The Machine 8 – 4 The Bull
With the pressure off both men, it brought the best out of one of them as James Wade put in some spectacular darts to claim his second win over Terry Jenkins in the tournament.
The first two legs were of the absolute highest quality from Wade who fired in two maximums in the first on his way to an 11-darter. Then he earned himself £1000 as he picked up his second 170 finish of the competition to break early on.
Wade held throw again to go three up, but a sloppy leg from both in the fourth saw Jenkins pinch it to get his first on the board.
The Machine showed who was in control of the game in the fifth leg though as he polished off his second huge finish of the night with a 142 to go three ahead again. The Bull was tenacious as ever though as he took the final leg before the break to remain in touch despite clearly being second best.
Wade looked like the break had affected him as Jenkins looked like he was going to claim a first break of throw, but missed two chances at a finish, The Machine didn’t make the same mistake as he finished off 104 to win the leg.
The former Premier League champ wasn’t struggling at all on his doubles, unlike his opponent as he hit tops to go four up for the first time.
The ninth leg was a bizarre one with Terry eventually taking it on double two having kicked off with five perfect darts. Jenks took the next one too to get back within two legs and give himself some hope of a result.
The Machine secured himself the point though next up with another 180 helping him on his way and then claimed the victory in comfortable fashion in just the twelfth leg.
James Wade looked in magnificent form at times during this game, but obviously it was too little too late as far as his league campaign goes. If he can continue like this though he will have a really good chance at the UK Open. Terry Jenkins will be disappointed with going out of the tournament fairly limply and will now need a pretty big year to get back into the Premier League.
Webby 3 – 8 Van Barneveld
Barney looked to pick up some momentum going into his huge semi-final clash with Gary Anderson and managed to do so with an impressive win over the hapless Welshman.
The match kicked off in sensational fashion as the Dutchman fired in a 180, but managed to lose the leg with Webster finishing off a 109, things were levelled up quickly though as Barney almost matched the achievement with a 107 checkout.
The third leg was the first without a ton-plus finish, but Barneveld still got rid of 82 as he picked up the first break of throw and then held his own comfortably to open up a two leg lead for the firs time.
Webster wasn’t getting blown away though as he has done in some other weeks as he claimed the fifth leg with a simple 60 finish. Barney took the next one though to go in at the interval 4-2 ahead.
The game was very much in the balance when the pair returned to the oche as he took out another three figure finish, this time 108 and kept very much within touching distance of his opponent.
Barney didn’t look like he was going to lose his own throw at all, comfortably holding the eighth leg, and then managing to break for the second time, bizarrely on double one to move closer to victory.
He went to the hill with a 60 finish, but was made to wait a little longer for his two points as Webby made the score more respectable with his fourth leg. It got no better than that for Webster though as Barney took the twelfth leg to win with relative ease again.
Barney is looking very good indeed going into the play-offs and will be very confident about his clash with the Scot at Wembley. It’ll be an incredibly close game, and it’ll be very hard to call.
Webster will be pleased the league is over now I should think and he will go away and regroup ahead of next month’s UK Open where hopefully he will have refound some form.
Jackpot 7 – 7 The Flying Scotsman
The World Champion booked his place at Wembley thanks to a hugely entertaining contest with his fellow semi-finalist Gary Anderson which saw them share the spoils.
Lewis kicked things off in style with a 13-darter and was looking very comfortable. The next two went with throw but what looked like a turning point came in the fourth leg as Anderson missed six clear darts at doubles and was looking shakey to let Lewis in and break.
Jackpot was three legs ahead in no time at all, holding throw in the fifth, but the Scot’s heavy scoring was enough to claim him the sixth and go in just 4-2 down at the break.
Lewis immediately extended his lead after the interval, but then the tide suddenly turned out of nowhere. Anderson held throw comfortably in the eighth and then threw a 180 followed by a 165 on his way to a 10-darter and a break of throw. Then suddenly the match was level following a double one finish and Jackpot was shell-shocked.
The eleventh leg kicked off with a 180 for the Scot who claimed it and went ahead for the first time in the match. He then fired in yet another maximum, but again had to finish on a strange double, this time three, but
he didn’t care which one it was as he secured himself the draw.
Anderson had a huge chance to win in the thirteenth leg as he missed three shots at doubles to allow Lewis back in to take the contest to a decider, and what a decider it was as both hit maximums but it was Lewis who pinched it and secured his semi-final place.
It was an incredible game of the highest quality and at times both men looked like they could go on to be Premier League champions, especially Gary Anderson during his five leg spree when he looked like he couldn’t miss the treble twenty.
In a way it was the perfect way to go into the play-offs as both will be confident and in good spirits, for the good of the game, it was certainly the best result.
The Power 8 – 3 The Wizard
Neither were playing for very much in the last match of the night but in the form Phil Taylor is in, it is always an entertaining spectacle.
The world number one opened up the match with a maximum and went on to win the first leg comfortably, but Whitlock wasn’t intimidated as he fired in a 180 of his own in the second to even things up.
The Power looked slightly out of sorts as he missed numerous darts at finishes, but still just about claimed the third leg, and then was right back on form to take the first break of throw of the game in the fourth.
A classy bull finish gave The Power the fifth leg and by this stage Whitlock was looking completely off colour, struggling to score anything over 60, and he duly lost the sixth leg as well without presenting much of a
challenge.
The interval seemed to improve The Wizard’s arrows as he hit a 180 on return, but unfortunately for him it didn’t do Taylor any harm either as he hit consecutive maximums to open up a five leg lead.
Whitlock had a chance at tops to get another leg on the board but couldn’t manage it and Taylor was in no mood to let him off as he secured the draw on the same double.
The Wizard showed what stern stuff he is made of though as he produced his best leg of the game to break throw in the ninth with a 92 finish and then held throw in the next to reduce his arrears to 7-3.
That was as much as the Aussie could manage though as he couldn’t quite manage another break of throw and The Power picked up his thirteenth win of the tournament.
Inconsistency is what has cost Simon Whitlock this year and that showed in this game alone, as he went through a patch when he couldn’t hit a treble and then hit some form late on in the game. If he can rediscover his unerring accuracy, especially on the doubles, he’ll be right back up there challenging, as he isn’t too far away when he isn’t even at his best.
It is almost impossible to bet against Phil Taylor now in the finals. He might not hit as many 180s as some, but he doesn’t ever seem to hit anything much below 100, and coupling this with his incredible finishing means that he is relentless and over powering for most. It’s a brave person who will back anyone but him to lift the trophy in Wembley.
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