Darts, Beers, & Cheers!

Posts Tagged ‘james wade’

World Match Play Semi-final results

Well I managed to sneak home earlier than I thought, so managed to start watching the Barney vs. Wade game before the end.  So the great news is, it is the REAL BARNEY – he is back!   The game actually looked a little one sided, Barney pretty much destroying James Wade.

So we’re possibly going to have a very interesting final depending on how the Phil Taylor vs. Simon Whitlock game goes…

Game 1: RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD 17-8 JAMES WADE

Game 2: PHIL TAYLOR 16 – 4 SIMON WHITLOCK

Oh dear – Phil is kicking bottom early on in his game vs. Simon Whitlock… it’s serious stuff, and Whitlock needs to pick up his average big time now.

Simon continues a low average, and Taylor is beating him up big style here.  I thought that Simon would do more, but couldn’t see him beating Taylor as I said in my preview earlier today.

Taylor ran away a winner in the end, leaving Whitlock way behind.

So our finals is the ‘old firm’ clash, of Taylor vs. Barneveld.

PDC Unicorn Women’s World Championship Final

Stacy Bromberg 6-5 Tricia Wright
Best of 11 legs (first to six, no tie-breaker)

Nerves are playing a big part in tonights game between Tricia and Stacy – both missing darts they’d normally easily hit.  It can’t be easy coming up late after two big games, and with a crowd so large.  Tricia is not scoring well, but Stacy has missed important doubles to keep the game with throw.

Tricia breaks Stacy, and goes 3-2 up.. if she can hold her throw.. WHICH SHE DOES.  4-2!  Two more and we have an English world champ!

Well done Stacy – who took the last two legs to win the match, and to become the 1st PDC Womens World Champion!

World Match Play, Semi final preview by Krispy

Semi-Finals

7pm start
James Wade v Raymond van Barneveld
Phil Taylor v Simon Whitlock

So it’s the business end of the play from Blackpool, and this year’s event has thrown up what I’d probably call “The Dream 4″ – pretty much the four best darts players in the world at the moment (be that PDC or BDO) playing each other in the semi finals.  All in 3D too!  If you fancy watching the games in 3D, you’ll need to find yourself a pub showing it – 3D pub finder here.

The bad news for me – I’m out this evening, so will miss the games!!  So no live updates from me     I’ll tape it and watch Sunday morning, so no telling me the scores!

Anyway, back to this evening’s games… and where would I start?

James Wade v Raymond van Barneveld

Tasty!  Even when you look at the stats you can hardly separate these two, and the head-to-head wins is; James Wade 12-13 Raymond van Barneveld – so Barney JUST has the edge.  Even this year, their two games in the premier league are split 1 win each.

Barney has been good and relaxed all tournament – almost back to his best.  Wade started badly, but has improved game by game.  Wade is also a big game player, as I think big games give him that kick up the bum to concentrate.

To be honest I can’t really call it – if we have got the old Barney back, then I think he will win, but it’s a test like this against Wade which will determine if he still does have the mental strength to win.

Phil Taylor v Simon Whitlock

This game keeps popping up this year – with a cracker of a world Final to start them off.  Many people (me included) see Whitlock as one of the 2 or 3 players who will be challenging for the worlds best spot as (WHEN?!) Taylor starts to lose his power.   Taylor still dominates Whitlock when you look at their head-2-head, 7-2 in Taylors favour.

Based on tournament form – and seeing Taylor win the other night without actually getting into top gear or being challenged by Painter, I think Taylor will win tonight, BUT it will be a close game, with a HUGE average (110) if Whitlock does push hard.

Ladies World Championship

Don’t forget, tonight is also the PDC Womens World Championship final! It’s a shame it’s being shown AFTER the men’s semi’s, as the crowd might be a little worse for wear and all cheered out, but we can’t have everything.  I hope it’s not too late for the ladies, as they deserve the respect they are due.  There’s big money on offer, with a £10,000 top prize (which is huge compared to prizes they have played for previously), plus other benefits (qual for the grand slam of darts included).

The ladies final is best of 11 legs, and is between England’s Tricia Wright V Stacey Bromberg of USA.

p.s. Bravo TV have released their trailer for their upcoming darts coverage (starts Thursday).  see it here; http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=412780966620

World Match Play – Quarter Final results

ARGHH! I’m at work and have missed the first two semi’s!  I heard the first was quite a cracker between Wade and Jones, with some high 100 ish averages.  In the second game I hear Klaasen held his own with some superb finishing in the early stages, but a run of nine successive legs from the Australian saw him streak away to victory at the Winter Gardens.

The 2nd two games are on tonight from 7pm, so I’ll start my weekend with those.

I may miss the semi’s… so it might be time to record them and watch Sunday morning… then I’m off to my local Rileys to check out their new Darts Zone (Rileys are fitting 6 board darts zones to their clubs across the UK – with proper oche’s and lighting and scoring).  Play for an hour or two..then into a local pub for 3D darts final!  Sorted.

EVENING UPDATE:

Well Barney vs. Stompe was a great battle… Co Stompe had some good chances there to win, getting ahead, only to have Barney come back and overtake him.  Ding dong until near the end.  Great stuff – Barney IS BACK!

Bring it on – Barney’s response to hearing that James Wade is looking forward to playing him… me thinks we have a proper game on the cards!

Taylor walked on in very confident mood, posing for photos, wearing silly sunglasses the works.  I think that was all a message to Painter waiting for him on the stage.. “I am so confident tonight I am not really going to take it seriously.. cause I don’t have to”.  Ruthless to be honest.. and it’s working so far.  6-1 and Painter doesn’t look like a man who is going to challenge now.

Painter just playing for pride now at 9-1… it’s getting painful.  Ouch it continues.. 13-2?  Taylor is cruising… cause Painter can’t put any pressure on him.

Taylor wins.. 16-4.. in a very one sided game.  Painter must find it hard to play Taylor now – especially when you realise he’d lost 24 out of 25 games played in the PDC vs. Taylor – double ouch!  And this game made it 25 out of 26.

StanJames.com World Matchplay Quarter-Finals

Afternoon Session
James Wade 16-12 Wayne Jones
Jelle Klaasen 8-16 Simon Whitlock

Evening Session (7pm)
Co Stompe 12-16 Raymond van Barneveld
Kevin Painter 4-16 Phil Taylor

World Match play – night 5 2nd round results

Wayne Jones showing the TV audience some of his floor form tonight

Game 1: Wayne Jones 13 – 9 Ronnie Baxter

Well I guess most people would have Baxter down to win that one,  but there’s no way I would call anyone to beat Wayne Jones easily.   I spotted a real determination and higher level of concentration on Waynes’ face tonight, and it showed in his darts.

To be honest I think Baxter had a bit of luck, even though his doubles were not good… and the result could have been more substantial in Jone’s favour.  A sign of Wayne putting his head down in a TV tournament?

Game 2: Co Stompe 13 – 9 Mark Webster

Crowd favourite Co Stompe looking to continue is recent run of form after a poor 2010.  Webster looking to continue to build his confidence in the PDC..

Well at 7-2 it really is one sided .. Stompe scoring well, and hitting over 50% of his finishes.  Webster is shaking his head all over the shop, pulling faces as he slips into the 5′s… it’s not pretty.  Hang on.. 2 bull finishes puts a smile on Webster’s lips..   Webster was doing well, but Stompe won a leg to get to 12-8 (needing only 1 leg).. too much for Webster then.  Co Stompe wins 13-9.

Game 3: Vincent van der Voort 10 – 13 James Wade

Can VVV make it two dutch players in the 3rd round?  We shall see!  Wade didn’t  really catch fire round one, so hasn’t yet got into top gear.

Well I spoke too soon, Wade is smiling tonight, and zipped into a 6-3 lead.  I’ve got Vincent in a ‘fantasy league’ competition at The Stars of Darts forum, so I’m still cheering him on!

At 9-5 to Wade, Vincent had a double to pull back and keep himself in it, but missed.. and Wade took double 2 to go 10-5 up, it should be game over from there.  Vincent unfortunately can’t buy doubles now – missed several at double top to get to 10-7.. but couldn’t.  He should have won quite a few more legs – but it’s all about doubles in the end.  121 finish for Wade takes him 1 leg away from a win.

Game 4: Alan Tabern 5-13 Raymond van Barneveld

RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD’S brilliant start to the StanJames.com World Matchplay continued with a 13-5 demolition of Alan Tabern at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

As a reward, Van Barneveld meets Stompe in an all-Dutch quarter-final on Friday night – should be a great match!

World Matchplay – Day Two Results; a long night of darts

A really long night of darts last night, as many of the games went into ‘extra time’ – games at the world match play have to be won by a clear 2 legs, so can continue past the first to 10.

Co Stompe appeared very serious (for him), with a real game head on when playing Andy Hamilton.  Co was scoring well, but was finding things tough on the doubles.  Hamilton wasn’t his normal solid self, with darts going all over the shop at times.  Even so Andy managed to get the game back to 10-10 in a very tense affair.. but Co then kicked on to win 12-10, and treated the crowd to his karate kid ‘crane’ pose to celebrate.

Adrain Lewis again disappointed himself and the crowd, by never really getting going.  Mark Webster also appeared to be suffering from round 1 nerves, but managed to hold it together to win 11-9.  Maybe Webby will now go on a bit of a run and show the PDC crowds what he can do.

James Wade got out of jail last night – he wasn’t playing well at all to begin the game, and Andy Smith was looking good for a win most of the game, even with a dodgy leg (he hurt himself in an exhibition in Ireland).  I’m not quite sure how Wadey won the game, but it wasn’t the sort of game he would have wanted to start with – maybe a bit of a wake-up call.

Wes Newton  was the lad playing in front of a home crowd, and got great support vs. Alan Tabern.  But it wasn’t quite enough – with the game again going into ‘overtime’.  Tabern led 6-1 and 9-6 before Newton hit back to level, only for finishes of 110 and 101 to send the Saint into a second round meeting with Saturday’s nine-dart hero Raymond van Barneveld.

Sunday July 18 Scores

First Round
Andy Hamilton 10-12 Co Stompe
Adrian Lewis 9-11 Mark Webster
James Wade 10-8 Andy Smith
Alan Tabern 12-10 Wes Newton

Last Player Championships in Vegas – Win for Stompe

In the 4th day of the New Tropicana World Series of Darts Festival, Co Stompe beat James Wade to take the £6,000 prize in the last player championship event before the World Matchplay (WMP).   Phil Taylor went out in the quarter final to Matt Clark.

In the race to qualify for the WMP, Paul Nicholson returned to 16th in the PDC Order of Merit after going further than Gary Anderson, who was a second round loser to Wales’ Steve Evans. With Nicholson securing the final automatic qualifying place via the PDC Order of Merit, Anderson qualifies for the World Matchplay through the Players Championship Order of Merit alongside 15 other players.

Tony Eccles hung on to the last spot, ahead of Heydon and Monday’s semi-finalist Chris Thompson – with the pair both defeating Taylor in Las Vegas but falling short of a World Matchplay spot. Klaasen, Nicholson, Steve Brown and Mark Webster all qualify for their debuts in Blackpool as a result of their performances in the 21 Players Championships staged so far this year.

Third Round
Phil Taylor 6-0 Chris Thompson
Nigel Heydon 6-3 Paul Nicholson
Terry Jenkins 6-4 Joe Cullen
Matt Clark 6-2 Andy Hamilton
Jelle Klaasen 6-1 Steve Evans
Ronnie Baxter 6-4 Kevin Painter
Co Stompe 6-3 Adrian Lewis
Steve Beaton 6-5 Barrie Bates
Simon Whitlock 6-3 Ross Snook
Colin Osborne 6-5 Alan Tabern
Vincent van der Voort 6-4 Richie Burnett
James Wade 6-4 Robert Thornton
Colin Lloyd 6-3 Peter Wright
Jamie Caven 6-1 Kevin McDine
Wes Newton 6-4 Tony Eccles
Darin Young 6-4 Denis Ovens
Losers £300

Fourth Round
Phil Taylor 6-4 Nigel Heydon
Matt Clark 6-4 Terry Jenkins
Jelle Klaasen 6-2 Ronnie Baxter
Co Stompe 6-2 Steve Beaton
Simon Whitlock 6-4 Colin Osborne
James Wade 6-4 Vincent van der Voort
Colin Lloyd 6-4 Jamie Caven
Wes Newton 6-4 Darin Young
Losers £500

Quarter-Finals
Matt Clark 6-5 Phil Taylor
Co Stompe 6-4 Jelle Klaasen
James Wade 6-4 Simon Whitlock
Colin Lloyd 6-4 Wes Newton
Losers £1,000

Semi-Finals
Co Stompe 6-0 Matt Clark
James Wade 6-3 Colin Lloyd
Losers £1,500

Final
Co Stompe 6-3 James Wade
Winner £6,000
Runner-Up £3,000

Rileys UK Open in Bolton – final day preview

Last night had some really cracking games of darts – with match of the night going to the Gary Anderson vs. Mervyn King game.  What a belter, I couldn’t call it at all.  Gary scores so heavy and continuously, but misses quite a few doubles – while Merv is more all round, and ended up with two chances for a 9 darter, one of them he took!  A lot of people ‘in the know’ can see that Anderson is an amazing talent, and SHOULD be winning more bit TV tournaments – his TV nerves have held him back.  He seems to be controlling it this time, so don’t rule him out to take the title.

In other games; James Wade had an easy one – as Kevin McDine seemed to give in fairly early, a bit of a shame and you could see on Wade’s face that he was surprised.  Wes Newton (who has won on the floor this year) also continued to look strong, and shouldn’t be ruled out for a final appearance.  Phil Taylor looked extremely happy to have beaten Simon Whitlock – he celebrated as if he thought that was his last major challenge out of the way.

The multi-board format is now gone – all games will be shown on the main stage, so all players will know that extra pressure.  You k now that Sky will be hyping the last game of the afternoon – when Taylor meets Lewis (with talk of the apprentice and the master).    Wade will fancy his chances against Tony Ayres (dark horse of the championship so far) – I think if you ask him he will say he’s had a fairly ‘easy’ (this is relative, no dis-repect to his opponents) draw to the quarters.  I think Wes Newton should beat Denis Ovens on the stage…  and Anderson may just pip Hamilton.

Tony Ayres, surprise package of the semi's (Lawrence Lustig, PDC)

Todays Schedule

1pm-5pm
Quarter-Finals
Best of 19 legs

Quarter-Finals
Tony Ayres 10-9 James Wade
Gary Anderson 10-6 Andy Hamilton
Wes Newton 3-10 Denis Ovens
Phil Taylor 10-2 Adrian Lewis

Oddly the PDC are showing a draw for the Semi’s (which will be on Sky Sports from 7pm this evening) – but the ‘rule’ is that each round is an open draw, which shouldn’t be drawn till after the previous round is played… so who knows what is going on.  We can be sure that all games will be played tonight to a finish.

Semi-Finals
Best of 19 legs

Semi-Finals
Ayres 3-10 Anderson
Ovens 5-10 Taylor

Followed by
Final
Best of 21 legs

PRIZE FUND
Winner £40,000
Runner-Up £20,000
Semi-Finalists: £10,000
Quarter-Finalists: £6,000
Last 16: £4,000
Last 32: £2,000
Last 64: £1,000
Total: £200,000

Premier League 2010 Final – Best match of all time?

Well well well.. I’ve been discussing the possibility of TWO 9 Darters in one match for a while now… and Phil Taylor only went and did it!!!    What a game – Phil hitting two 9 darters.. and JUST missed another – for a 10 darter… and only beat James Wade 10-8 in the final .. imagine that!  You’ve got to say hats off to Wade for keeping up with that – show’s what form he is in at the moment.

That’s the very first time EVER that any player has hit two 9 darters (the perfect leg) in one match – and it’s even more impressive as it was done over a short format game (18 legs).  It might be some time until we see its like again – or maybe we’ll only have to wait until the UK Open?

OK it was a day late (got to pity the fans who could not make todays date), but I doubt you’d ever see a better game of darts .. until the Power does it all again!  Two nine darters in only 18 legs.. ULTIMATE DARTS!  In the leg after the 2nd 9 darter, Phil threw 7 more perfect darts… make it 16 perfect darts in a row – has that every been done before?

He had to hit two nine darters to beat me 10-8  – James Wade

Other highlights;  Stephen Fry commentating alongside Sid Waddell – he’s a true darts fan.  His line “he’s like a pig in chardonnay” ranks up there with the best of Sid’s lines.

I was also pleased that the crowd were pretty well behaved, and only booed ‘a bit’ – and let Merv throw .. but it wasn’t a good night for the King, as he was totally overpowered.. by the Power.

The final game of this year’s premier league has to rank as one of the greatest finals (if not games) of all time – right up there with the greats.  Hats off to James Wade too – he played his part in that – and it took something pretty special to beat him.

For your special viewing pleasure – here are the two 9 darters from Phil Taylor…

Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts Play-Offs
May 24 – Wembley Arena, London
Semi-Finals
Simon Whitlock 6-8 James Wade
Phil Taylor 8-1 Mervyn King

THIRD PLACE PLAY-OFF
MERVYN KING 8-7 SIMON WHITLOCK

FINAL

Phil Taylor 10-8 James Wade
Averages: 111.67 vs 100.08
Doubles: 48% vs 47%

Premier League final night – a Krispy Preview

UPDATE:  Power cut hits the premier league final!

A power cut has hit some of London (9,000 odd homes around the Wembley area), and that has effected the finals of the Premier League!  Some 7,000 fans left outside, as they are not allowing any fans into the venue, Sky generators mean they can still talk about it on TV, but not looking good now!

Sky say that if power not back on by 8pm, games to be re-scheduled for tomorrow (same evening as the England vs. Mexico football friendly?).  It is looking like the darts is not going to happen tonight (Sunday) – so things aren’t looking good for those fans outside the venue now.  Looks like it will be a Monday night for finals night.

So it’s finally here, the premier league final night at Wembley Arena – making Sunday evening much more bearable!  My fridge is full of refreshing cans of cider – so I’m all set!  One question I know will be on all your lips.. who will be the walk on girls tonight?  hehe, I can’t answer that, but maybe I can predict the results..

It’s nity grity time now – no soft games.. Reigning champ James Wade plays Simon Whitlock first up… and I think it’s going to be bad news for Wade tonight.   We’ve seen a big improvement in Wade’s form as the premier league has gone on, but Whitlock has just been in sparkling form the entire 2010, and his recent floor tournament results (3 out of 4 wins!) backs up the fact he’s currently the world number 2 on form.  I think Wade will feel the nerves as the defending champ, while Whitlock will be his usual laid back self.. and there will be big checkouts galore.

Next up is the ‘grudge match’ revisited, Phil Taylor vs. Mervyn King – and I just hope the battle is just between the players and the crowd leave them too it.  Unfortunately I doubt that will happen, and can see the boo boys back to have another pop at Merv.  Unless Merv can focus and turn that booing into aggresive darts, I can’t see him beating the Power – even though I don’t think Taylor has been quite at 100% for a few months now.  Watch Phil’s first dart – last premier league it was a touch higher than he’d like.

So I predict Taylor vs. Whitlock in the final – a repeat of  the final in Salzburg last week (which Taylor won 6-4).   It also would be a repeat of the world finals earlier in the year of course – which again went to the Power.   I think it’s a sign of things to come over this year – PDC darts becoming a fight between these two players, with Wade and King also picking up wins from time to time.

So who is going to win the final?   WHITLOCK! Yes I predict a win for the Aussie – purely based on the last few months form – the Power isn’t yet fully charged, while Whitlock is playing some of the best darts (and finishing) you’ll ever see.  Whatever happens it should be damn entertaining, so enjoy!

Tonights play-offs will be screened live on Sky Sports HD1 from 7pm, as well as live in Australia and Holland, which fans outside of the UK and Ireland can watch live coverage via www.pdc.tv.

Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts Play-Offs
May 23 – Wembley Arena, London
Semi-Finals
James Wade v Simon Whitlock
Phil Taylor v Mervyn King
First to eight legs – should the score be tied at seven-all after 14 legs, a ‘Golden Leg’ will decide the winner.
Followed by
Third Place Play-Off (first to eight legs)
Final (best of 19 legs)
Tickets: 0844 815 0 815 or www.wembleyarena.co.uk

My night at the Nottingham Premier League – a Krispy write-up

I’d kinda agreed with my mate Lee (Danger to you!) that we’d not go along to another Premier League night, mostly due to the fact the venues are SO HUGE, and it didn’t feel like we were able to ‘watch darts’… plus the organisation in Coventry was so poor they couldn’t get the drinks out quickly enough (they used the people walking around dispensing, with no proper bar).

BUT: I won tickets from the sponsors Whyte & Mackay – for entering a competition in their facebook page.  And I’m not one to turn down something free, especially if it’s to do with the darts!  I kinda was hoping to be sitting with the Taylor family and walk-on girls.. maybe that was pushing a bit though.

So we finished work early (thank god for flex time!), and allowed ourselves to trust the sat nav (what fools), and bombed (well trundled behind tractors) across to Nottingham, our closest Prem League venue.

By a bizzare co-incidence we met Dave ‘Ladders’ Ladley and his brother and mate in the car park – Dave had already told me earlier in the day that he would be at the darts, to support Mervyn King with a spot of good publicity.  After a quick chat, we set off, cause my ankle is STILL giving me jip – bloody thing, and I needed a good start to get to the venue in the same night

At the Nottingham Ice Centre / Trent FM arena venue, I had the usually panicy moment when I wondered where the hell I should get my tickets from (the trouble with winning em the day before the event, I was told they would be waiting for me).  I thought I’d be cheeky and try the ‘Guest list’ ticket office desk.. and stood next to Wes Newton who was getting his tickets for the night.  As luck would have it, my tickets were there – although I was gutted to see mine came in a ‘normal’ white envelope, when I’d seen some of the guest tickets were in some right fancy envelopes (me thinks those were for the high-ups sitting in the roped off floor tables – like family and important people).  One day I’ll be there sitting next too the royalty of darts at a TV event.. I hope.. (Mr Hearn?).

Our tickets were for a fairly decent spot in the tiered seating – with a great view for pictures.. shame I didn’t have a longer lens.. that’s always been my trouble!.  Before we settled in, Ladders found us again, and took us round to see Mervyn doing a signing session for the fans.  Dave explained that they’d gone ‘backstage’ to where the eight players were practicing to find Mervyn, and even Dave was surprised at how silent it was in there – he reckoned there was very little chat going on.  That must have seemed odd to a pro from the floor tournaments, as my visit showed the players are really relaxed and there’s plenty of good natured banter going on.  I guess those eight players must really feel the weight of the TV audiences and the imporantance of that last night (5 players playing for the 2-4th spots).

We got to see King, he was showing the fans that he’s just a normal bloke, and I watched him chat and joke with people as he signed photo’s and whatever they wanted signing.  Lee got an autograph, and I took a picture with shaking hands, what a muppet!   I’d not had a pint at this point and my body can’t take it!  We also made sure we had a picture of Dave too – he’s a really good bloke, and pretty clever too; he’s got some great thoughts and analysis on the sport.  Dave, his brother and mate had given up their time to go along and support Merv – well done lads!

After a quick chicken burger and pint.. then another pint (£3.50 for bitter, £3.80 for Becks Vier) and bottle of cider to take in, we took up our seats, and I took a few pictures of the arena filling up.  A big old venue, like a smaller O2 Arena.   At least the sound system was pretty good – so we could hear the interviews and announcements.

The games themselves are a bit of a blur – Baxter must have been gutted as it all slipped away – he couldn’t seem to finish, maybe nerves got the better of him.   The booing of King was pretty bad again – I’m not sure what he can do to stop it.  I’m really unsure why some people do it – just feel it’s part of the nights entertainment I guess.  I personally don’t mind some banter/booing pre game and after, but NOT on throw – I feel the PDC caller could have called for order more, it just spoiled it a bit for me.  Mervyn got the last laugh though – he’s through to the finals.

Highlight and player of the night for me was Whitlock – his finishing is a joy, and it must be so tough to play against him, you can’t leave him anything under 171!     It felt a bit bizzare watching him from 50 rows back up on that stage after sitting on his table in Wigan – maybe I’ll dare speak to him next time I see him, and not sit there like a grinning fool!

Wade completed his turn-around of the season – and played pretty well as far as I could tell.  He was obviously REALLY pleased, and we watched him give some lucky fan his darts AND darts case… only for them to hand it back to get him to sign it – cheeky gits!     Wadey actually stayed on stage signing loads of stuff – and jumping up and down celebrating with the crowd.. actually the most emotion I’ve seen from him.

We’d managed to work out that Adrian Lewis needed to win about 8-1 to have a chance of qualifying for the Wembley finals.. something we doubted very much against his old mentor, Phil Taylor.   Lewis hit a 180 in his first 3 darts.. but they were probably his best, as the Power once again showed the pupil how to win, and how to win big.  Taylor hardly missed a double (his scoring didn’t quite seem 100%, it seemed like his first darts was a touch high on most throws).

It all finished pretty early (9.45?), 15 minutes to get into the car after queueing to pay… then another 20 minutes wasted trying to escape the Nottingham one way system! (nighmare).   One stop for pastie and capri-sun later, we were driving back to Peterborough and bed.

Apart from the ****’s throwing bottles and plastic glasses of beer down from the cheap seats (luckily didn’t hit me, but it did hit one young girl with her family – hope you are ashamed whoever did that!), it was a pretty good night.  I think it’s a bit of a circus, but most people who go really enjoy their night – maybe I’m just a bit old these days.. prefer it a bit more sedate

Cheers, Krispy