“ It was two crucial wins from a tough night ”
Phil Taylor 7 - 4 Simon Whitlock
Taylor virtually secured his playoff berth thanks to this his second victory of the night , whilst Whitlock ’ s season was left very much in the balance despite this loss after his earlier victory over Michael van Gerwen .
Both men managed averages in excess off 100 in a match that was extremely close during the opening exchanges , although Taylor did hold a narrow 4-3 lead after seven legs .
The Stoke-on-Trent based Taylor then went on a ‘ power surge ’, securing three out of the next four legs to secure his second win of the night and in the process ensure that Adrian Lewis could no longer mathematically secure a playoff spot .
“ It was two crucial wins from a tough night ,” admitted Taylor .
“ To beat Adrian first was hard , and Simon really hung in well in our game so I ’ m delighted to have come out on top .”
“ I ’ ve been working hard on my game , doing everything I should be doing and I ’ m trying to peak at the right time .”
“ You can ’ t win this Premier League over five or six weeks , you ’ ve got to do it over five months and you can ’ t be brilliant every week . My averages are creeping up now and it ’ s proving to be a fantastic Premier League .”
“ Just to get into the top four will be an achievement and everyone ’ s looking at that now .”
Robert Thornton 7 - 5 Adrian Lewis
The fact that Lewis knew that no matter what he achieved against Thornton he could no longer reach the playoffs should have helped the Stoke based thrower to relax . In fact it seemed to have almost the exact opposite effect , allowing Thornton to seal victory and pressure Wade in fourth spot .
The match was not the best you will see on the Premier League stage and was a very even affair right up until the closing stages , with the opening eight legs being shared .
After Week Twelve P W D L +/ - Pts Michael van Gerwen 14 9 2 3 + 25 20 Phil Taylor 14 7 3 4 + 17 17 Raymond van Barneveld 13 7 3 3 + 15 17 James Wade 13 7 2 4 + 14 16 Robert Thornton 13 6 3 4 7 15 Simon Whitlock 13 6 0 7 -9 12 Andy Hamilton 13 5 0 8 -11 12 Adrian Lewis 13 3 1 9 -26 7
“ It was two crucial wins from a tough night ”
Phil Taylor
12
Photo : Mike Glover / UK Darts