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The victory keeps Lloyd very much in the hunt for a place in the semi-finals but Phil Taylor is struggling to reach the last four after he was blitzed by Barney in Holland.

Lloyd beat Van Gerwen in a last leg sudden death shoot-out but Taylor lost to Raymond Van Barneveld 3 sets to nil….. ‘The Power’ winning only two legs in the match, as he struggled to keep pace in their first meeting since the World Championship Final.

Taylor, who has already lost to Van Gerwen in the tournament, must now beat Vincent van der Voort and Jelle Klaasen and hope other results go his way. The top two from each country after the group stage will qualify for Saturday’s semi-finals.

Barneveld won in straight sets (3-0, 3-1, 3-1) as Taylor failed again to hit the heights. After two draws in the Premier League against Roland Scholten and Dennis Priestley and two defeats at the Masters of Darts, Taylor must be worried about his form at the moment.

Lloyd was simply sensational. It was a quite brilliant match. The Unicorn star was quickly two sets in front and averaging 104, before we saw a trademark Van Gerwen comeback. He levelled the match in style, with yet another 164 check-out in the fourth set and the decider went all the way.

The pair traded some dazzling darts. Lloyd finished 124, then Van Gerwen replied with 146. Lloyd then threw for the match in the 8th leg of the final set, only to see the young Dutch ace hit a 130 finish. It went all the way to that sudden-death 11th leg. Lloyd won the throw at the bull and made no mistake.

He is still in the shake-up for the semi-finals, with Barneveld and Van der Voort still to play. Lloyd’s end average was an amazing 104.8, while Van Gerwen’s was 103.8

Lloyd’s performance should give him massive confidence. It was a masterclass at the Masters of Darts!

Peter Manley has been a revelation in Holland this week. The Unicorn Maestro made it three wins out of three with a tense victory over Jelle Klaasen. Manley and Mervyn King remain the only unbeaten players in the event. King thrashed Van der Voort for his third success.

It means one more victory against Scholten or Van Gerwen could well be enough to take Manley through to the semi-finals.

‘One Dart’ was again impressive in the finishing department and came from 2 sets 1 down to take the match, despite three big ton plus finishes from Klaasen.

In the other match of the night, Wayne Mardle beat Roland Scholten by 3 sets to nil. Like Van der Voort, it is three straight defeats for Scholten and the Dutch duo are out of the running for the semi-finals.

Tuesday’s matches:

Roland Scholten v Peter Manley
Jelle Klaasen v Phil Taylor
Raymond Van Barneveld v Wayne Mardle
Michael Van Gerwen v Mervyn King
Vincent van der Voort v Colin Lloyd

BY STUART PYKE