And Lloyd revealed a brand new set of Unicorn darts made all the difference!
“I have to thank my sponsors,” he said. “The new darts were great and I went up there full of confidence.”
It won’t make up for Lloyd’s agonising defeat against Barney in the 2nd Round of the World Championship (Barneveld came from three sets down to win 4-3) but it certainly gives the Essex man an outside chance of making Finals Night in Brighton at the end of May.
Lloyd said: “I know what I am capable of and I’ve got nothing to prove to anyone. I know what I can achieve. It’s fair to say that ‘Jaws’ is back and ‘Jaws’ is biting!”
In the first leg, it looked like being the same old story. Despite starting the match with a 180, he missed six darts at a double and allowed Barneveld to snatch it….but the Dutchman looked way off the pace and Unicorn’s former World No.1 cashed in.
There were a couple of breaks of throw but from four legs apiece, Lloyd started to take control. He broke Barney in the 9th leg…..the Dutch ace missed two darts in the next to level it all up again and he was in trouble. Lloyd won it in style in the final leg – hitting his 6th 180 – and banging in a brilliant 11 darter. It is Barneveld’s third defeat of the event and he will be starting to feel the pressure in the race for the semi-finals.
Phil Taylor is now three points clear at the top!
He extended his remarkable unbeaten run in this event to 37 matches with a comfortable victory over old adversary Dennis Priestley at Reading’s Rivermead Centre.
Priestley was under the weather and this is only his second defeat in the event. Taylor started in style….how often have we said that in the last decade!? He won the first leg against the throw thanks to a classy 121 finish on the bull and that set the tone.
Taylor yet again averaged over 100 in yet another impressive darting display from the master. Priestley just didn’t have any answers to a brutal performance from ‘The Power’.
From 3-2, we saw that old familiar ‘Power’ surge, as Taylor reeled off five consecutive legs to stamp his authority on the Premier League once again.
Taylor admitted afterwards that cutting down on the number of tournaments he is playing is making a big difference. “I just can’t do it week in, week out any more, so I choose my events carefully and time at home is important to me.”
He also picked out Unicorn stablemate Colin Lloyd to make a big impression in the nail-biting last five weeks of the league stage. “It’s going to be a nervy few weeks – that’s for sure – but Colin has got the momentum and I hope he qualifies. I think if he carries on the way he’s going, he’s got every chance!”
The Premier League nightmare goes on for young Adrian Lewis, who crashed to a 6th consecutive defeat in the all-Unicorn clash against Peter Manley.
The victory keeps Manley very much in contention – moving him up to 5th place in the table – only three points behind Barney in 4th. The big difference was the finishing. Manley was clinical….Lewis was awful on the check-outs.
Lewis remains rooted to the bottom. He looks low on confidence and it is becoming a real struggle but he is a great talent and has to learn from the experience. He led 2-1 early on but Manley then won four consecutive legs to turn the match around. In three of the next five legs, Lewis missed 10 darts at doubles.
Manley was delighted. “That was a big win for me. I know it’s difficult for Adrian at the moment but he will come back from this. I now have to beat Barney in Bournemouth and it really will be game on!”
For Lewis though, it is now game over…..mathematically he can still get into the last four but realistically it isn’t going to happen.
In the other match of the night, Roland Scholten fought back brilliantly from 6-0 down against Terry Jenkins but then ‘The Tripod’ fell at the final hurdle. Jenkins won 8-6 but not before being given a mighty scare. Scholten pulled the match back to six apiece but a superb final 11 dart leg gave Jenkins the win and 3rd place in the table.
Week nine results:
Raymond Van Barneveld 6-8 Colin Lloyd
Week 10 – Bournemouth – April 5:
Phil Taylor v Terry Jenkins
BY STUART PYKE
