Aberdeen was treated to a night of darting excellence on Thursday and they responded to it exceptionally. The final match of the night was arguably the best of the tournament so far and the race for the play-offs has been blown wide open.
The Flying Scotsman 8- 4 The Bull
Anderson looked a little edgy right at the start of the contest, but still managed to kick off with a 15-darter, including a maximum, to claim the first leg. He went even better in the second, scoring another 180 and going out in just 12 darts.
The Scot made it three maximums in three legs, eventually taking out d5 after getting booed for not attempting a bull finish. The crowd made up for this with a resounding “Oh Gary Gary” song immediately after the leg.
Despite another 180 from Anderson, The Bull claimed the fourth leg, but the Scot hit yet another maximum in the fifth to 4-1 up.
The sixth leg was the first without an Anderson 180, and he payed the price as Jenkins stepped in to finish off 60 on tops and keep in touch at 4-2 down. The double twenty was only his second dart at a double and Jenkins had nailed them both, but was still two down.
Anderson came back from the interval and hit his sixth 180 in claiming the seventh leg, but Jenkins kept up his 100% finishing record by taking out 111 and hanging onto the local hero’s coat tails.
It didn’t look like Anderson was ever going to lose his own throw though as he comfortably took the ninth leg, and then bagged his seventh maximum to kick off the tenth leg and capitalised on Jenkins failing on doubles for the first time to secure at least a point.
He wrapped up the game with consummate ease with The Bull way back on 310 and managed to maintain his ton-plus average, ending up on 101.25.
It was a really polished performance from Anderson, and he will have banished many of the demons from Glasgow after the exemplary performance from the crowd. He’s back on track to qualify comfortably now and I fully expect him to do so.
Terry Jenkins will probably throw as well as that and win games, but when you’re facing a man who is going to hit a maximum in pretty much every leg then you need to be at your very best, and The Bull wasn’t quite there. Things don’t look great for Terry, and defeat to Taylor next week could leave him with far too much work to do to qualify for the play-offs.
Jackpot 3 – 8 The Machine
Both men started a little nervously with Wade missing five darts at doubles to break in the first, but Lewis eventually hit d10 to go one up. The World Champ wasn’t so generous in the next though and got the first break of the game.
The Machine grabbed his first maximum off the contest on his way to winning the third leg and getting off the mark, he then polished off 77 in winning the fourth and the match was level again.
Wade then made it three legs in a row after Jackpot missed three chances at doubles to concede on his own throw. Lewis was looking well out of sorts by the interval as he missed more chances to let Wade in again and lose his fourth leg on the spin.
The Machine was in fine form as he got yet another break of throw, finishing d19 and going 5-2 up and then won his sixth in a row, although not exactly convincingly on d5.
Lewis finally picked up his third leg in the ninth, but it looked too little too late as Wade confidently held his own throw to secure the draw and then finished off 60 to claim an 8-3 victory.
It was one of the lowest quality games of the competition so far with Wade picking up the win with just a 92 average, but he won’t care about that as he keep his hopes of a top four spot alive, just. He will have to perform better than that to make it though.
Lewis just had a bad day at the office I think, but he can’t really afford any more of them with competition for third and fourth place rife at the minute.
Webby 1 – 8 The Power
Things looked good for the Welshman early on as he hit the first maximum of the contest and capitalised on Taylor’s three misses at doubles to take the first leg.
This was the highlight of the night though for Webby as he missed d19 to take the second leg and The Power levelled things up with tops, then a 104 checkout put the world number one in the lead for the first time.
It looked like Webster might have had a chance in the fourth after a 180, but The Power easily removed 76 to go two up. He then reeled off the next two legs in style to go in at the break 5-1 up and looking completely in control.
Webby came out after the interval and hit nothing under three figures in the seventh leg but still lost it as The Power nailed a bull finish. If the Welshman wasn’t dejected enough already then that really killed him off as Taylor took the final two with consummate ease and claimed the match by seven legs.
This could really be curtains for Mark Webster now as the defeat sends him to the bottom of the table with the outright lowest points and leg difference. He didn’t throw too badly, but it was nowhere near good enough to compete with Taylor, and I should think that the exact same thing could happen next week as he faces Anderson.
The Power simply continues to march on and if he maintains anything like this form he will finish top of the league by some way.
Barney The Wizard
The two men started as they meant to go on here as they both narrowly missed ton-plus finishes, but it was the 180 from The Wizard that had made the difference and allowed him to break at the first opportunity. He then only needed two darts to take out 80 in the second and go two up.
The Dutchman immediately recovered though as he comfortably held his own throw in the third, but Whitlock did exactly the same and then hit an 11-darter to go 4-1 up. The Aussie flinched in the sixth though as he missed four darts at doubles and Barney stepped in to reduce the deficit to two.
Barney just about managed to hold his throw in the seventh, but Whitlock emphatically did the same next up finishing 102. The Australian narrowly missed a 170 finish, but that’s all Barney needed as he finished off 76 to stay within one leg.
Whitlock didn’t look like losing on his own throw though as he again took it comfortably and took his maximum tally to level with the Premier League record with eight. Barney wasn’t quite so emphatic on his own throw, but he was managing to win them still as he took the eleventh and make it 6-5.
Barneveld finally had a chance to break throw in the twelfth, but he missed d9 and Whitlock stepped up to at least secure the draw and he managed to break once more and take the match 8-5.
It was a contest of the highest quality and although Whitlock dominated the majority of it, Barney certainly played his part with a 104.5 average. The result leaves them both on 10 points, but with Whitlock slightly
ahead on leg difference so he takes third spot.
It’s going to be a real scrap for the play-off positions and these two will certainly be involved right to the end. If they both keep playing like this then they should make it, but it’s too close to call right now with Lewis and now Wade pushing hard.
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