Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield. The venue for the tenth week of the Premier League Darts, a fixture where Adrian Lewis takes a week off and Gary Anderson fulfils his required matches. The Scot was up first and met James Wade who needed to contain himself after last week's controversy. The two met in week three in Belfast where the reigning champ won the match 8-5. The first break of throw came in the fourth leg when Wade made it 3-1 with his third double top of the match, but Anderson broke straight back before finding himself 4-2 down at the break. Wade then broke the throw once again in the eighth leg to all but seal the victory, yet again finishing on double top. Anderson missed three darts to pull it back to 7-4 and Wade's relentlessness at double top finished the match off at 8-3, taking the Machine into double figures for the tournament.
That was the same scoreline when Simon Whitlock met Kevin Painter back in Belfast. Painter was in stellar form that night and instantly broke the throw tonight. The Australian fought back to 2-2 before both players then broke the throw to make it 3-3 going into the break. Perhaps the most crucial break of throw came in the eighth leg when Whitlock took a 5-3 lead, the first time he was in the lead in the match. Painter found a 119-checkout to make it 6-4 before Whitlock secured a point with an 11-dart leg. Whitlock then secured the match at 8-5 to keep himself second in the table.
It was no surprise to see that Phil Taylor had beaten Raymond Van Barneveld in the third week, 8-4. But since then, Taylor has secured his place in the semi-finals and Barneveld posted his highest average last week to give him some momentum going into this match. Taylor kicked the night off with a ton check-out before instantly breaking the throw. Taylor eclipsed that by making a 124-check-out to take a lead of 4-1before the Dutchman pulled a leg back going into the break. Barney broke the Taylor throw straight from the interval but missed darts allowed Taylor to make it 5-3 and retake the throw. That soon transpired to 7-3 with Taylor then holding his throw to add a further two points to his tally this season.
Anderson was back on the oche for the final match as he took on Andy Hamilton. Anderson thrashed the Hammer 8-2 back in week two in Aberdeen and needed that sort of form in response to his earlier disappointment. The Scot broke the throw in the opening leg and then took out 101 to start that much needed response. Hamilton's riposte came in the form of a 124-checkout to level the match at 2-2 before then having a 4-2 lead at the interval, courtesy of Anderson missing three darts at the double. Anderson was able to break the throw following the intermission and then subsequently levelled the match. The Scot then broke the throw again with a 121-check-out via the bull to retake the lead before making it four legs on the bounce. Hamilton kept himself in the match by breaking the throw to make it 7-5 and then forced the deciding leg. The Hammer finished the match in style with a 102-checkout to assure himself of a point when it looked like Anderson would take the two.
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