JUST half a mile separates the York and the Greyhound and this week they faced each other in a Bolton town centre derby which turned into a thriller which Greyhound just edged 8-7.

A couple of years ago I played for the Greyhound team at the York where we won promotion to Section Four before they relocated to the Greyhound last season.

I joined the team after my first long spell out of the game with dartitus and I remember how gutted I was to leave the team under the same circumstances in 2014.

I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time practising and playing against these two teams over one and a half enjoyable seasons, so I know what they are capable of.

First up was Danny Hardy of the York against the skipper of the Greyhound, Scott Daniels.

Hardy started well hitting scores of 95 and 100 to leave 62 but he never returned as Daniels hit an excellent 119 finish with treble 19, treble 12 and double 13 for the first leg.

That 119 was a sucker punch for Hardy as Daniels eased into a 2-0 lead hitting double 12 with his first dart in hand.

Hardy’s confidence seemed to disappear after that 119 finish after starting brightly and the experienced Daniels saw off the match hitting a 137 to leave 40 after 21 darts.

After missing 23 darts at double he finally pinned double two to give the Greyhound a 3-0 lead.

Second up was the gifted and experienced Alan Malloy of the York against his former team-mate Steven Gordon in the best match of the night.

Malloy kicked off in style finishing the first leg with scores of 140, 73 then finishing 61 in two darts with Gordon sat on 94 after hitting scores of 121 and 85.

Both players grew into the game in a fantastic second leg. Gordon hit scores of 138 and 100 and was then unlucky as he missed double 18 for a 107 finish to leave himself 18.

It was to be his last visit of the leg as Malloy hit another 140 and a 100 before easily dispatching double 16 for a 45 finish and a 17-dart leg.

It was soon to be 3-0 to Malloy in another leg where both players impressed.

Gordon hit scores of 80, 83, 100 and 81 to leave himself 56 but Malloy’s power scoring continued as he hit scores of 95, 100 and 85 before hitting double 10 to draw his team level at 3-3 and secure three crucial legs for the York.

Third up was Alan Jones of the York and Adam Taylor of the Greyhound.

Jones is the man responsible for getting Taylor and many others into darts and is a legend of the game in our town.

It was a slow game with both players showing each other too much respect.

I spoke to both after the game and they explained how difficult it was playing each other.

It was neck-and-neck all the way down to the finish with Jones hitting an 86 to leave 36 and Taylor hitting a 92 to leave 18.

Taylor never came back as Jones hit double 18 with his third dart in hand to give his team the lead for the first time in the match.

However, it wasn’t going to last long as Taylor produced his best darts of the match before leaving himself on 142.

He hit two treble 20s before hitting the inside wire of double 14 with his last dart which meant he had to return back to 142.

Jones went on to miss six darts at double before Taylor hit double 20 to level the game.

The final leg of the tie went the way of Jones as both players struggled under the pressure of the game.

Taylor missed darts at double 12 and double six as Jones returned after missing a couple of chances at 25 to hit double 11 with his first dart in hand. This gave the New Yorkers a 5-4 lead after Jones’s great 2-1 win.

The penultimate game of the evening featured Dave Hardy of the New Yorkers and Andy Dowson of the Greyhound in another excellent match which featured some great finishing and high scoring.

The first leg was neck to neck from the start and Hardy missed double 18 for a 116 finish.

He was given a further chance to win the leg with his next three darts which he missed at double nine before Dowson returned to finish 54 in two darts.

The next leg saw Hardy return the favour to Dowson after he missed seven darts at double. He then squared up the game hitting double six with his second dart to set up a nervy last leg.

And it looked like it was to be a great night for the New Yorkers with Hardy opening up with 180 and 100 to leave 221 after just six darts before Dowson hit 140, 85 and 79 to leave 48.

Hardy missed five match darts and Dowson returned to clean up the match hitting 48 with two darts.

This tied the game at 6-6 with Pete Rowland of the New Yorkers and William Gallagher of the Greyhound left to play.

Gallagher started on the front foot using the throw to his advantage as he quickly mopped up double 10 against his nervy opponent to put himself and his team into the lead.

Soon after it was two as he continued to throw steady darts and his opponent started to up his game.

Rowland missed double 20 for a 66 finish and returned to miss three darts at double 10 before Gallagher come back to hit double five with his third dart in hand to secure victory for his team.

Both players missed doubles in the final leg of the game with Gallagher missing 14 darts to win it 9-6 for the Greyhound before Rowland got the luck he deserved hitting double four with his first dart in hand.

Man of the match: Alan Malloy was a deserved man of the match throwing excellent darts throughout with some lethal finishing and consistent power scoring to give his team three legs against his impressive opponent Steven Gordon.