Cowboy rides into the semis
Bob Anderson became the first man to qualify for the semi-finals of the Betfred.com League of Legends with a 7-2 win against Eric Bristow at The Spa, Bridlington.
In the process, the 'Limestone Cowboy' also ended his opponent's hopes of being among the last four who will battle it out for the inaugural title at Purfleet's Circus Tavern on August 22.
Bristow, who had the darts, took the first leg but Anderson made the breakthrough in leg three when he seized a 2-1 lead by checking out on 42 after his rival had missed the bullseye.
It soon became 5-1 as both players struggled badly on their doubles, the 'Crafty Cockney' finally taking leg seven in the 'madhouse' to trail 5-2 in a leg full of scrappy finishing.
The crowd were, as usual, firmly on Bristow's side and he urged them to get behind him as his chance slipped away, but a double 16 in leg nine clinched victory for Anderson.
"I'm very proud to have qualified first," said the Clevedon professional. "I had to come through a really tough game in order to do that, much tougher than people would think.
"Although I went into the match top of the table and Eric was at the bottom, he is the opponent nobody wants to play. He is an absolute foundation stone of darts' popularity.
"He is still a super player and I made a big mistake by playing Eric in the first two legs instead of the board. Once I played the board I was OK, but he is a hard man to beat."
Whitcombe makes his point
Peter Evison and Dave Whitcombe fought out only the third draw of the competition to leave both players sweating on a semi-final place.
The 'Fen Tiger' squandered a 4-1 lead and also looked poised to clinch victory at 6-5 up only for Whitcombe to snatch a point.
Four consecutive legs went the way of the Sittingbourne publican as he fought back from 4-1 down to 5-4 up, the last of those legs against the darts, before Evison drew level on double one.
Then it was the turn of the man from West Drayton to edge ahead on double eight as Whitcombe failed to check out and Evison also spurned a great chance to secure a win in the last leg, letting in his opponent to share the spoils on double five.
Asked how the match had gone from his perspective, Whitcombe replied: "Terrible, right from the word go. I've been practising all the time and done everything right only to get it wrong on the stage.
"Now I'm stuck because I don't know what's going on. I played well to win my opening three games but badly in the last two weeks and I was lucky to get a draw against Peter.
"I've no idea what's going on with my darts at the moment. It's so tight and now neither myself nor Peter are guaranteed to get through."
Evison admitted he had let victory escape from his grasp and said: "I should have won, without a doubt. Dave was struggling and I was cruising at 4-1 but I don't know what happened.
"I think it's the pressure of trying to qualify. At the end I was happy with 6-6 and I'll take the good with the bad.
"It worries me though that I let a winning position slip. We all want to qualify so we'll just have to see what happens in Stoke next week."
Laz roll continues
Cliff Lazarenko ensured the battle for semi-final places will be wide open on the final round-robin night at Stoke as he ended John Lowe's brief revival with a 7-3 success.
The Wellingborough veteran is the man with the momentum after three consecutive victories and the margin of his triumph means he only needs to draw with Peter Evison in his final match to progress.
Lowe, meanwhile, is now out of contention and the result also ended the hopes of Bobby George before he met Keith Deller in the last contest at the East Yorkshire seaside resort.
"I'm elated to have won again," said Lazarenko. "There are three more spots available in the semi-finals and four of us going for them in the last week, and I think that means the League of Legends is working so well.
"I have a reputation for never lying down and I'm delighted with this win. I struggled to get over the line but let's bring Stoke on."
Bobby stages dazzling fightback
Bobby George recovered from 6-3 down to snatch a 6-6 draw with Keith Deller which left the 'Milky Bar Kid' needing to beat Dave Whitcombe in Stoke to seal a place in the semi-finals.
Deller looked to be cruising, but his finishing let him down at exactly the wrong time and 'Bobby Dazzler', buoyed by a fervent crowd, dug in brilliantly to avoid a fifth defeat in six Betfred.com League of Legends appearances.
Yet it was scant consolation for the 'King of Bling', who is unhappy with the way he has performed during the League of Legends after being one of the pre-event favourites.
"When I got to 6-6 I thought there was another leg to go," said George, who still has just a sole victory in the tournament to his credit, over Peter Evison in Birmingham.
"I haven't played very well all the way through to be honest. It's been real Micky Mouse darts. But that's the way it goes I suppose.
"Sometimes you miss nothing for a few months and then you don't play very well for the next few. The other guys have just been better than me and it's annoying."
by Jon Wilde 11/08/2008 BACK TO TOP ^ |
