Hot night of Premier League Darts
The battle for the final play-off spots in the Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts will go to the final round in Nottingham next week. Five players were in the hunt last night, and still will be going into the last round of fixtures.
Phil Taylor, who has already qualified for the play-offs, remains undefeated after beating Terry Jenkins 8-5. The Power made it 11 wins out of 13, recording an average of 100.23, and hitting three 180s and 13 140-pluses, leaving Jenkins rooted to the bottom of the table. “I'm pleased with the win and to get another good performance under my belt," said Taylor. "It was a difficult game because I've already qualified and Terry can't make the play-offs so he had nothing to play for, but I concentrated and did the job.
"It was a good atmosphere and the fans seemed to enjoy the match. Terry is a consistent player but he's had a disappointing season and he's looking to get back to where he can be, and he showed some signs of that in this game,” Taylor said.
Four of the five players fighting for the play-off places played each other last night. Simon Whitlock and James Wade did battle, with Whitlock coming out on top 8-4, leaving the defending champion needing a win in the final round to qualify.
Both players were tied on 12 points heading into the clash, and the win now moves the Australian to 14 points and second in the table. The pair shared the first four legs, before Whitlock took a 4-2 lead by hitting four out of five doubles. Wade pulled a leg back, but the 2010 PDC world championship runner-up took the next three legs, and clinched victory with a 100 checkout. Whitlock had a lower average than Wade, 97.84 to Wade’s 98.07, but consistently hit his doubles, eight out of 13, and taking out the big finishes like he has done throughout the competition.
“I knew I needed a good result and I've got a win so I'm very happy with that. Being in fifth spot going into the game and knowing I needed at least a draw meant there was a lot of pressure. I've been working hard on my finishing again recently and it paid off for me. If my finishing is there my scoring usually flows and it did. It's down to me next week now. Mervyn King will be ready for me and it will be a big game but hopefully I can get the win again and make sure of a play-off spot,” said Whitlock.
Raymond van Barneveld hampered play-off hopeful King’s chances by beating him 8-5 to move off the bottom of the table. Barney cannot get into the play-offs, but he followed up his magnificent nine-darter from last week to record back to back wins. The Dutchman took a 4-0 lead and missed double tops to go five clear. This allowed King to gain momentum and he levelled with checkouts of 80, 130 and double tops. Van Barneveld responded well, and took four of the five final legs to win. Barney finished with an average of 97.43 compared to King’s poor average of 87.27.
“Last week it was a great relief for me to get the win and it's given me a lot of confidence. I was determined to get the win tonight and I hope I can finish as high as possible in the league. I'm great friends with Mervyn but I have to do my job and I don't want to finish eighth, and I had to get the win,” said Van Barneveld.
Ronnie Baxter and Adrian Lewis, the other two players in contention for qualification, played out a 7-7 draw, leaving Baxter in the play-off positions and Lewis with only a slim chance of qualifying. Baxter missed eight match darts to claim the vital two points having blown a 7-5 lead. Lewis was 3-1 in front after capitalising on missed doubles by Baxter, but The Rocket managed to square the match at the break with finishes of double tops and 88 on the bulls-eye.
The players traded the next four legs, before Baxter took the next two legs, breaking the throw with a 100 checkout to go within one of the victory. However, he missed four match darts to win 8-5, and Lewis took it to the final leg, in which Baxter again missed another four match darts, leaving Lewis to scramble a point.
“The winning double can be so hard to hit sometimes and you never know if it will go in. It's just the width of that wire sometimes and it was on the wrong side tonight. I've still got a point, though, and that might prove important at the end of next week,” said Baxter.
Jackpot Lewis must now beat 15-time world champion Taylor and rely on other results to guarantee his place in the last four. “There was a lot of pressure on us both tonight and I'm disappointed with my performance. I was probably lucky to get the draw in the end but I should have been 5-1 up at the break and could have kicked on from there, but I wasn't and left myself with too much to do to win it,” said Lewis.
It will be all to play for in the final week at The Trent FM Arena in Nottingham.
Tags: