Friday 25 February 2011

Premier League Darts: Week Three

The third week of Premier League took place in the Odyssey Arena in Belfast. The home players knew they had a fight against the Celtic crowd with nearly all the English players getting some boos.

The first watch was an all Celtic affair as the two debutants faced off against each other. Anderson was looking to make it three wins out of three with Webster looking to come back from last week's defeat to Taylor. Unfortunately only one player turned up but both players missed countless doubles within the match. Anderson came out firing and took the first two legs, Webster fought back with a check-out of 102 to make it 2-1. But the ton plus finish wasn't enough to spur Webster into action and Anderson went onto administer the league's toughest punishment this season with an 8-1 thrashing, enough to see Anderson maintain his superiority at the top.

James Wade was the first player to face the boos of the partisan crowd, his opponent was Whitlock who was looking for his first points of the league. The first three legs went with throw but Whitlock got that crucial break of throw in the fourth and gained the advantage in the fifth to make it 4-1. Wade made it 4-2 before the break and maintained that momentum by winning the following three legs to make it 5-4, the highlight coming in the eighth leg with a 128 check-out. But Whitlock was determined to get his first points of the league and regained control by winning the final four legs to win 8-5.

Adrian Lewis was looking to bounce back like a true World Champion after his defeat last week but had the tough test of facing the rejuvenated Van Barneveld. Lewis fired out of the blocks with a ten darter but Barneveld kept at his own pace to secure a 3-1 lead. Lewis managed to check-out a maximum 170 in the eighth leg to make it 5-3. Barneveld had guaranteed himself a point by the tenth leg but, just like last week, Lewis fought back to within one leg. Barneveld held his nerve though and held his throw to win the match 8-6 and keep Lewis on a downer.

The final match of the night saw an all English affair with Taylor against Jenkins. Unfortunately, much like the opener, only Taylor turned up and Jenkins had to brace himself to a tough time. It took Jenkins till the fifth leg to notch a check-out and made it 6-2 three legs later. Taylor was in ruthless form and stopped the Bull from winning any more legs to win 8-2.

After three weeks Anderson leads with three wins from win. Van Barneveld and Taylor are just a win behind him on four points. The remainder all have two points after Whitlock secured his first win of the tournament.

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