The second week of the 2013 Premier League Darts headed to Aberdeen where Scots, Gary Anderson and Robert Thornton, graced their homeland. Anderson was inspired for the latter part of his match against Simon Whitlock in which to comeback and win. Thornton concluded the night against Michael Van Gerwen in an enthralling match that saw all 12-legs go with throw, ensuring that both débutantes remain undefeated.
The other debutante, Wes Newton, is still to pick up a point after running into a bombarding Raymond Van Barneveld who is the only player to win his first two games. Phil Taylor is also still undefeated after thrashing a sorry Adrian Lewis who also remains without a point despite his new darts and ever present confidence. Andy Hamilton also managed to get his first points of the competition after staving off a late James Wade comeback.
The night began with Newton against Van Barneveld and the Dutchman immediately set out his stall with a 116-checkout to take a 2-0 lead. Newton would miss the double for a potential 108-checkout which would have made it 3-2, Barney responded with a second 116-checkout to lead 4-1. That became five when the Dutchman made it three magical ton plus checkouts, this time a 117. Newton did find a 46-checkout despite hitting the double-14 first to make it 6-2 before missing two darts to stay further in the game. Barney wasn't going to hang around and gladly took the 7-2 victory which now gives him a +8 legs difference already.
Wade looked really out of it against Hamilton in the second game of the night. After missing a dart to take the opening leg, Wade wasn't really anywhere near for a large majority of the match. Hamilton posted a Shanghai 120-checkout to make it 2-0 before extending that to 5-0 and a leg away from his first point of the tournament. The point was assured a 6-1 and the win looked more than inevitable. But Wade began to start playing and managed off to reel three legs on the spin to reduce the arrears to 6-4 and make it a little nervy for the Hammer. But Hamilton responded with a flawless leg and took out-32 to win it 7-4 and post his first victory of the competition.
For a time in the third match, it looked like Anderson had once again allowed his home crowd to overwhelm him against Whitlock. The Aussie took a quick 2-0 lead before Anderson missed four darts in the the third leg but was able to recover to make it 2-1. Anderson out-scored Whitlock for most of the match but a further three missed doubles allowed Whitlock to take 74-out on the bull to lead 3-1. Anderson was at it again in the crucial sixth leg, he missed three darts to leave the door open for Whitlock. But Whitlock also missed three darts to give a opportunity back, the Scot then missed his next two before managing to find double-18 with the sixth attempt to level the match at 3-3. This gave Anderson the momentum and he had soon won five legs in a row to guarantee himself a point at 6-3. The Scot's doubles again left him as he missed five match darts to allow Whitlock to close the gap to 6-5 and force a final leg. The Aussie agonisingly missed the double for a 157-checkout and Anderson managed to take-24 to squeeze over the line despite dominating in the scoring department.
Lewis was quite outspoken behind the scenes before his match against Taylor. Jackpot has got new darts and he felt like he had returned to true form. Unfortunately this didn't happen as neither player really turned up despite Lewis ultimately getting another 7-3 hiding. A 72-checkout on the bull allowed Lewis to break back and level the match at 1-1. Taylor then missed the double for a 110-checkout which meant Lewis broke the throw for the fourth time in the match at 3-3. Taylor recovered with a 103-checkout to make it five breaks of throw in the match before Taylor made it six in the ninth leg to guarantee himself a point. The tenth leg actually went with throw as Taylor secured his first victory of the tournament.
It's unusual to see a game where every single leg goes with the throw, even rarer to find such a game that remains entertaining and dramatic, but that's what Thornton and Van Gerwen managed to produce. A nervy opening leg saw both players miss two darts to win it before Thornton managed to hold. The sixth leg saw Van Gerwen just hold with a 104-checkout to level up the match for the third time. The Dutchman then had two legs to break in the next leg with Thornton missing a dart of his own to break in the eighth leg as the score went to 4-4. Thornton obviously got to the point first and then missed the double to win the game with a 140-checkout. Van Gerwen returned to clear-25 and grab a deserved point. Second week table:
1. Raymond Van Barneveld 4 +8
2. Phil Taylor 3 +4
3. Robert Thornton 3 +2
4. Simon Whitlock 2 +2
5. Andy Hamilton 2 +1
6. Michael Van Gerwen 2 0
7. James Wade 2 0
8. Gary Anderson 2 -1
9. Adrian Lewis 0 -8
10. Wes Newton 0 -8
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