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Manley made it five wins out of five with a terrific win over teenage sensation Michael Van Gerwen by 3 sets to 2.

But there was heartache for Unicorn star Colin Lloyd and the nightmare in Holland continued for Phil Taylor, who lost yet again and finished bottom of the England group in the tournament.

Taylor is clearly struggling at the moment. He reckons it will take him six months to ‘come good’ after all the changes in his life….. new darts, new fitness and practice regimes and tea-total on the stage but his 2-3 defeat to Vincent van der Voort completes one of the worst weeks of his career.

Lloyd missed out on the semi-finals, despite producing some brilliant darts in the tournament. His ‘Barney Jinx’ struck again. Lloyd has never beaten Barney and the hoodoo continued. Raymond Van Barneveld won by 3 sets to nil, with Lloyd winning only three legs in the match. Barney averaged 102 and Lloyd couldn’t respond.

Lloyd’s defeat opened the door for PDC new boy Mervyn King to reach the semi-finals, where he will now face Manley. In the other semi, it’s Barneveld against Van Gerwen. Both matches take place on Saturday night and the final for 50,000 euros is on Sunday.

King lost his last match 2-3 against Roland Scholten but edges Lloyd out because he has won two more sets during the week.

Manley’s clean sweep completes a remarkable few days for ‘One Dart’. He was the rank outsider going into this event but his 100 per cent record in the group stage speaks volumes for the man.

He averaged 100 in his win over ‘Mighty Mike’ and kept his cool under pressure to clinch the win. Manley took the first two sets, before Van Gerwen stormed back to take the next two and we were into a decider.

Manley actually missed darts to win it 3-0, so he deserves credit for holding his nerve and experience won the day, with the Carlisle sharp shooter taking the final set 3 legs to 1 – yet again living up to his nickname thanks to some clinical finishing.

Taylor averaged 100 in defeat but looked out-of-sorts again. He has to raise his game for Thursday in Nottingham when he takes on Terry Jenkins in the Holsten Premier League. Van der Voort produced his best performance of the week to switch off ‘The Power’ but it would be foolish to start writing Taylor off.

Yes, he has experienced a bumpy ride over the last month or so but form is temporary and class is permanent and anyone proclaiming this is the end of an era could well be eating their words!

It will be a bitter pill to swallow for Lloyd, who has been outstanding all week in Hengelo but he just can’t seem to find his ‘A’ game against Barneveld.

Lloyd though, should be in good nick as he searches for his first victory of the Premier League campaign in Nottingham against Unicorn stablemate Adrian Lewis.

Manley takes on Barney in the Premier League in what could be a dress rehersal for the Masters of Darts Final!

And there will be first news of the latest Premier League night here on the Unicorn website.

Results Wednesday from Holland:

Michael Van Gerwen 2-3 Peter Manley
Raymond Van Barneveld 3-0 Colin Lloyd
Vincent van der Voort 3-1 Phil Taylor
Jelle Klaasen 3-0 Wayne Mardle
Roland Scholten 3-2 Mervyn King

Semi-finals – Saturday:

Peter Manley v Mervyn King
Raymond Van Barneveld v Michael Van Gerwen

BY STUART PYKE

Photo courtesy of Darts4you – Henk Westerdaal