The Bull 1 – 8 The Wizard
Things looked ominous for The Bull early on as Whitlock hit an 11-darter in the first and looked straight away to be at his very best to immediately break Jenkins. The next two legs went with throw and Terry by no means looked like he was going to be routed, despite the Aussie’s form, but unfortunately that was as good as it got for The Bull.
The Wizard took the next three to go into the break 5-1 up, but as well as he was playing it was still harsh on Jenkins who was throwing a near enough 100 average and looked good, just not quite as good as Whitlock.
Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said after the interval as The Bull couldn’t find the treble whereas Whitlock continued to pepper the sixty. The Wizard wrapped up the final three legs pretty comfortably to give Jenkins his second thrashing in two weeks and leave him looking pretty dejected at the bottom of the table.
Things look bleak for The Bull, but it is still very early doors and he has been unlucky to face players at the peak of their form. He’s not out of it yet, but if he doesn’t get anything off Mark Webster in Manchester, then it will start to get very hard for the former finalist.
The Wizard, in comparison, is on the up after a slow start and is showing the form that we all expected from him. He dipped just below a 100 average against Jenkins, but at times was over 110 which opened up the big lead and allowed him to cruise to victory. He’s third in the table now, and if he can keep this scoring and decent finishing up, then he’ll stay near the top.
Webby 8 – 2 Lewis
This really was a key match for both men involved as they had each lost two in a row and needed a morale and most importantly points boost from their fourth match. It was only one man who got those things though as Mark Webster put in an incredible performance averaged 110 and completely destroyed the current World Champ.
It started well for the Welshman with a 15-darter and 101 checkout in the first, however it looked like we were going to have a close one as Lewis dramatically took out d20, d20 for 80 In the second.
Webster was not to be deterred as he kept up his moniker as king of the ton-plus finishes with a Shanghai finish in the third, but Lewis wasn’t going anywhere either finishing off 93 to level up again, meaning after four legs the lowest checkout was 80.
This incredible display of finishing continued in the fifth as Webby took out his third ton-plus with his biggest of the night, taking out 124, and was still 100% on his doubles. He again only needed one dart in the sixth leg as Webster made it 4-2 to take the first break of throw.
At the interval Lewis was averaging 97 and 50% on the doubles but Webster was over 105 and 100%, the standard was unbelievable and it continued when they returned as Webby again only needed one dart to make it 5-2. It wasn’t until the eighth leg that the Welshman missed a double, but it didn’t matter as he’d set up double 10 to give himself three goes at it, and it was his third that made it 6-2.
It was back to one dart magic though in the ninth as he remained clinical on double top, despite immense pressure from Jackpot and then he did the same in the final leg and wrapped up an absolutely sensational victory. Averaging 110.19, hitting 8/10 doubles will win you any match you care to compete in, and a man who is capable of that is capable of winning this tournament without a doubt. The only question is, can he repeat it?
For the World Champion, he is reeling after the euphoria of week one, to lose three in a row is devastating and he finds himself languishing in sixth. He faces in-form Whitlock next week, and really needs at least a draw, which will be anything but easy.
The Flying Scotsman 8 – 3 The Machine
The third match of the night didn’t kick off with the quality expected of it, but it did start going the way I expected it to go. What was surprising was that in the very first leg Wade had an excellent chance to break Anderson’s throw, what was less of a surprise in the form he’s in is that he didn’t take it. This cost him dearly as he didn’t have a shot at the double in the next three and found himself four nil down in no time at all.
The Machine seemed to be finally sparking into life in the fifth leg, as he hit a 180, then was a whisker away from a 161 finish. Anderson missed two at double 18 and this allowed Wade to pick up his first leg of the night on his favourite double 10, although the look on his face said one out of five legs was not going to cheer him up too much. He took the next leg on the same double though to truly stop the rot and go in at the break just two down.
The next three went with throw as Wade was throwing more consistently, but then it all went to pot for the 2009 champ in the tenth leg as he completely lost his radar and let Anderson in to break his throw and guarantee at least a point, making it 7-3. The Scot then finished it off in slightly odd fashion on double 4, but they all count, and he picked up yet another comfortable victory.
The Anderson machine roles on and he was thoroughly impressive again in his fourth Premier League outing. The last thing I want to do is knock the man who has turned in performance after performance but all I would say is he hasn’t had a major challenge yet. He has been fairly fortunate with facing his opponents when he has done, particularly Webster and Whitlock who he met just at the right times. This will all change against Taylor in Manchester, and I can’t wait to see what happens.
Wade needs to sort his form out and fast. It’s not too late for him as he showed with his slow start last year, but something needs to change, Barney next week would be a perfect chance to show everyone he can still do it.
Barney 3 – 8 The Power
There was no doubt what the most anticipated match of the night was and that was the latest in the saga that is Barney v The Power. Any match between the two legends of the game is greatly anticipated but this one more than most as both come into it in scintillating form after four big wins between them over the last two weeks.
After two legs though, it seemed that maybe the match had been overhyped as the pressure got to the Dutchman from the off. He was broken in the first and then lost the second to be two nil down, rueing his miss at double top as he was on Shanghai in the opener. It was the third leg though that was effectively the end of the game you felt as Barney was comfortably ahead and then missed two at tops, but with Taylor on 147 he thought he’d be back. Not so, as The Power whistled through T20, T17, D18 and you could see Barneveld’s spirit being broken as it went in.
The assault didn’t end there as Taylor predictably held his own throw and then an incredible 10-darter was next up to make it 5-0 and there was simply nothing Barneveld could do about it.
There was something he could do about it in the sixth as he had two darts at tops against the throw and didn’t get near. Taylor stepped up and showed him how it’s done as he demolished 106 to make it 6-0 at the break. For what was billed as the closest match of the tournament so far, it was the only one so far to be completely one-sided at the interval. Taylor wasn’t scoring as heavily as he might, but at the break he’d hit six out of seven doubles, and that is what makes the difference so often.
Barney at least avoided the disgrace of a whitewash as he picked up his first leg on his return to the oche, but even then, Taylor had a chance against the throw as he missed a double for only the second time. However, it was some Barney magic in the eighth as he took out 111 to claw another leg back, and then he held his own throw again to make it 6-3. The excitement was starting to build as Barneveld was showing character that we see far too rarely from him these days.
The pressure was too much though it seemed as a bizarre tenth leg saw Barneveld miss five darts at doubles and then Taylor eventually take it on double one to guarantee himself a point. The last leg was another strange one as both men missed bull finishes and then darts at double 8, but it was Taylor who composed himself to finish it off on the left of the board to clinch the win.
It was at times imperious from Taylor, but also at times poor, especially on the scoring, and although Anderson will have been quaking in his boots at 6-0, he will have felt a lot better about everything at the climax of that game. The Power is still a mighty force on the oche, but still not quite at his best.
Barney, I’m afraid, just couldn’t quite live up to the hype. If he’d have taken out double top to win the first leg it could have been a totally different story, but he didn’t and he crumbled after that. This would suggest his challenge for top spot is unlikely to amount to anything, but don’t write him off getting to finals day just yet.
So it's Anderson top and Taylor second, and guess who's facing each other next week, the top two, I can't wait!
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