The dartboard move across the border into Cardiff this week as we started the second half of the league process. The fixtures last night were the rematches to week four's fixtures. First up was bottom of the table Wade against Anderson who has lost his three matches, in week four Anderson thrashed Wade 8-3. The first four legs all went with throw with Wade hitting a 102 checkout in the third. Anderson was the first to break in the fifth but Wade retaliated straight away with a 141 to make it 3-3 at the break. Again Anderson broke Wade's throw but couldn't take advantage for Wade to make sure it wasn't going to be a repeat of 8-3. Wade finally managed to hold his throw in the ninth leg to make it 5-4 and then 6-5. Anderson equalised on his throw again in the twelfth leg before crucially breaking Wade in the penultimate leg. He held his nerve to win 8-6 in a match where Wade should have got something out of it.
Week four was Whitlock's birthday and he celebrated it with an 8-1 mauling of Jenkins. He set out to do the same by taking a 2-0 lead with a ton in the second leg. Jenkins fought back and made it 2-2 to stop the repeat from happening. But from there Whitlock stepped up a gear and went onto take the next four legs to make it 6-2. Jenkins pulled one back in the ninth but there was only one winner and Whitlock sealed it in the eleventh with a 122 to win 8-3.
Van Barneveld had a case of 'Tayloritis' in week four and subsequently lost 8-3. Since then the Dutchman has been going strong, second in the league. But unfortunately Barney suffered another case of 'Tayloritis' and suffered a repeat of week four. The first four legs did go with throw and Barney was two darts away from a nine darter in the second leg. But Taylor found a 128 checkout to break Barney in the sixth and it really did break him. Taylor went onto lead 7-2 before Barney found a showpiece 119 in the tenth leg but it was only delaying the inevitable as Taylor won 8-3. Barney needs to stop playing Taylor in his mind and play the board otherwise Taylor is always going to reign supreme over him.
After Lewis' public gruelling in Glasgow two weeks ago against Anderson, the last thing he probably wanted was to face the Welsh crowd playing against Webster. Especially after Webster thrashed him 8-2 in week four, but since then Lewis has been on the up and Webster hasn't found a win. Again Webster failed to turn up and Lewis' consistency won the match. Webster missed nine darts at the double in the first two legs allowing Lewis to cash in on a 2-0 lead. It was soon extended to a 7-0 lead with the highlight coming in the fourth leg, a 128 checkout. Webster managed a wry smile with the eighth leg but Lewis rounded off the humiliation to win 8-1.
Taylor now extends his lead at the top to four points ahead of Barneveld and Anderson who are on ten points. Lewis is now just a point behind the two of them but still has to look over his shoulder as Whitlock is on eight points. The other three are starting to cut loose from the leading pack with Jenkins on five, Webster and Wade still both on four and looking in real trouble.
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