The View From V2 Magazine April 2014 | Page 49

before Taylor replied in kind in snatching the second, ahead of him busting his finish in leg three, but winning two legs on the trot to move 3-1 ahead.

Three missed darts at a double for Taylor and a 57 outshot for Anderson in the 6th leg saw him claw it back to 3-3, soon to be 4-3 to Anderson after the Power this time accidently bust a 121 finish, mistakingly thinking he required 131.

However, there was nothing perplexing about the 121 finish that Phil landed to even things up again, nor in the next leg as his then 110 average pushed him to a 5-4 lead, only for Anderson to score a crowd-pleasing tops tops finish to make it all square at 5 apiece and hit 80 to move one ahead with one leg to play.

Thankfully for Phil, the blow of missing out on the chance to go 4-1 in front earlier in the match was softened with a 71 finish to make it a score draw and leave him a single point ahead of Gary before the man from the Highlands took on Thornton in the night's last clash.

In the night's other games, there was an early birthday present for Mighty Mike, due to celebrate his 25th birthday the next day, as Michael Van Gerwen defeated the tournament's highest 180 hitter (53 overall) Dave Chisnall by 7 legs to 4 who despite breaking in legs one, five and seven, failed to win and put himself right in the heart of the play-off mix.

The victory took him back to the top of the table on legs difference with 20 points after Raymond van Barneveld had earlier maintained his record of only losing once since the competition commenced in February and overcome fainting at Berlin Airport the previous Saturday to temporarily reach the league's summit.

In his 7-3 victory over Adrian Lewis, Barney quickly went 4-1 ahead, then 5-2 in front despite missing four darts at a double, but then wrongly hit single 1 going for 72 to let Lewis back in at 5-3.

He wasn't to be punished though as he hit 6 perfect darts in the final leg and finished it off to cement his spot at the O2 with Aidy now looking increasingly unlikely to be joining him.

Rounding the night off was the tussle between Anderson and Thornton and it was perhaps apt being in Manchester, the home of The Smiths that Gary was 'the boy with the Thorn in his side' as Robert denied him the chance to move ahead of Peter Wright by holding him to a 6-6 scoreline.

With Anderson cruising to a 3 nil lead, Thornton promptly squared the match and then jumped on Gary missing two attempts at a double to go 5-3, keeping it at 4-4. In similar circumstances, Anderson missed two darts at tops to go within one leg of an outright win, an opportunity he was to rue as Thornton tied at 5 all and then went ahead. He was to let Gary off the hook though as a 180 in the last leg wasn't enough to prevent his fellow Highland flinger from gaining a point. It is however possible that Thornton may have dealt a significant blow to Anderson's title chances.

HIGHEST AVERAGE: ROBERT THORNTON 104.30

MOST 180's: ROBERT THORNTON (9)

HIGHEST CHECKOUT: ADRIAN LEWIS 122

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