Week Five of the Darts Premier League has seen the table change somewhat in another great night in Nottingham this time. Gary Anderson beat Phil Taylor for the first time on TV since the Scot came to the PDC. The result sees Taylor lose his unbeaten status as have Robert Thornton and Michael Van Gerwen. Raymond Van Barneveld took full advantage of this to take the lead at the top of the table while at the bottom, Adrian Lewis has finally picked up his first win, and points, of the competition.
The night began with one of the three unbeaten players, Thornton, take on James Wade. Wade was bang in form once again and The Machine basically did to Thornton what The Thorn did to Anderson last week. The Scot missed the double for a 135-checkout in the second leg before missing two more darts at the double in fifth leg to stare down the barrel of a 5-0 scoreline. A majestic 121-checkout gave Wade at least a point and put Thornton one leg away from a rare Premier League whitewash. Fortunately for Thornton, he managed to win the seventh leg but another fantastic 121-checkout gave Wade the thumping 7-1 victory with a 105.78 average. The defeat really does bring Thornton back down to earth after an unbelievable first four weeks for him.
With 17 wins in 18 matches against Hamilton, you could understand if The Hammer was a little wary of facing Van Barneveld. It took five darts for Hamilton to finally level the match in the second leg. Barney then missed two darts to break in the fifth leg before a 121-checkout of his own put him 4-3 ahead. Again Hamilton equalised and the match looked to be heading for a well deserved draw. Hamilton missed the bull for a 170-checkout and Barney punished him by finding the first break of throw in the following leg to lead 6-4. The Dutchman would miss one dart to win the match and Hamilton broke back to force a deciding leg in which he would have the throw. But Van Barneveld chose this leg to produce his best darts and win it to win the match 7-5. This means that Barney has now won four out of his five matches and is deservedly on top of the league.
Van Gerwen was the second to lose his unbeaten status as Adrian Lewis finally turned up to play darts. After missing two darts to take a 2-0 lead, it was though that Lewis would once again be missing in action but when Van Gerwen missed four darts in the fourth leg, Lewis found himself 3-1 ahead. That was soon consolidated to 5-2 before Lewis finally earned his first point of the competition at 6-3. Jackpot then missed a dart to win the match but it didn't knock him off his stride as Lewis would take the following leg to win the match 7-4, really opening up the bottom of the table.
It became a historical day for Anderson, managing to find that first TV victory over Taylor since joining the PDC. It was a nervy start as Taylor needed six darts to win the opening leg before taking a 2-0 lead with a classy 101-checkout. Anderson's doubles were flawless in the early part and the Scot quickly levelled the match. A ton checkout from Anderson again equalised the match at 3-3. Taylor then crucially missed a dart to take a 5-3 lead and Anderson then managed to break Taylor to go 5-4 in front. Then it was Anderson's turn to miss a dart at the double, allowing Taylor to level the score. The 11th leg saw Anderson miss another three darts to guarantee himself a point. This Taylor wasn't as ruthless and he missed a dart at the double himself to give Anderson that 6-5 advantage. The Scot was at his best again in the final leg and missed the double for a Shanghai 120-checkout. Taylor wasn't on a finish though which left Anderson to take-40 and take the two points.
The final match of the night turned in to a bit of a basement battle between Wes Newton and Simon Whitlock. Newton was emphatic in the early going, cruising into a 4-1 lead with Whitlock requiring a 116-checkout to win the third leg. Newton's first miss at a double came in the seventh leg and Whitlock responded with a colossal 120-checkout to make it 4-3. The Aussie then turned the match on its head and took a 6-4 lead to give himself a point. Whitlock then missed two darts to prevent a final leg but the Wizard recomposed and won the deciding leg to win only his second game of the tournament so far. Table after week five:
1. Raymond Van Barneveld 8 +10
2. James Wade 7 +9
3. Phil Taylor 6 +7
4. Michael Van Gerwen 6 +6
5. Robert Thornton 6 +1
6. Andy Hamilton 4 -4
7. Simon Whitlock 4 -5
8. Gary Anderson 4 -6
9. Wes Newton 3 -6
10. Adrian Lewis 2 -12
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