over Division One team Flying Lady A, taking the darts 6-2 and leading the dominoes 3-2 when they achieved their goal.

The all Division Three clash of Kings Arms B and Liberal Club was another nail-biter. Kings B easily won the darts 5-2, but a 5-1 Liberal lead at dominoes put them 7-6 ahead and needing to win just one of the pairs games to progress, which they did when captain Shaun Young and Ivan Pearce just edged out Phil Massey and Martin Wood.

Brunel Arms A coasted through with an easy 11-4 win at Captain Webb, as did Amalgamated B with a 9-4 win over visitors Vine B.

The sole Division Four qualifier White Lion (Copp) beat Hop Pole B 9-6 and from Division Five Prince of Wales D beat Duke of Bridgewater B 8-5, the Duke’s darts captain Trevor Dawson winning with a 102 finish.

Division Three’s Swan & Chequers were well tested by Dishers Club A from Division Five, a dominoes pairs win by the Swan’s Arthur Blakemore and Steve Warburton clinching a narrow 8-7 victory.

The draw for Round 3, to be played on Monday, November 24 is: The Imp v Hawk, Prince of Wales D v Brunel Arms A, Pioneers Club A v Nantwich Road ASLEF, Delamere Arms v Amalgamated B, White Lion (Copp) v Vine A, Kings Arms A v Oddfellows Club, Commercial v White Lion Ford Lane A and Liberal Club v Swan & Chequers.