Monday, 19 July 2010

World Matchplay Darts: Day 2 18/7/10

After Barney's 9-darter on the opening day the Blackpool crowd were wondering what could possibly be in store for them for day two. Well four games that went to the wire, three went into extra-time and a surprise result, that's what. First up was a crowd favourite, Co Stompe against Andy Hamilton of Scotland. The Scot took a 4-2 lead before the Dutchman managed to reverse the score to 7-4. It eventually went to 10-10 meaning the first match to go into extra time as the winner had to win by two clear legs. Stompe made it 11-10 and when throwing for the match he missed a handful of doubles and Hamilton failed to make Stompe pay as he also missed crucial doubles, Stompe finally found the dead man's double (double 1) and made it into to the second round.

The second match of the night saw the first major upset as Adrian 'Jackpot' Lewis lost to former Lakeside champion Mark Webster in the second match to reach extra time. Webster looked to be on top as he managed to get himself into a 6-2 then an 8-5 lead over the 2010 Premier League man. However Lewis fought back and took the lead for the first time to make it 9-8, Webster won the next leg to make it the first to get two legs clear. With Lewis' energy all used up to get to this stage Webster took the following two legs to win 11-9 and take the Phil Taylor protege out of the World Matchplay.

The third match of the night saw the number 2 seed James 'The Machine' Wade in action against Andy 'The Pie-man' Smith. On paper the result seemed inevitable but Smith made Wade sweat and nearly won it. Smith checked out an early 151 to gain the advantage and he managed to keep it to 8-7. He should have gone 9-7 ahead but he missed nine darts at a double and you simply can't do that to beat someone like Wade and he levelled at 8-8. With Smith looking rather tired Wade just managed to take the following two legs to win 10-8 to avoid extra-time but he knows he'll have to play better in the next round.

The final match of the night saw Alec 'The Saint' Tabern take on UK Open semi-finalist Wes Newton. Tabern soon raced into a 6-1 lead and the match looked over, however Newton had other ideas and roared back with a vengeance to level at 9-9. Again forcing extra-time but it was to be Tabern who took the next two legs to win 11-9 and he goes through to the second round where he'll meet Van Barneveld who should take Tabern out, especially after his performance on Sunday.

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